Denny's, Walmart and Goodwill Score With Location Data [Study]

Denny’s, Walmart and Goodwill are just three brands successfully using location data for their mobile campaigns, according to the Mobile Marketing Association’s (MMA) recent Smart Mobile Cross Marketing Effectiveness Study.

Analyzing the historical location patterns from mobile devices, brands can deduce consumers’ demographics (age, gender, race, income) in addition to their behavioral patterns. What retail locations do they frequent? Where do they spend their time? What are their dining and travel habits? Put together, along with any supplemental credit card or purchase data, and brands can paint a pretty complete picture of an individual consumer.

“Leveraging location data to not only understand the ‘where’ but also the ‘who’ was a true game changer for our [Build Your Own] campaigns,” says John Dillon, chief marketing officer at Denny’s.

For eight months last year, Denny’s targeted connected Millennials with a series of “Build Your Own” breakfast campaigns. The first leg, Build Your Own Pancakes, was focused on driving consumers to the Denny’s landing page, resulting in a click-through rate 30 percent higher than the industry average. Subsequent campaigns jumped from digital engagement to proximity targeting. Build Your Own Skillet saw an 11.7 percent increase in store visitation, while Build Your Own French Toast two months later saw a 34.6 percent increase.

Goodwill did something similar, in an effort to make sure people knew about specific donation centers close to them. In addition, Goodwill used a combination of proximity and audience targeting, based on past visits, to reach people who would be more likely to donate.

Targeting the Hispanic demographic, Goodwill saw more than 13,000 donation center visits, or a 43 percent increase.

“We found that tracking key audiences over time enables us to get a fuller picture of their behavior and preferences, ultimately improving the effectiveness of our campaigns,” says Jim Gibbons, president and chief executive (CEO) of Goodwill Industries International. “Messaging these audiences at the right time and place strengthens our efforts and allows us to identify the people most likely to donate.”

For Walmart, a recent location-based campaign promoted its Savings Catcher program, which automatically checks competitors’ prices and credits the difference back to Walmart customers after scanning their receipts. The retail giant used audience targeting based on previous store visits, and combined it with localized creative based on a consumer’s proximity to a particular store.

According to the MMA, cross-referencing location with non-location data – such as app, household and purchase data – results in the most successful localized mobile campaigns. “Leveraging location data, including a user’s current, past and future locations coupled with data such as demographics, psychographics and behavioral data is a powerful combination,” according to the report. “Applying this data beyond the ‘where’ to develop the story of ‘who’ can have a significant impact on mobile performance and as a result, campaign ROI.”