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Engaging the mobile car shopper with GEO-Targeting

Nick,

While that may be the case, most of your examples are large companies that handle data for millions of people.
I don't think the same thought process applies to your local dealership "knowing" your location.

If Facebook started sending me push notifications everytime I walked past a bakery that paid them for geolocation ads, I would uninstall it in a heartbeat. There's a reason they don't cross that line. This isn't about the customer being at Dealership B, doing a Google search and seeing Dealership A. This is about the customer driving down to Dealership B, hearing their phone go off and seeing a notification from Dealership A's app telling them they should come back.
 
Nick,

I'm with creigh about not "crossing that line".

If my local McDonalds manager handed me a coupon for free fries, I'd thank him and shake his hand. If I found out that he was following me around, spying on my every movement and pushing coupons to me thru an App only after I drove into a Burger King, well I wouldn't be very happy.

I'd most likely figure out where he lived, seduce his wife, shoot his dog, and crap in his living room - but that's just me. <end sarcasm>

Know where the line is. :D
 
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I think that line is age specific. I really do.

I don't see a millenial worrying about it in the same way a baby boomer does. It's a part of everyday life for up to 40% of the car buying market. Apps like this mostly target millenials and younger gen x's anyway to a certain degree. I get where you guys are coming from, I think that in the digital space, we need to think more millenial than boomer.
 
Awesome Ryan.

I could be wrong, I just firmly believe that expectation of privacy is eroding incredibly fast in the name of convenience and user experience. Time will certainly tell on this one.

I don't know. I can see both sides of this argument. I have a teenage daughter so I can absolutely see your point about the younger generation being blissfully ignorant about the interconnectedness of the World Wide Web. Is it possible that they don't have an expectation of privacy because they've never really had any privacy?

On the other hand...

...to Ed's point, why would I voluntatrily give up that information? The only, and I mean ONLY, reason that I can see myself doing that is if there is a strong correlation between giving up privacy to get something of value.

On the other hand...

I use Foursquare... for FUN! I don't check in for discounts, I checkin at conferences to see if I know anybody in the same area. "Privacy eroded for the sake of convenience"

On the other hand...

Anybody old enough to understand the theme of this post and reference below was raised to leave a light on when they left the house just to give the appearance of being home, they'd never broadcast they weren't home to "strangers," even for a coupon..
tumblr_lyf9yujG3g1qhc78po1_500.gif


I guess I agree with Ed that at this point it would be really wise to over communicate exactly what they are opting into and let them decide if they want to participate. Err on the side of caution.
 
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Where location tracking works really well: Apps like Waze and Inrix that will alert me of traffic events ahead.

where geo-fencing works really well: when I'm driving down my street and I get within 100m of my house, my living room lights and my exterior lights turn on (provided it's after sunset).

Both of these location based events I welcome into my mobile life with open arms, but as a consumer, if a dealer app asked me for access to my location, it would raise an eyebrow. Now if the messaging was "We'd like to use your location so we know when you're close and can have your car waiting out front all nice and warm"..... I'd enable it because that would be cool (but then I'd disable it after I picked up my car) :).

Chip-
 
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GREAT discussion so far with some very fair points raised.


Used appropriately, Location Targeting should be an asset to the customer. Rather than bombarding the customer with coupons/offers when they're not in the act of shopping for a car (think mass email, text, phone calls, etc) Location Targeting delivers an offer precisely WHEN the customer is shopping. Many dealers also choose to target their own location - delivering an incentive to after-hours customers when they're on the lot.


I'd like to point out that Location Targeting, used appropriately, DOES NOT collect location data on each specific customer. Apple and Google don't allow this for obvious privacy reasons. Rather, the app utilizes the existing geo-targeting framework built into each app platform. In this way Apple keeps location data distinctly private.


As a point of reference, a location targeting message appears on the customers phone in the same way a text or push notification alert displays. As a result, many of the notifications users receive today from their downloaded apps are in fact location-based. They just don't know it.


In summary, just like all new marketing channels, there is a way to abuse and distort. Customer trust is extremely important and it's ultimately up to us to appropriately use Location Targeting in our mobile marketing strategies.

-Ben