Andy Ashley, International Marketing Director at Digital Element, discusses the many uses of IP geolocation data.
Understanding and connecting with audiences is a vital ingredient of business success. But in the turbulence surrounding the COVID-19 outbreak, the needs and behaviours of both consumers and businesses are changing rapidly and unpredictably, making real-time audience insight more important than ever.
IP intelligence is a valuable resource businesses can use to better understand the continually changing needs of their customers, and adapt their strategies to meet those needs. It is a fast, accurate, secure, and privacy-sensitive way of finding the physical location of a user when they connect to the internet, right down to postcode level. Proxy type, device, and the type of connection used to access the web can all also be unveiled, adding valuable context to user interactions.
Here are just a handful of ways IP intelligence can drive success for digital businesses:
1. Targeted marketing messaging
Businesses can use location and other IP-targeting data points to help segment online audiences, and ensure they are reaching the right people with messages that are more contextually relevant and really resonate. By applying IP intelligence to their marketing campaigns, companies can maximise reach, relevance, and response while boosting efficiency by minimising wasted spend on advertising. They can use additional insight about connection type to deliver the right type of advertising, for instance by delivering a video ad to a laptop-user at home, and a display ad to a smartphone-user on the move.
2. Website content localisation
With IP intelligence able to accurately and non-invasively identify the location of online visitors down to ZIP or postcode level, businesses can use it to automatically localise their website content, simplifying the user experience and making it more contextually relevant. Businesses can customise content, language, and currency to the user’s location, which is particularly vital in the APAC region with its unique and diverse markets. They can also adapt merchandising, featuring the specific products or services available in the user’s region or displaying promotions for their nearest venue or store, ultimately creating a connection with visitors and enhancing their experience.
3. Content rights management
As the popularity of streaming grows, so too does the importance of being able to manage Geographic Rights. IP intelligence presents a simple and elegant solution, empowering broadcasters to effectively manage rights by identifying a user’s location at a country or regional level. This allows access to content to be restricted or allowed depending on geographic licensing requirements. Using more granular geographic IP information, down to postcode level, can also help combat password sharing. For example, identifying multiple logins from separate locations or matching the proximity of a login to the user’s known location can help reduce this damaging practice. Finally, using an IP solution that includes VPN data further supports content owners in understanding how viewers are connecting, and whether additional action needs to be taken to ensure license rights compliance.
4. Online fraud prevention
Online fraud comes in many forms, from account takeovers to card-not-present fraud. Amid the fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic, criminals are inevitably taking advantage of the situation, and finding new ways to defraud businesses and consumers. To detect and help prevent online fraud, businesses must be able to authenticate user identity without compromising privacy, to detect out-of-the-ordinary activity based on regular user patterns, and to establish a process that blocks transactions or flags them for review without alienating genuine users. By providing a user’s accurate location as well as various other data points, IP geolocation data assists with all three needs, breaking down the internet’s anonymity barriers, such as proxies and VPNs, and helping businesses with their fraud prevention strategies.
Audience understanding is essential for all businesses, but in a rapidly changing world turned upside down by COVID-19, quick and accurate insight is more important than ever. IP geolocation data is a valuable resource that can be used by businesses in a variety of ways to get to know their audiences and to connect with them in a way that drives success.