Sometimes gas stations can all seem the same. If you’re looking for new ways to stand out from the crowd, consider creating a marketing strategy using mobile geofencing. Not sure how geofencing can help you attract new customers and boost sales? Here are some ideas to get you started.
What exactly is geofencing?
Geofencing is nothing new. Companies across the globe are already using location-based targeting approaches like geofencing to boost sales and service opportunities. How it works is actually pretty simple. It involves setting up virtual boundaries around a specific location. When customers step inside your geofence, you can send them targeted notifications to grab their attention.
For example, you’re walking along the high street on your way to work. As soon as you walk past your local coffee shop your smartphone pings with a notification for 50% off your regular coffee. You’re suddenly in the mood for that coffee! So you walk in and order it. This is how mobile geofencing can be leveraged to drive app downloads and boost footfall and sales for businesses.
Why use mobile geofencing at your gas station ?
According to recent statistics, mobile apps are projected to generate more than 613 billion U.S. dollars in revenues by 2025. And with the global number of smartphone users growing steadily, the number of app downloads is also slated to increase. As of the first quarter or 2021 there were around 3.5 million apps on Google Play Store and 2.2 million on the App Store. So if you haven’t already, you should definitely consider using mobile apps as an engagement platform.
And by pairing your mobile app with geofencing, you open up numerous location-based opportunities such as helping your app users find you, get real-time offers, join your loyalty program and much more. What’s more, by adding geofencing to your marketing strategy, you can access a wealth of data to help you gather valuable insights about your customers and deliver your content and advertising more precisely.
Let’s look at a few of the many ways mobile geofencing can help you boost sales at your gas station.
5 ways to boost sales with mobile geofencing
Target your location
Advertise special offers, cross-sale opportunities and unique benefits like order-ahead and loyalty schemes to customers using your gas station. Whether they are repeat customers or drivers who have filled up at your station for the first time, you can incentivize customers to keep using your services by offering them personalized, location-based notifications that are engaging and valuable.
Get ahead of your competitors
Mobile geofencing helps you get ahead of buyer’s intent, even when the customers are not at your gas station. Setting up a geofencing campaign around your competitors gives you the opportunity to target their customers and encourage them to choose you instead. Known as geo conquesting, this technique is one of the many smart examples of geofencing to inspire your strategy.
Target complementary businesses nearby
Set up a geofencing campaign to target complementary businesses near yours. Capture people’s attention while they’re thinking about their vehicle, while at a car dealership, a tyre shop or a car wash. This will make your messages more relevant and valuable, as well as increasing awareness of your gas station for future opportunities.
Integrate geofencing into your customer loyalty program
Paying for gas, accessing customized offers, and ordering-ahead for in-station items like food and drinks are all made possible with mobile geofencing. But customer loyalty programs can be your secret weapon. By integrating geolocation into your customer loyalty program, you can reward customers with loyalty points based on their behaviour, including when they visit your gas station and make a purchase. The result is increased customer engagement, satisfaction and sales for you.
Harness the power of location data
Location data is a very powerful tool to enhance your mobile marketing campaigns. It can help you gather valuable insights about your users behaviour and help you improve app user experience and engagement. You can use location data to track key metrics, personalize promotions, retarget visitors, combine offline and online data and add depth to your analytics.
How to set up mobile geofencing
To get the most out of your location-based marketing strategy, find a technology like the PlotProjects plugin which offers all the features you’ll need.
With high accuracy and low battery use, the PlotProjects platform lets you build campaigns of any scale and measure them with a full suite of dashboards and tools. With simple set up and easy integration across your existing infrastructure, the Plot SDK is the complete solution.
Building your own geofences might sound like a tempting idea, but it’s important to understand the challenges involved. You can find out more about building your own versus geofencing software in our guide.
Ready to get started?
If you need help getting started with geofencing or you want to find out more about how our platform can drive results for your business, contact PlotProjects today.
You can try our demo app for free, or download one of our customer’s apps to see how it works. Don’t have an app? No problem. We can create a custom geofencing app using the PlotProjects technology.