The use of location-based data is becoming an increasingly popular among businesses to better understand consumers, improve the onsite customer experience, and better market to target audiences. In fact, the global location intelligence market size is anticipated to reach 25 billion dollars by 2025, according to a new study by Grand View Research Inc.
What exactly is location-based data? Location-based analytics provides a feed of data from multiple sources such as Wi-Fi and GPS to provide collaborative reports on the behaviors of consumers, while they are in a shopping mall, a restaurant, an airport, etc. All of the data is consent-based and anonymized to protect the privacy of consumers. The resulting reports provide businesses with accurate and fact-based insight to create strong customer profiles.
The level of consumer detail varies based on its use and requirements. Businesses seeking deeper understanding of their target audiences will need to turn to the professionals of a market research company. A location based-analytics research company will deliver valuable information such as customer origin, lifestyle traits, and several other key insights.
In this blog post we’ll outline:
- How location-based data and analytics works
- What the benefits of location-based data and analytics are
- An example of how location-based data can be implemented
To improve in-store customer experience and better market to target audiences - consider partnering with a market research company to collect location-based data.
How does location-based data and analytics work?
A mobile analytics company will start by placing a geofence around the area(s) of interest.This could be a businesses’ location(s), a venue, or another location that a target audience visits.
What is a geofence? A geofence is a virtual boundary that is defined by GPS or RFID-enabled technology. The geofence is created around a real-world world location and flags smartphone users who enter the targeted area.
Once the geofence is placed on a target location, the mobile analytics data can be pulled to understand consumers who visit a location within a specified time frame. This information is gathered together by a market research company and used to create detailed consumer profiles. The profiles allow businesses to monitor and analyze key consumer trends.
The consumer profiles delivered by the market research company includes various reports and data sets that can answer questions such as:
- Where are consumers traveling from?
- How often are consumers visiting?
- What are the demographics of the audience?
- What are the lifestyle traits, media preferences, and values of the audience?
Benefits of location-based data and analytics
Utilizing location-based data or analytics is a powerful way to improve on-site customer experiences as well as better market to a target audience. It provides a deeper understanding of customers and prospects based on their origin and demographics.
With the custom mobile analytics reports, marketers can better understand their catchment area, allowing them to target areas frequented by potential customers. Location-based analytics can also focus on the target audience of competitors or those who attend certain events to gain a better understanding of traffic, buying behaviors, and customer loyalty.
Another benefit of location-based analytics is that it can be used to track visitors when other approaches to collecting data aren’t feasible. For example, a concert or entertainment venue might not have access attendee data with tickets being sold through a promotor. Location-based analytics can provide the venue with a better understanding of those attending.
Example of using location-based data and analytics
An airport hires a market research company to better understand passenger profiles, time spent at the airport, the amount of money spent while passengers were at the airport, and other various touchpoints across both business and leisure passengers.
To achieve this, the market research firm recommends a hybrid research approach (a combination of 2 or more market research methodologies) consisting of both intercept interviews and mobile analytics. The airport is geofenced around very specific parameters to include traffic inside the footprint of the airport.
In this case, the past 12 months of visitor data is collected with location-based analytics. With the location-based analytics, the market research company is able to provide the airport with a consumer profile report of their visitors. The mobile analytics data creates a comprehensive profile and breakdown of the segments and types of visitors traveling to the airport.
This detailed consumer profile report gives insight into:
- How far visitors are willing to travel to the airport.
- What location or geographical area visitors are traveling from to get to the airport.
- Common daytime and evening residence location of the visitors.
- How frequent a traveler goes to the airport.
The market research company then compiles this information to create target groups. Keeping with the example of an airport, a target group would likely include visitors who travel for work.
The market research company would describe this segment as:
"Wealthy suburban travelers who are highly educated, typically between 35 and 56. This segment consists of executives and white-collar professionals. This segment enjoys reading business publications and visiting business oriented websites.”
Now having access to this type of consumer profile, the airport may decide to find a vendor that offers business publication magazines and novels for this segment of travelers.
This is only a taste of what location-based analytics can provide for those working in a brick and mortar venue. To learn more about the possibilities of location-based data and mobility analytics, contact us below!
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