Push notifications have always been the biggest weapon in any app marketer’s arsenal. Be it any app or any situation, Push Notifications—if done right—can bring any kind of user—whether active, dormant or about to churn—back on the app. Push has evolved to a great extent over these years, adopting to various situations and taking different forms—including rich push notifications that allow media to be embedded in them and web push where you carry forward the power of push to websites.

Personalization is something that, if mastered, can convert any user into a loyal customer. There are various marketing automation tools that differentiate between various types of users based on their activity and behavior so that you can create segments and send push accordingly. But this segmentation does not care if the users are changing their location or time zones. What if there was a way of sending location based push notifications? What if you could create a virtual fence that whenever a user entered or left the place, they received a push?

Let’s welcome the newest feature in App42 MA—the ever versatile analytical and marketing automation tool—Geo-fencing in Push Notifications. Geo-fencing has been gaining popularity of late and it was imperative to go beyond simple push and enable marketers to gain advantage over their competitors by sending quick, intelligent location based alerts and offers.

The setup is very simple. Once you login to AppHQ Management Console and select App42 MA from the products dropdown, you would be able to deploy campaigns using various tools. Upon selecting Push and creating a new campaign, you have to enter campaign details.

Target the segment of users you want your push to be sent to. Now drag and create a fence targeting the location as per your choice. You may also schedule the campaign from the When section, where you may even set the frequency per device.

There are many use-cases to help you on how you can extract the maximum out of geofence based push notifications, such as, let’s say if you are running a gym and you are launching a scheme only for your premium members or announcing a new program for members having annual subscription, you could create segment having premium users and alert them whenever they are passing by the gym—this way you can attract them to visit again and join the program. Or if you have a bakery shop, you could send out alerts and discount offers or schemes like cake of the day whenever the customer is about to enter or about to leave the shop.

The greatest thing about geo-fencing in App42 Push is that you can choose when you want your users to receive the push—when they are entering or leaving the fence or when they have spent some time in the fence. You are enabled to set the timing as per your wish in the Dwell section which is something that gives you an uncanny ability to target only those users who are present in that location and are contemplating whether they are interested or not. Like in a coffee shop, one may get confused as to which coffee they would like to have, a push may be sent to them notifying flavor of the day or café special or certain discounts. This prevents the users from getting confused and walking out of the area and also converts them into customers. Icing on the cake is that personalization of this level makes the user feel privileged, makes them loyal and increases your revenue—win-win situation for all.

There, however, can be side effects of geo-fencing if used without any proper strategy or planning. It can be irritating if the users are changing their locations frequently and are bombarded with notifications every time—to avoid this, pair segmentation smartly with geo-fencing to send notifications to only relevant users. Also, it would be better if enough thought is invested in the messages being sent to users in the form of notifications, because ultimately they are the single most important aspect that can make or break your campaign. As a best practice, it is advisable to not think of geo-fencing as a sales feature, instead, use it for personalization and user engagement because the closer the customer is to you, the more revenue you can generate.

For best practices in Push Notifications you may check out this link. Should you have any query, suggestion or any issue, please write to us at support@shephertz.com, our customer success team will be happy to connect with you.