The number of US mobile phone subscribers that use "check in" or geo-location apps on a regular basis is small but growing. These subscribers are also dedicated in their use of such apps, surveys show.
About 7% of US mobile phone subscribers and 18% of smartphone subscribers used location-based "check-in" services on their phones in March 2011, according to comScore MobiLens data. In total, 16.7 million mobile subscribers, including 12.7 million smartphone subscribers (76% of the total), used location-based check-in. According to a spring 2011 study from digital marketing agency White Horse called "Lost in Geolocation", the majority of people who use location-based apps check-in several times per week. Some 19% of location-based app users check in at least 1 time per day.
Geo-location app providers themselves are also reporting high levels of activity. Foursquare, one of the leading companies in this space, has reached 10 million users after experiencing a 3400% growth increase in 2010.
How to Keep It Fresh
Marketers must add value to their check-in-based campaigns [to avoid consumer burnout]
These numbers, though, don't mean a marketer can rely on the buzz or sex appeal of geo-location — especially as the novelty of this technologies wears thin. Sharing location and aggregating messages are close to becoming commodity services - and their mere presence in a marketing campaign is not likely to push consumers to action.In a paper published in 2010 Wharton marketing professor Peter Fader warned of location-based fatigue.
"There’s a really good analogy here to e-mail marketing. Fifteen years ago, you got your first e-mail from a company saying, 'Here are this week’s specials chosen just for you,' and you said, 'This is cool' and 'How do they know what I wanted?' You read it, you maybe even bought something," he notes. "Maybe the second or third time it was still kind of cool, but then you got totally burned out with it and annoyed."For these reasons, marketers must add value to their check-in-based campaigns to make an impression on consumers. Some ways to do that include:
Offer a Service - Then Build it Around the Check-In. Such examples could be anything from information on the nearest, say, golf course or movie, or vegetarian restaurant. Then if the consumer decides to go to said service, he or she checks-in for a discount. Or conversely, some retailers, such as Best Buy offer consumers discounts if they visit a certain department of the store, such as stereo equipment. If they check-in and buy something, they get a discount.
Design Features with Battery Life in Mind. The drain GPS takes on phone batteries can be a real problem for geo-location services. Creating energy-efficient features is important.
Integrate It. Marketing campaigns on geo-location sites like Foursquare will deliver higher returns if they are well integrated into other platforms such as Facebook or Twitter, Wharton professor Fader also found.
Promoting an Experience. Emphasize promoting an experience - as opposed to offering product deals, Foursquare founder Dennis Crowley advised the audience in an industry presentation last year. (via PC Magazine). This could entail following friends who have checked into a business lately, finding out what they may have said about a given place, and similar peer-to-peer communication.
Greg Sterling, writing at Screenwerk, makes a similar suggestion, noting that the basic premise of a check in-based promotion or deal is inefficient for many consumers as it cannot be used as a planning tool to make decisions about purchases. "I can only see nearby businesses, which may or may not have deals. I can't search for a business somewhere else that I might visit "later." I can’t see all the offers that may be available (beyond nearby) and then make a determination about which place I want to go to," he writes.
"I may be willing to travel farther depending on the offer. Right now, getting an offer is purely a matter of serendipity tied to where I am at this moment - and I might already be headed to the business with the offer." That is why Crowley said he is intrigued by such functionality typified by MayorMaker, that automatically logs a user in if he or she walks into a store or other location.
A List of Check-In Vendors and Solutions for Marketers
Brightkite. Brightkite is a location-based social networking website aimed at mobile users, who check in via text messaging or one of the mobile applications developed by Brightkite for the various mobile devices. It lets the users see who is nearby and who has been there before. It was acquired by mobile social network Limbo in April 2009.
Checkpoints. Users download the CheckPoints app. Then, while shopping, they tap on their location to see nearby deals. By scanning nearby featured products the user can earn points but they also get points for just checking-in. Most recently it teamed up with Lifeway Kefir.
Foursquare. Perhaps the most developed of all these services, Foursquare has spent much of 2011 building out its partnerships to offer more services to users. It partnered, for example, with ESPN, Movietickets.com and Songkick for an events check in service for sports games, movies and concerts, respectively. It is also building out partnerships with daily deal vendors such as Groupon, LivingSocial, Gilt City, zozi, BuyWithMe, and, AT&T Interactive.
It also rolled out a self-serve system for brand pages, giving not only large companies but SMBs a platform on their service.
Google Latitude. Google latitude pinpoints you and your friends’ locations on Google maps. Privacy advocates have eyed this offer as worrisome as it gives real-time updates as to a person’s location.
Gowalla. A mobile web application from which users check in to locations that they visit via notifications to iPhones, and by linking accounts to Twitter and Facebook. In December 2010, it released version 3.0 of its platform that integrates with Foursquare, Facebook Places, Twitter and Tumblr.
Shopkick. A check in application aimed at retailers that rewards consumers by walking into the store if their Shopkick device app is open at the entrance way. Retailers that use shopkick include The Sports Authority , west elm, American Eagle Outfitters, Best Buy, Macy's, Target, and The Wet Seal. The company has more than one million active users, it says.
SCNVGR. A check in app with a twist — consumers have to work for their discounts. The company says it is more fun for consumers and it answers a common complaint businesses have with these apps - namely that consumers only swoop in for the discounts and then disappear. Users “unlock” three levels of deals, each building in value.
