In today’s digital age, the customer journey is typically considered to be the path to purchase that consumers take online. Their digital footprints, however, don’t tell the whole story of who they are and what they care about. While brands have tons of data around how consumers interact with them directly both physically and digitally, they don’t have a great grasp on where else they go and what else they care about.
Location data fills those gaps in understanding and provides a 360 degree view of the consumer, providing insights into where they shop and visit regularly. By analyzing device level data with an anonymous identifier, you can get insight into consumers shopping habits, brand preferences and where they go before and after a transaction.
The Redefined Customer Journey
It’s all about data in today’s business world - and location data is a game changer for filling in gaps of understanding. Foot traffic analysis reveals a lot about a consumer when they’re not engaged with your brand, like where they go before and after they visit a certain store location. This layer of insight is crucial to understanding the buyer's entire journey and can’t be gleaned from any other data source. In addition to knowing when someone visits a store, you can also learn if it’s part of their regular shopping pattern, pre or post commute, etc. Businesses can use this insight to tailor messaging and make data-driven decisions for strategic planning.
Closing the Online to Offline Attribution Gap
Billions of dollars are spent on advertising each year, but measuring its success and ROI is tricky. This is why businesses and marketers are turning to location data to help close the online to offline attribution gap. By utilizing foot traffic analysis, you can see whether or not consumers actually visit your store after viewing an ad or receiving a coupon. Verifone Media was one of the pioneers in integrating location data into advertising campaigns at scale. Using Skyhook’s location technology, Verifone was able to identify consumers that had been exposed to advertising campaigns by matching campaign timing with smartphones observed at gas pumps during those periods, all in order to measure the subsequent behavioral response thru foot traffic. In other words, did the ad have the intended effect of causing real-world actions. This measurement capability allows brands to understand the true impact of their marketing and advertising campaigns.
Let the Data do the Talking
Location data and analysis will reveal much more than you think you know about consumers. You may find that consumers leave your store to go to a competitor's when comparing pricing, or that they stop at your store as part of a series of errands before going to school or an event. What you uncover with location data will help not only with your marketing initiatives today but also with strategic planning in the future.
An in-depth understanding of your target consumer is at the foundation of all successful marketing. Understanding the context around where they are and what they do allows you to engage with them in a better and more efficient way, eventually leading to more engagement and conversions with that consumer and improved share of wallet.
Want to discover more about the customer journey and foot traffic analysis? Download the whitepaper below:
