I guess the question here is would you want this from your favorite store or would this lure you into a store you might not usually frequent?
I was intrigued to see that Meijer is using this. It is a midwestern Target-like chain that I grew up with. It is so strong in Michigan that Target will not even build Super Targets in Michigan because they don't want to compete with Meijer. Some of my MSU students work at Meijer so I will ask them about how this is working.
I usually do not like promotions to my cell phone. It can be very distractive and annoy, especially when you are driving. Digital marketing is a good invention. However, the challenge is how to use it effectively. Image, how can we drive safely if everyone keep checking their text message when they are driving.
This reminds me of mint.com. I was very happy with mint until I set up alerts to my cellphone and email. I set my preferences and accounts up and had emails come in infrequently and when I hit my budgets. However, I have let my mint account fall by the wayside an am now bombarded with emails and texts about overages in my budget all the time because of the way their email system and text message network sends out messages. I feel like when my cellphone goes off it is important, but when I answer and get budgetary spam it gets annoying. The biggest problem is that once in a while the emails or texts are helpful reminders, but to eliminate the spam I would have to eliminate the helpful reminders. This all causes the program to be a wash. I feel like if stores spammed me with texts I would be less likely to go to the store because 1. I am not a coupon shopper at all, and 2. I use my cellphone for only personal contacts with other individuals and the occasional other activity. Geo-fencing if used by all companies would be terrible. Think about walking through the mall and getting 25-50 different coupons. Or driving by a strip mall and your phone goes off. With companies not sharing and coordinating projects like this it would be worse than spam mail in email or junk mail in the regular mail. I would highly consider just buying a land-line if this became reality.
So now we have to deal with spam on our cell phones too. I am Okay with retailers using an app I downloaded to target me with coupons because I made the choice to download and install the app. I am not Okay being targeted because I am within a certain proximity of a store. Seems a little too invasive.
I think that geofencing is a very interesting and new way for marketers to engage with their customers. The key thing here, like any engagement today, is that it is opt-in and customers can opt-out anytime.
Since consumers can read emails on their smartphones, email marketing could already be considered a form of mobile marketing, even if it's not been targeted as such. Therefore, I'm not sure if I think that this geofencing is quite so ground breaking. Also, email lists are much more mature in terms of numbers of subscribers and comfort with that medium for customers and marketers alike.
What is new is the timeliness of this geofencing - sending a message at "the point of decision" while they are in the retail store. This phrase is one I learned at a Triangle AMA luncheon a few weeks ago about how retailers are using mobile marketing.
At that luncheon, there were many comments about privacy concerns. It is a little creepy for a store or third party to know your location and text messages with ads can be annoying. That said, all of these alerts and messages are opt-in. If customers are willing to sharing their location, that's their choice.
I do find that creating an app for your brand is very cool, or participating in an existing app like Shopalert, which North Face does, could be very effective. The customer actively opens that app and is looking for information at that time.
I guess the question here is would you want this from your favorite store or would this lure you into a store you might not usually frequent?
ReplyDeleteI was intrigued to see that Meijer is using this. It is a midwestern Target-like chain that I grew up with. It is so strong in Michigan that Target will not even build Super Targets in Michigan because they don't want to compete with Meijer. Some of my MSU students work at Meijer so I will ask them about how this is working.
I usually do not like promotions to my cell phone. It can be very distractive and annoy, especially when you are driving. Digital marketing is a good invention. However, the challenge is how to use it effectively. Image, how can we drive safely if everyone keep checking their text message when they are driving.
ReplyDeleteThis reminds me of mint.com. I was very happy with mint until I set up alerts to my cellphone and email. I set my preferences and accounts up and had emails come in infrequently and when I hit my budgets. However, I have let my mint account fall by the wayside an am now bombarded with emails and texts about overages in my budget all the time because of the way their email system and text message network sends out messages. I feel like when my cellphone goes off it is important, but when I answer and get budgetary spam it gets annoying. The biggest problem is that once in a while the emails or texts are helpful reminders, but to eliminate the spam I would have to eliminate the helpful reminders. This all causes the program to be a wash. I feel like if stores spammed me with texts I would be less likely to go to the store because 1. I am not a coupon shopper at all, and 2. I use my cellphone for only personal contacts with other individuals and the occasional other activity. Geo-fencing if used by all companies would be terrible. Think about walking through the mall and getting 25-50 different coupons. Or driving by a strip mall and your phone goes off. With companies not sharing and coordinating projects like this it would be worse than spam mail in email or junk mail in the regular mail. I would highly consider just buying a land-line if this became reality.
ReplyDeleteSo now we have to deal with spam on our cell phones too. I am Okay with retailers using an app I downloaded to target me with coupons because I made the choice to download and install the app. I am not Okay being targeted because I am within a certain proximity of a store. Seems a little too invasive.
DeleteI think that geofencing is a very interesting and new way for marketers to engage with their customers. The key thing here, like any engagement today, is that it is opt-in and customers can opt-out anytime.
ReplyDeleteSince consumers can read emails on their smartphones, email marketing could already be considered a form of mobile marketing, even if it's not been targeted as such. Therefore, I'm not sure if I think that this geofencing is quite so ground breaking. Also, email lists are much more mature in terms of numbers of subscribers and comfort with that medium for customers and marketers alike.
What is new is the timeliness of this geofencing - sending a message at "the point of decision" while they are in the retail store. This phrase is one I learned at a Triangle AMA luncheon a few weeks ago about how retailers are using mobile marketing.
At that luncheon, there were many comments about privacy concerns. It is a little creepy for a store or third party to know your location and text messages with ads can be annoying. That said, all of these alerts and messages are opt-in. If customers are willing to sharing their location, that's their choice.
I do find that creating an app for your brand is very cool, or participating in an existing app like Shopalert, which North Face does, could be very effective. The customer actively opens that app and is looking for information at that time.