How Location Data Can Help You Understand Customers
Using Location Data to Understand Customers
In the marketing lifecycle, knowing the location of your target audience is not an option—it is a critical component that can drive every aspect of your campaigns.
From segmentation and targeting to measurement and analytics, location data informs marketers on consumer behavior, ad effectiveness, and retail performance.
Understanding the latest location-based behavioral trends can transform your marketing efforts instantly.
When you have access to location data, it enables you to uncover and capitalize on behavior trends, and behavioral marketing is the most important way of targeting your ideal customers. Location data can help any size business market itself. Even small businesses with small budgets can use some of these tactics and leverage them to get more intimate and more understanding of who their ideal customers truly are.
Location Data is More Important Than Ever
- It’s an indication of intent in real-time.
- It reveals who people really are.
- It isn’t just complimentary—it is a critical input.
- You can take action on it like no other data.
- You can’t afford to compromise its quality.
Consumer Behavior Is Changing
The pandemic has undoubtedly been a year of unprecedented change. Retailers, restaurants, and hospitality brands alike have seen significant shifts in consumer behaviors, both in-person and online. Businesses are looking at trusted data to make important business decisions, such as where to open and close locations or how best to reach post-pandemic visitors.
Marketing Lifecycle: Top Trends
Recovery varies by audience:
- People 25-34 years old are moving around more than other age groups.
- Women are generally showing a higher propensity to visit places more than men.
- Millennials have been more “out and about” compared to other age groups since the pandemic started.
Recovery varies by geographic location and population density:
- People are moving around most in the Midwest and least in the West.
- People are moving around most in the rural areas and least in the urban areas.
The pandemic has also introduced a lot of flexibility into consumer weekday schedules as many professionals were forced to work remotely. As a result, most retail categories saw a rise in traffic midday and midweek instead of evenings and weekends compared to pre-pandemic visitation. A shorter dwell time (amount of time consumer spends in a business) was also captured for businesses in retail and dining, suggesting customers were likely taking advantage of contactless curb-side pickup or picking up take-out from local restaurants.
Key Takeaways: What Does This All Mean?
Consumers are still consuming. Location data shows that people are eager to re-engage in the physical world.
Location is more important than ever. With behaviors varying by region, state, and designated marketing area (DMA- what marketers use to define a region), strategies tailored by geography are critical to success.
Aligning with the customers’ mindset is key. Delivering the right message at the right moment ensures relevance in today’s rapidly changing landscape.
