Geotrapping vs. geolocation – mobile methods of customer acquisition

Poland is not lagging behind when it comes to smartphone ownership – approximately 50% of Poles have a mobile phone, and their number is growing year by year. It is therefore worth using this information to know how to reach potential customers.

We often hear about “catching” customers using information about their location.

But are we really able to use the potential of geolocation, or geotrapping?

Users of mobile devices increasingly allow their position to be determined. Brand promotion on the Internet is not everything – applications referring to location are new possibilities related to reaching the customer with a message, which has an impact on the increase in sales.

Geolocation is one of the most frequently used functions in a smartphone.

It works on the principle of “here and now” and has the ability to adjust content to the needs of consumers. Creating mobile applications using geolocation allows for sending information about the offer or attractive discounts to mobile devices when the customer is nearby.

Starbucks decided on this method of promotion, sending information about current promotions to smartphones or tablets. It also indicated the location of the nearest coffee shop. Such messages were sent to almost 300,000 people, of which about 14% decided to use the offer sent to them.

The potential of geolocation is large – it is also used when the recipient has their navigation turned on while driving a car.

Companies therefore began to use this information and created mobile campaigns informing where the nearest restaurant of brand X is located, (“Are you hungry? Drop by restaurant X for lunch. See you in 3 kilometers!”) or the nearest gas station of brand Y.

Geotrapping – not just “here and now”

Geolocation allows you to send a message at a specific time and place, but it is geotrapping that gives us greater possibilities.

It is based on specifying the target group based on their past location. The advantage of geotrapping over geolocation is that it allows for sending a message not only in real time.

This is an innovative method, thanks to which we can reach people who, for example, participated in an event a week ago, or did shopping last weekend. We can also reach the recipient with information about our offer when they are currently in a competing company.

The message is sent to the recipient’s mobile device based on their past location. Not every user trusts the brand enough to want to share their location – that’s obvious. However, there is a good chance that this trust will increase if the person decides to do so – after all, everyone would probably prefer to shop at a reduced price.

Thanks to this type of technology, we can see an increase in the effectiveness of the campaign, which after all requires considerable financial outlays. More and more companies are starting to be interested in promoting the brand using location information for this purpose.

This type of advertising shortens the distance between the brand and the recipient and is something that has not yet been fully discovered in Poland, but it can be assumed that the development of mobile advertising will go in this direction.