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Continued Social Networking Growth
Likewise, just as GPS was once highly specialized, social networking is becoming increasingly widespread. Though the specific programs may ebb and flow somewhat over time, the overall concept of sharing personal information like location with the wider world is no longer “strange” for a growing portion of the population.
Value-Consciousness
The above is particularly true when there is a definite and concrete value to the service being offered. Take Groupon, for example. Founded in Chicago in November of 2008, the collective buying site features deal-of-the-day offers to its growing pool of users (which measured more than 35 million at last count). It is now active in more than 150 markets in North America and another 100 markets in Asia, Europe, and South America. How big a phenomenon is it? Big enough to have rejected a reported $6billion buyout offer from Google in late 2010.
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Providers and enterprise customers can leverage location as a tool for customer retention and revenue growth. |
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this information, and ample evidence
exists for the benefit of providing
targeted value to customers, a perfect
situation emerges for service providers
and other enterprise customers to
leverage location as a tool for customer
retention and revenue growth.
If consumers are already primed to respond to deals localized to their city, how much more valuable would they find a service that, based on real-time location and contextual information on their likes and dislikes, offered them deals on dining and entertainment a block from the hotel where they’re staying for business? Or that offered them premium tickets to an upcoming concert taking place in the city in which they happen to be vacationing? Or enabled them to find fellow university alumni to watch the big game with in their city of residence?
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Groupon isn’t a GPS-driven location-based service, per se, but the implications for LBS are significant. Its users are value-minded and localized, with each community receiving local deal offers. Advertisers are happy with the service because it gives them extremely well-targeted exposure to a localized, qualified, tech-savvy demographic. Consumers are happy because they feel like they’re getting a significant value. Groupon’s happy, because it uses this matchmaking ability to make incredible amounts of money. Win-win-win.
Tying it all together
Therefore, with a market in which users
have the will to share valuable location
and personal information, the
technology exists to easily leverage
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And what would this increased level of customization do for the overall customer experience? How much more deeply would the consumers value a service provider if their interaction with that provider was not based on negative experiences, like billing errors or service interruption, but positive, proactive experiences that bring depth and value to the mobile experience?
I know, you know, and software vendors like Progress know that location is a big issue, and that all the answers don’t exist… yet. There are, however, tools out there to aid service providers and enterprise customers take full advantage of the promise of location. The possibilities are endless, and, increasingly, the tools exist to help them come to fruition.
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