Tag: location based advertising

Smartphone owners appear to be happy to opt in for geolocation technologies and the benefits they offer.

Although assumptions had been made that location based marketing techniques would put consumers off because of a feeling of being tracked and stalked, new research is showing that as long as the method is used properly, consumers can actually find it to be quite appealing.

Research conducted by Urban Airship, a mobile marketing provider, shows that consumers are happy to opt-in.

At the same time, though, new American legislation could actually create a dramatic change in the landscape for location based marketing using apps, as the concerns over the privacy of smartphone users continues to grow. There are some who have equated the use of geolocation technology to stalking, and they are determined to put a stop to it. This is interesting news as it appears to be in direct conflict with the sentiment of the majority of device using consumers, at the moment.

That said, as location based marketing has not yet become mainstream, consumers may not yet know its full potential.

As geolocation technology is only just getting started, many consumers may not yet be fully informed about what it entails and what risks it could pose to their mobile security. At the same time, it could be that consumers feel that the advantages still outweigh the potential risks and are willing to share their location with the applications on their smartphones and tablets.

Urban Airship conducted an analysis of 4 billion push messages that were sent by over 1,000 mobile apps. What they determined was that 62 percent of device users were fine with sharing their location to a provider that would send push marketing messages. Among those applications that were analyzed, the opt-in rates for providing location data ranged from an average of 60 to 80 percent.

The Urban Airship CEO, Scott Kveton, explained that the location based marketing analysis showed that “assumptions around consumers being reluctant to share location are false and massively short-sell mobile,” and pointed out that, on the whole, device owners “value the location-based functionality of apps.”

According to a keynote speaker at the IAB conference, this tech has tremendous potential when used properly.

Sonia Carter, the head of digital and social media in Europe for Mondelez, spoke at the recent IAB conference with regards to the use of geolocation technology, telling brands that while the use of this location based targeting is a “massive” step for the mobile channel, but she also cautioned them not to dive in head first.

The primary warning was over forms of location based technologies that track consumers.

The recommendation that was made by Carter was to proceed with caution in terms of the use of geolocation technology that tracks the position or behaviors of consumers and that these brands should place a greater investment into testing what does and does not work for those shoppers. In a published interview with Carter, she stated that location based tech such as iBeacon – which use geofencing and track the movements of a customer in order to be able to better target various forms of ads and promotions – are all quite useful. However, at the same time she felt that a greater amount of research is necessary in order to avoid making consumers feel alienated.

Geolocation technology has a great amount of potential but could be off-putting to consumers if used incorrectly.

Carter explained that it is “incredibly useful” to know exactly where a consumer is physically located. At the same time, she warned that “It’s really exciting but we have to be very cautious and do more testing and learning to see whether consumers want us to do that.” It is important for brands to start to test various uses forms of use for the tech and to share what is discovered so that the industry as a whole will be able to better understand just what consumers want.

When she spoke, she pointed out to the event attendees that “It’s really important we work together rather than screw things up for all the people in this room.” This came as an important reminder that while geolocation technology is exciting, it also involves some very personal data that many consumers consider to be quite sensitive. Used properly, the sky is the limit, but used wrongly, it could put consumers off the use of the tech, completely, and eliminate this opportunity in its entirety.