school size: 750 students
Businesses who sell their products or services to consumers have huge opportunities to increase their sales by using geotargeting to personalize their website content. An estimated 1.8 billion people worldwide purchased goods online, and with over seven million online retailers in the world, business to consumer (B2C) business owners want to make sure their websites and online stores are converting visitors to customers at high rates. Personalized websites that feel relatable and are easy to navigate are what consumers are looking for when choosing which company to purchase from online. Here are three ways B2C companies can create highly personalized websites using the location of the website visitor, converting more customers and creating a better customer experience.
The most common, and arguably most impactful way to personalize a B2C website based on location is to hone in on customer buying habits and preferences. For example, it’s common sense to know that people in California and New York are purchasing different types of clothes in the month of January. It might not be common sense, however, that customers in the city prefer light-weight bikes while customers in rural areas prefer heavier bikes. Every B2C company should work to understand the purchasing habits and product preferences their customers have and be able to align that to their marketing efforts. Once these companies know how location affects what their clients purchase, they can use geotargeting to highlight the correct items to specific website visitors.
Example:
A company who sells barbeque sauce might recognize that customers from certain areas of the country are more likely to purchase their spicy flavors while other areas of the country seem to prefer the smokey or sweet flavors. With this information, they can highlight their spicy sauces on the homepage when visitors from that region visit the site while showing smokey or sweet sauces on the homepage when visitors from the other regions visit. This helps the customer find what they are likely looking for quicker as well as introduce them to new products that they are likely to be interested in.
Depending on the company, some products are only available in specific locations. This could be due to shipping limitations or supply chain issues, but, either way, using geotargeting and personalization to show location specific product availability can save customers from trying to purchase unavailable items and becoming frustrated. Some B2C companies might also have to follow specific distribution rules that could limit their ability to sell in certain places. Self defence items, alcohol and other regulated substances are not available in all locations, and indicating this on the company’s website can help shoppers avoid frustrations.
Example:
A company that sells self defense items might only be able to sell to stores in certain states while other states allow consumers to purchase directly. This company could use geotargeting to highlight these rules and product availability to the people in the correct states by personalizing the product descriptions and titles.
While many retailers sell products directly on their websites, some brick-and-mortar stores rely on their websites to display store information and inform the customers about their in-person shopping opportunities instead of selling products online. Companies in this position can also greatly benefit from geopersonalized website content. Changing addresses, phone numbers and hours of operation based on visitor location can be a great way to serve website visitors the information they are looking for faster.
Example:
A clothing store with 10 locations throughout a three-state radius could use geotargeting and website personalization to show their customers the location and hours of their nearest store. They could also highlight store-specific sales and events in order to make sure this information is shown to the correct customers.
Website personalization based on location helps businesses communicate more clearly with their clients and make more sales. GeoFli makes it easy to geopersonalize your existing website, allowing you to simply choose the website content you want to change, select the location to target and make the changes!
