Geofence marketing: reaching customers where purchase decisions are made

You invest continuously in marketing – yet you still face the same challenge:

Your customers often make purchase decisions spontaneously, directly at or just before the point of sale. Traditional campaigns are often too late or too imprecise. They run disconnected from the actual moment of purchase and reach people without a clear context. The result is high wasted reach, low activation and redemption rates, and digital communication that remains largely disconnected from the in-store experience.

Here, geofence marketing with mobile-pocket kicks in: It enables you to reach prospects and customers at the decisive moment, directly on their smartphone lock screen. A virtual radius of up to two kilometers is defined around a specific location, such as a store, an event or a busy transit hub like a train station. When a mobile-pocket user enters this area, a campaign can be delivered via targeted smartphone push notification.

The benefit is clear: your message appears visibly on the smartphone lock screen, without competing content. Combined with mobile-pocket’s audience segmentation, you can reach potential customers in a precise, situational and effective way – exactly when proximity, attention and purchase intent come together.

As a retailer, you can use geofence marketing as part of your customer engagement activities with mobile-pocket by default – without any additional technical effort. The process is straightforward:

1. First, you define the specific location, such as a store, an event or a transit hub like a train station
2. Next, you set the radius around this location, up to a maximum of two kilometers
3. You then create a campaign, including the push notification message
4. Once users enter the geofence area, the campaign is automatically delivered

Important: your campaign reaches only active mobile-pocket users who have explicitly opted in to receive push notifications on their smartphone.

You can promote new locations or store-specific offers in a targeted way, such as the opening of a new store, regional discounts or special opening hours.

Practical insight: the mobile-pocket customer ASTRO uses geofence campaigns around store locations to specifically address customers with location-based promotions and drive them into the store.

Geofence marketing helps increase in-store foot traffic. Insights from international drive-to-store campaigns, particularly in the quick-service sector, show that location-based smartphone push notifications can significantly increase the likelihood of store visits. Industry-related analyses indicate up to around 8 percent higher revenue volume or increased foot traffic when location targeting is applied strategically (source: gitnux.org).

Not every offer is tied to a specific place, but many are highly location-relevant. Examples include travel insurance at train stations and airports, accident insurance in ski resorts or voting information near polling stations. Geofence marketing connects topic and situation, increasing the relevance of the message for customers.

Yes. When messages are delivered in the right situation, they are not perceived as disruptive but as genuinely valuable by customers. The result is a more positive brand perception and a stronger, longer-lasting customer relationship.

A globally recognized fast-food brand achieved strong results with a mobile-pocket voucher campaign using geofence marketing:

• 20 percent increase in store visits during the campaign period
• 12 percent click-through rate on the voucher
• 5 euros in revenue generated for every euro invested in advertising