Digital direct marketing is particularly effective when it includes the context in which the user reads the message, especially in the mobile or POS environment. In that way customers get activated where they are, with the right content for their current needs.
A marketing automation system supports you in the integration of mobile usage contexts by recognizing the location of the user or the geofence in which he is located. That makes it possible to integrate location, context and correct timing into the communication.
An example for a mailing route with geofencing and marketing automation
Let’s suppose that the company uses a geofence to detect whether the customer is near the POS. If the customer enters the geofence and leaves it after 5 minutes again, then he has presumably passed the POS. Depending on whether he has an app installed or not, he receives a mobile push message or an SMS with an incentive to return to the store. If he is still in the Geofence after the 5 minutes, he will receive an email with a current action or information about products in the shop, which may be interesting to him. If the customer leaves the geofence again (in the best case after a purchase), he receives a thank you – e.g. a voucher for a coffee.
Tips & Tricks
The complexity of creating such a mailing route with Geofencing and Marketing Automation is not that hard. There is only one date required and that is the realtime date for entry and exit from the geofence zone.
Tip: geofencing means to pull an “invisible fence” around your business. When the user enters the fenced “room”, the geofencing system captures his / her location (by radio cell interrogation, GPS, Bluetooth or WLAN). The prerequisite is that the customer has allowed you to capture their location (e.g., through your app) or to identify him through his device. Your geofencing system then sends the location to the marketing automation system and the customer receives an e-mail, SMS, push message or WhatsApp message with a voucher for the POS or information about special offers.