So, what’s geolocation anyway?
Websites for enterprises, associations, and member-based organizations must go beyond simply offering information. They should engage customers and members, deliver value, provide value, and cater to their needs. This is where geolocation comes in, transforming your website from a static platform into a dynamic and personalized experience.
Geolocation is the process of identifying the real-world geographic location of a device or user. When it comes to websites, it refers to determining a user’s physical location based on their IP address, GPS coordinates, or Wi-Fi signals. This technology allows websites to tailor content and services to a user’s location, enhancing the overall user experience.
When a location becomes useful.
Geolocation isn’t just about showing people the weather—it unlocks a world of helpful features:
- Personalized content: Imagine a member organization website automatically displaying local chapter events based on a member’s location. This level of personalization fosters engagement and keeps members informed about relevant local activities.
- Targeted marketing: An enterprise website can use geolocation to display location-specific promotions or product recommendations. Think of highlighting regional sales reps for a B2B company or showcasing nearby stores for a retail chain.
- Enhanced user experience: Geolocation can streamline your user’s journey. For example, an association website could use location data to automatically direct international visitors to the appropriate language version of the site.
These three features offer plenty of benefits for your enterprise or association, including, but not limited to:
- Increased Engagement: Personalized experiences and location-specific content keep users engaged and returning for more.
- Improved Conversion Rates: Targeted marketing messages based on location are more likely to resonate with users, leading to higher conversion rates.
- Stronger Member Relationships: Associations can leverage geolocation to connect members with local events and resources, fostering a stronger sense of community.
- Data-Driven Decisions: Understanding your audience’s location can provide valuable insights into user behaviour and preferences, informing future website development and marketing strategies.
Data powering location magic.
In terms of how a website figures out where users are located, it’s pretty simple—most sites will request location information from the browser or look up the physical location of the user’s ISP. Even larger companies, such as news outlets and e-commerce sites, use this path to figure it out. Small pop-ups show up in the upper left corner of the browser, asking if they can use a location. This can create a better user experience with more personalized content if allowed.
At Twirling Umbrellas, we typically integrate this geolocation functionality into the theme to enable our websites to serve unique content to specific locations or regions.
Integrating geolocation into a streamlined site can enhance personalization for organizations with multiple chapters. By tailoring content to local regions, associations can ensure users receive relevant, location-specific information, fostering a more connected and engaging experience across all chapters.
Privacy matters: staying in control.
Geolocation functionality offers a lot of opportunities for both enterprise and association websites. However, harnessing this power also requires a commitment to user privacy. Here are some of the privacy considerations your organization should be aware of to have the best outcome:
- Transparency is Key: Be upfront with your users about collecting and using their geolocation data. Clearly explain what data is being gathered, how it’s stored, and for what purposes it’ll be utilized.
- User Consent Matters: Don’t assume users are comfortable sharing their location. Ensure you get clear and explicit consent before activating geolocation features on your website. Provide a straightforward way for users to opt in or out of location sharing and make it easy to revoke consent at any time.
- Data Security is Paramount: Geolocation data is sensitive information. Have robust security measures to protect user data from unauthorized access, breaches, or misuse. Regularly update your website’s security protocols and conduct vulnerability assessments.
- Data Minimization: Only collect location data necessary for your website’s functionalities. Avoid collecting and storing excessive location information that is not essential for the intended purpose.
- Compliance with Regulations: Regulations like GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) and PIPEDA (Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act) require websites and apps to be transparent about how location data is collected, stored, and used. Ensure your website’s geolocation practices comply with all relevant regulations in your target markets.
By prioritizing user privacy, you build trust with your audience. Users who feel their data is secure and respected are likelier to engage with your website and share information.
Accuracy matters: knowing the limits.
In a perfect world, people want to share their location with your website for the best user experience. But sometimes, people use VPNs to mask their location or may have their location settings turned off altogether. It’s important to be aware of these limitations when interpreting your site’s user data.
Also, even if users have their location services turned on, depending on how their device is set up, the location may not be 100% accurate. So, make sure you’re considering this when making decisions based on geolocation data. You might also want to consider clear wayfinding hints that content is tailored to a location and users should opt in or ensure that there’s a manual way to choose their location. This can be done on the content and design side and is a sign of clarity and trust for your users.
Geolocation examples:
While working with our enterprise and association clients, we’ve created some influential sites that use geolocation to enhance the experience for their audiences and users.
1. Acera Insurance
Acera Insurance is one of the biggest independent brokerages in Canada. It offers a variety of insurance products, including group, business, and personal benefits. This means it has many moving parts in many different regions nationwide.
Our development of their new website centres on delivering location-specific content tailored to users’ regions, driving leads to the nearest Acera branches. To achieve this, we created multiple versions of product pages where information varies by province, providing a streamlined user journey that immediately surfaces relevant information. For example, BC residents see ICBC-specific content for car insurance, while users in Manitoba or Ontario are presented with details pertinent to their needs, avoiding irrelevant information.
2. Nufloors Canada
Nufloors is one of Canada’s largest flooring retailers. Because each Nufloors location is independently owned, each store has its own products, services, and specialized offerings. The previous version of the Nufloors website had thousands of pages of duplicate content, resulting in a clunky user experience. This was tough for both front-end users and those managing the site from the back end.
Our solution was to create a central parent site for Nufloors that seamlessly directs users to their preferred local store by asking them when they land on the site or through the wayfinding choice at the top left of the site. That way, users can access the closest store or explore others nearby to find the products they’re looking for.
Finding yourself in the future
Organizations across industries increasingly recognize the value of geolocation in enhancing their digital offerings. By harnessing the power of location data, enterprise businesses and associations can create a more personalized, relevant, and engaging experience for their customers. Geolocation has become a strategic imperative when optimizing marketing campaigns, improving customer service, or developing innovative products and services.
By understanding a user’s location, your website can deliver tailored content, recommendations, and offers, ultimately driving user satisfaction and loyalty.
