Learn how to use geolocation data to drive your business forward.
Have you ever wondered why when you search for a product on Google, for example, the results are tailored to your location? Or why does Google Maps show different businesses in your city when you search for a specific product or service?
It’s IP geolocation.
Curious as to what it is?
Defining IP Geolocation – A Basic Overview
IP geolocation is a technique used to determine the physical location of an Internet Protocol (IP) address. Basically, it involves mapping an IP address to a geographic area so that you can identify where an Internet user is located.
Here’s how it works:
Devices connected to the internet have an IP address, which is a unique string of numbers that allows computers and other devices on the internet to communicate with one another. By using geolocation tools, you can determine the location of an IP address based on its specific number sequence.
How IP Geolocation Data Can Help Your Business Succeed
As a business owner, the following are examples of ways IP geolocation data can help your business avoid costly expenses and ultimately improve your bottom line.
Personalized Customer Experience
You want to ensure that your customers get the most accurate information about their products at every touchpoint of their journey so they can make intelligent purchasing decisions. That means knowing where they are, what time zone they live in, and what language they speak — all things that IP geolocation data helps you determine.
Location-based Advertising
IP geolocation data enables marketers to create more targeted marketing campaigns that drive more conversions and results. For example, if you want to increase sales leads from local customers, you can create targeted ads based on their location instead of simultaneously advertising across all areas. This tactic results in fewer wasted marketing dollars because local ads are more effective at driving conversions than those targeting large audiences across multiple regions.
Simplify Form Input
As we all know, forms are a necessary evil in every business. In some situations, users find them complicated and would rather avoid them. Worse yet, many customers don’t take the time to complete the form correctly, which leads to more errors and wasted time for both parties.
You can use IP geolocation data to eliminate this problem.
For example, suppose a user is filling out a form online. In that case, you can use their IP address to determine which country they’re in and automatically populate fields with relevant country-specific information – thus helping to simplify the process for the user and make it more efficient for you as a business owner.
This simple change can increase conversion rates, improve user experience and reduce error rates.
Improve Your Marketing Campaigns
IP geolocation data can help improve the performance of your marketing campaigns by helping you identify the most appropriate time and place for those campaigns. For example, if you’re running an email marketing campaign for a retail store, using IP geolocation data could show that users who live in a specific location are more likely to open emails sent during their commute home from work than those living elsewhere. If you want to increase open rates for this particular campaign, it would be wise to send emails around 5 pm when people are on their way home from work rather than at 8 am when they are just starting their day.
Provide Relevant Product Recommendations or Content
By utilizing IP geolocation data, business owners can tailor their content and offerings to customers in specific regions. This is particularly useful if you’re a company that sells products in multiple countries; knowing where your visitors are from helps ensure that you provide them with the most accurate information about your product(s) or service(s).
You can:
- Use local language, cultural events, local attractions in your messaging to ensure a better user experience and build brand trust – a huge factor that can improve conversions.
- Offer promotions based on local weather or events happening nearby. For example, if it is raining in Chicago, you could offer discounts on umbrellas, raincoats, or even free shipping for orders “placed online today.” This allows you to capture sales from people who would otherwise not be interested in purchasing because of inclement weather conditions. You could even offer free shipping for items purchased online today only if they are shipped within the next 24 hours.
- Monitor customer feedback and complaints by location to determine what products/services people want from each region.
- Enrich existing customer profiles by adding the most relevant factors for specific regions, such as preferred payment methods and shipping options.
Improve Customer Service
If you work in customer service, IP geolocation data can help you identify where customers are coming from and then prioritize online or phone support accordingly. You may also use this information to determine customer satisfaction trends across different regions to optimize your customer service strategy at an even grander scale.
Protect Your Business From Fraudulent Activities
Fraudulent activities are a massive problem for companies. IP geolocation data can help your business identify suspicious activity and alert you to potential fraudsters in your network before they cause damage.
Here’s how:
- Ensuring that only customers from notorious geographical areas are not allowed access to your website or online store.
- Prevent phishing and credit card fraud. By using IP geolocation data, you can determine if a user is located in the exact location as the billing address.
Helps Ensure Compliance With Local Laws and Regulations
IP geolocation data can help you identify who is visiting your website and where they are located so you can determine if they should be allowed access based on the laws of your location.
Conclusion
IP geolocation data demystifies the geographic reach of your digital presence, making it easier for you to closely monitor who, where and how consumers are being exposed to your business. So, as a business owner, you can use this information to make better decisions that will help you optimize how you market your products or services.
