GPS apps target customers near stores
Mobile marketing agency Digitonic has unveiled a new mobile phone handset-based service which will allow high street retail chains to send information and offers to consumers as they pass preset physical high street locations.
The technology uses the companies' own apps to notify customers of new products, offers and services via messages which appear as notifications within iPhone and Android handsets. Using GPS-based geolocation the company's service detects when a user's app is physically located within 200 metres of a given address, and then sends an appropriate message to the handset.
Iain Wilcox, marketing director and co-founder for Digitonic, said the technology could eventually even be used to send enticing offers to customers who are about to enter a competitor's premises.
Obviously, customers have to actively opt-in via a brand's mobile app, and agree to receive the geo-targeted messages, which prevents the marketing of unwanted products and services. Digitonic uses the technology to send rich content such as vouchers, videos and games (which it has pioneered using SMS messaging for clients including Coral bookmakers, Blockbuster and consumer lifestyle data provider DLG).
"There's massive potential in businesses being able to send incredibly targeted and relevant content to customers using this technology, and the beauty of it is that allows them to engage directly with existing customers via the handset and then in-store," said Wilcox.
Digitonic has pioneered the use of rich media text messaging in the UK, which uses SMS messages tailored for iPhone and Android handsets. Customers receive a text message with a link to handset-specific rich content (e.g. videos, games or vouchers) and brands can then track their interaction rates, leads and sales from each rich media impression. One recent rich media text campaign delivered more than 5,700 customers, resulting in £1.1 million worth of online mobile customer activity.
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