Mobile Campaigns That Use Location Outperform Standard Campaigns by 2X to 3X

Location-based mobile ad network Verve Mobile released a “State of the Market: Location Powered Mobile Advertising” report this morning. It focuses on the fast-food and casual dining restaurant category and offers several case studies that show the lift provided by location targeting. Here are a few datapoints from the report:
  • QSR/casual dining campaigns that leveraged location data performed 2x those that didn’t
  • Nearly 70% of all QSR/casual dining campaigns leveraged location targeting
  • Verve’s case studies, using location targeting (display ads), show 3% and 4% CTRs, which is quite high for display.
Below is the distribution of location/audience targeting methodologies employed by Verve’s customer-advertisers:

In the pie chart above, geo-fence means relatively precise targeting around business locations. Geo-aware means broader location targeting such as city or DMA level. And audience targeting is demographic or psychographic segments or profiles (e.g., soccer moms, vacation travelers, sports enthusiasts) inferred from location.

Verve also reported that “location targeted advertising [ ] revealed a greater than 3X lift in foot traffic to the advertiser’s locations. Not only did exposure to the ad increase the likelihood a user would visit an advertiser location, it also decreased the likelihood a user would go to a competitor’s location by more than 20%.”

Accordingly the major takeaways are the following:

  • Adding location increases consumer engagement and response rates by at least 2X
  • Location related copy and mapping/geo-precise landing pages can drive 3X foot traffic vs. ads that don’t employ this type of ad creative or techniques