A new type of mobile tracking connects the physical movements of buyers, their buying choices

The improved accuracy of mobile technologies allows advertisers to go beyond the use of static location information and contextual information about consumers in order to improve the accuracy of mobile technologies. increase the effectiveness of mobile advertising based on the location of customers. A new study used a targeting strategy that determines where, when and how long consumers stay in a mall to determine how their physical movements affect their economic choices. The study found that targeting potential customers in this way can dramatically improve advertising via mobile phones.

The study, conducted by researchers at Carnegie Mellon University, New York University, and Pennsylvania State University, is published in the journal Management Science.

"Our results can help advertisers improve the design and effectiveness of their mobile marketing strategies," said Beibei Li, an badistant professor of information systems and management at Heinz College of Business Systems. Information and Public Policy from Carnegie Mellon University, who co-authored the study.

The study took place in June 2014 in an Asian mall with more than 300 stores and more than 100,000 daily visitors. Consumers were asked if they wanted free Wi-Fi and, if they did, completed a form with their age, gender, income bracket, credit card type and phone.

The researchers followed 83,370 unique 14-day responses. Participants were randomly badigned to one of four groups: those who received no ads via their mobile phone, those who sent an ad from a randomly selected store, those who sent a ad based on their current location and those that were sent based on their information path. targeting based on. The researchers monitored the participants, obtaining detailed information on the trajectory of the buyers – their location, date and duration – as well as detailed behavioral data recorded and updated regularly from many mobile devices.

Customers who purchased an item from a mall store were asked to fill in another form with similar questions, as well as information on the amount spent and whether the purchase was linked to a coupon that the customer had received via his mobile phone. A brief follow-up survey was conducted by telephone.

The study found that trajectory-based targeting can lead customers to use mobile phone offers more frequently and faster than more traditional forms of mobile targeting. In addition, trajectory-based targeting has resulted in greater customer satisfaction among participants.

Trajectory-based mobile targeting also increased the total store revenue badociated with the promotion, as well as the mall's overall revenue. It was less effective at increasing overall mall revenue on weekends and less effective for buyers looking for products in different categories instead of considering buying something from a single category.

The study also revealed that trajectory-based targeting is particularly effective in attracting high-income buyers and men.

"Mobile ads based on customer trajectories can be designed to influence consumers' buying habits," says Anindya Ghose, a professor of commerce at New York University, who co-wrote the paper. study. "This suggests that this type of targeting can be used not only to improve the efficiency of customers' current buying behavior, but also to encourage them to change their buying habits, which will generate additional income for businesses. "

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More information:
Anindya Ghose et al, Mobile Targeting Using Customer Path Models, Management Science (2019). DOI: 10.1287 / mnsc.2018.3188