What Is Geofencing: A Guide To Geolocation Technology

Geofencing is a technology that can be used to create a virtual perimeter around a physical location. Geofencing has found many creative use cases, which include everything from help finding lost pets to tracking employee whereabouts on the job. In this article, we will discuss about What is Geofencing and the application of geofencing.

Geofencing is an emerging market with many untapped possibilities. This comprehensive guide will give you some of the best information about how geofences work, some of the creative ways geofencing has been used in the past, and some innovative ideas on new ways to use it in your business.

What Is Geofencing and How Exactly It Works?

Geofencing is a technology that defines geographic boundaries around a place. Geofence is the combination of GPS and RFID signals to create digital boundaries around places or buildings. These boundaries can be set up by either:

1. Using the app to create the geofence and permit access by friends and family,
2. Setting up location-based notifications for different locations,
3. Setting up geofences as an alert system for environmental patterns such as temperature, humidity, rainfall or air quality.

Geolocation might work best when combined with other technologies such as GPS or Bluetooth beacons to offer better contextual information to those within its range.

Application of Geofencing

Geofences are created for a variety of purposes. They are used to provide location-based information for users, to create virtual boundaries in games, or to monitor the location of things. Geofences are frequently used by companies that sell products in malls or other high traffic areas.

#1. User Tracking and Analysis

It would be used in many different industries such as retail, healthcare, and entertainment to track visitors at specific locations or to offer them special deals for visiting for the first time. When it comes to user experience design, geofenced areas can help you by defining zones and then sending custom notifications and information based on where the user is in relation to the zone.

#2. Marketing

Geofencing is the act of marketing by targeting consumers based on their location. This technology is quickly growing in popularity because it is easy to set up, works well on mobile devices, and can be used for any type of campaign.

Geofencing has many benefits that make it a popular form of marketing. It allows marketers to target specific audiences with tailored messages based on where they are located at the moment. Geofences can be set up to cover an entire country or city and there are no limits to how many geofences can be created.

#3. Social Networking

Geofencing, a relatively new technology, is being used in conjunction with social networking to create safe communities that connect people close to each other.

This will determine where you are at all times and will send notifications about events happening nearby or anything else that is relevant for its community.

#4. Audience engagement

Geofencing is a great tool for companies that want to reach audiences near them or need to dominate a local market. Geofences can be set up on particular search terms so they only reach people who are searching on those terms.

#5. Smart Devices

Geofencing is one of the most popular features in smart devices. It helps to customize an individual’s experience based on their location. With geofencing, when someone enters a specific geofenced area, they will receive notifications and updates when they enter that specific area.

Many companies are now using this feature to find out more about the people who are visiting their store or who are in that particular geographical region.

#6. Human Resources

Geofencing in the HR space has been in use for a while now and it is used in the following ways:

• Geofencing can be used to track an employee’s location and check if they are at work when they should be.
• Geofenced areas can also be used to provide detailed maps of specific locations, such as a warehouse or office building, with all the rooms and floors marked out.
• Geofences can also be utilized to create different zones which fit various company needs such as recreation, break room, etc.

HR departments utilize geofencing in their workflow by sending notifications about an employee’s location when he/she enters or leaves a specific zone. Allowing managers to monitor their employees more closely and efficiently.

Future of Geofencing

Geofencing is an interesting technology. It enables marketers to reach their target audience with the right message, at the right time and in the right place.

Marketers can personalise their content based on location using geofencing. Geofences are also used to drive traffic to physical stores by showing ads on smartphones when consumers are near a store location.

Geofencing can be used for targeting customers who have installed a company app or visited a partner site that has agreed to this type of targeting. Geofence-based advertising can also be used to promote specific products or services in retail locations by showing ads tailored to the user’s preferences.

Geofencing Examples

One of the most popular examples of geofencing is receiving a notification when you enter a specific area.

Geofencing is a location-based technology that can be used to trigger certain actions in an application.

For instance, when you cross the border into a certain country, you may receive notifications from your banking app with information on what you can do in that country different from what it would provide back home.

Or you receive a text notification from your telecom operator with information related to roaming.

The most common ways are for marketing purposes, such as sending coupons or discounts to customers who have been recently shopping at that store or driving by that store’s location.

If the user goes close to a store, he or she will be notified about discounts and other offers available at that particular location. If the user enters a hotel, he or she will receive information about room rates and availability.

5 Ways to Use Geofences for Better Marketing

This technique is gaining popularity in the marketing industry because it can be used in many different ways. Geofences can be triggered by time, location, radius from a store, proximity from physical landmarks and more.

You can use them to attract new customers, grow your audience, and increase engagement.

1. Offer exclusive discounts for people in a geofence.
2. Send push notifications when someone enters or leaves the geofence.
3. Personalize content based on location.
4. Run an advertising campaign that targets people who are near your store.
5. Target people who are near competitors.

Conclusion

Geofences are a cost-effective way to get detailed demographic information without having to spend time or money on surveys or other expensive data collection methods. Many companies use geofences to monitor their customers’ spending habits and details, which can be helpful in product development, marketing, and sales efforts.

Reference: Geofence

FAQ: What Is Geofencing