Using Analytics to Improve Location Targeting

Jason Brewster - May 4, 2016

When focusing on your website’s location targeting strategy, it is important to consult your data. When targeting users in an ad platform, there are often robust, simple-to-use tools. Alternatively, the prospect of targeting users on site is more difficult than it is in ad platforms.

The location data will either have to be collected from the user directly via form, or inferred from the browser. Google Analytics collects information on users through the browser but they will not surface the results on your webpage. This means that targeting your location-based experience will be up to your developers.

Advertising to Site by Location

To ensure the best possible results from your location-targeted advertising, be sure to carry over the location information from your advertising platform to your website experience; whether you are doing this through a landing page or skinning the entire website for visitors from different regions.

Locations for Online Stores

When personalizing your website for users from different locations, try to isolate the KPIs that are affected by region or city. This will allow you to observe the difference and optimize the product displayed to your audience.

It is possible to review the average order value (AOV) by location to present products that are sorted by cost. Additionally, it is possible to reach out into publically available data to find median incomes by city and assign luxury goods or commodities accordingly. If your online store has a powerful filtering system, then you can test different configurations on different audiences.

Locations for Lead Gen

For websites that are part of a larger sales funnel or that need to generate leads, location targeting can be a valuable part of your A|B testing strategy. Populate a cadre of different calls-to-action, some personalized, some with static messaging, and then create a test that features each. After a few weeks you will have data on what messaging works (and what doesn’t.)

Remember to integrate your analytics with your A|B testing platform to be able to measure which variables have the best lift in your KPI set by location.