5 Marketing App Features for Promoting Local Canadian Businesses

Despite the success of the “Shop Local” movement, Canadian consumers still show no clear preference for in-store or online shopping. About a third of them (35%) prefer making purchases online, and almost as many (34%) opt for in-store experiences.

Moreover, 30% of Canadian consumers say they have no preference.

So, how do you steer your potential customers into your store, especially those from the ‘no preference’ category? Localized marketing apps are one way to do exactly that.

Here’s everything to know about the localized marketing app’s core features – and its key benefits for local Canadian businesses.

5 Core Features of Localized Marketing Apps

A localized marketing app targets customers based on their real-time location to help drive foot traffic and sales. However, geolocation isn’t its only core feature – it’s just one among five.

Geolocation and Geofencing

Imagine your existing customers getting a push notification about your current sales as they pass by your store. To make this happen, your app will need the geolocation and geofencing features:

• Geolocation allows apps to leverage GPS, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, or cellular network data to identify the location of the user’s device in real time. Whenever you see your current location on a map, that’s geolocation at work.

• Geofencing involves establishing a virtual boundary around your store, typically by setting a radius around the store’s location. The app triggers a specific action once a device passes the boundary and enters the outlined area. For example, the user may receive a notification about a current sale when they are within the area.

Geolocation and geofencing are two interconnected capabilities in a localized marketing app. You can’t set up geofencing without implementing geolocation. Triggering push notifications with geolocation only, however, isn’t practical – you’ll need geofencing, too.

Data Collection and Analytics

Customer data is key to personalization. Collecting and acting on user preferences and behavior patterns can reduce acquisition costs by 50%, boost revenues by 5% to 10%, and improve marketing ROI by 10% to 30%.

Localized marketing apps can collect a variety of customer data, including:

• Contextual data: Device used, user’s location

• Demographic data: User age, gender, occupation, address

• Behavioral data: Search activity, app interaction history, bounce rate, abandoned cart data

AI/ML analytics tools use this data to micro-segment customers and personalize user experiences, product recommendations, and marketing campaigns. With its help, they can also forecast churn and determine the next best action to prevent it.

Besides collecting and analyzing customer data, you will also need to track app data to measure marketing effectiveness and ROI. Key metrics include click and open rates and conversion rates.

Keep in mind that personal data collection and processing activities are subject to the PIPEDA, the flagship privacy regulation in Canada. So, you’ll need to find the right security specialists to ensure compliance with that regulation and data security.

Push Notifications

Push notifications are central to this custom app idea: they are the main way you’ll be communicating with localized marketing app users. There are two main types of push notifications you may send out:

• Promotional: Sale alerts, event invites, new deals

• Transactional: Reminders, receipt notifications

You can set up push notifications to be sent based on the user’s location, preferences, or predicted behavior.

Data-driven segmentation and personalization are key to successfully using push notifications. In fact, better segmentation and personalization correlate with higher direct open rates. So, integrate your push notifications with customer data analytics for the best results.

Customer Loyalty and Engagement

Localized marketing apps wouldn’t be complete without customer loyalty features. They motivate customers to use your app and return to your store for another purchase.

Customer loyalty features can include:

• Digital loyalty cards to replace physical cards while generating more user data for personalization

• Rewards and incentives that allow customers to earn points through specific actions (purchases, “scan and earn,” etc.) and exchange them for discounts, freebies, or access to limited or pre-sell offers

• Coupons and discounts to provide customers with extra savings opportunities, which can be app-exclusive

• Gamified experiences with levels or tiers and trackable achievements to drive engagement

Integrations with Social Media and Payment Systems

Social media integrations enable users to share your special offers or events or make referrals on social networks in a couple of taps, giving your business more exposure as a result. You can encourage social media shares with extra rewards or loyalty program points to generate more word of mouth.

Integrating localized marketing apps with social media APIs can also facilitate account creation and login. Thanks to an authentication API, users can use their existing social media profiles to create or log into their accounts.

Accepting payments via the mobile app will enable users to make purchases in-app and stop by just to pick up their orders. Seamless in-app purchases facilitate shopping in general and make it easier for users to take advantage of promotions.

Common payment gateways include PayPal, Stripe, and Braintree. All payment gateways differ in transaction fees and accepted payment methods.

For a seamless payment experience, consider integrating your mobile app with Google Pay on Android devices and Apple Pay on their iOS counterparts.

5 Benefits Canadian Businesses Can Reap with Localized Marketing App

Localized marketing apps can boost your local targeting capabilities, improve the ROI of your marketing efforts, help you capitalize on the “Shop Local” movement, and more.

Better Local Targeting

Location-based targeting allows you to effectively reach potential customers who are already nearby. Besides, using real-time push notifications for this purpose is also more effective than other communication channels. The open rate for push notifications averages at 20%, as opposed to less than 2% for emails.

On top of that, localized marketing apps can help you drive your brand’s visibility by encouraging social media shares and reviews from existing customers. You can also offer referral incentives via the app to generate more word-of-mouth marketing.

Seasonal and Event-Based Marketing

As opposed to evergreen marketing, these two types of campaigns are relevant only for a certain period. The time limit can help you leverage FOMO (Fear of Missing Out) , while the notification timing allows you to tap into the customer segments already in the buyer stage. For example, certain users nearby could already be looking for stationary during the back-to-school sales.

Localized marketing apps enable you to draw shoppers’ attention to your time-sensitive offers when they are near your shop. Besides tapping into the already-present motivation for spending, your push notifications with discounts or promotions can provide the final incentive to make a purchase for the potential customer.

Support for the “Shop Local” Movement

The pandemic turbocharged the “Shop Local” movement across Canada, with the government making a $33 million investment to support small businesses in awareness-building campaigns.

But even before that, Canadian consumers were already showing a change in purchasing behavior. In 2020, consumers started buying local more often or for the first time ever.

The support for the shop local movement persists to this day. In 2023, most Canadian consumers stated that supporting local businesses was the main reason they bought local products. Provincial governments, in their turn, continue to help businesses with labeling programs like Les Produits du Québec.

You can benefit from your provincial government’s programs that support the movement to build a localized marketing app. The app, in turn, can help you tap into the customer segment that is willing to support local businesses with their spending.

Data-Driven Insights

Localized marketing apps can collect and analyze mountains of data about your customers and business performance. With the help of these data-backed insights, you can track the effectiveness of your loyalty program, customer engagement, churn, product performance, marketing ROI, and more.

These insights can then help you refine your targeting and buyer personas, as well as sales and marketing strategies. It’ll also provide you with insights into customer behavior, allowing you to find the most effective ways to reduce churn and increase customer satisfaction.

Strengthening Local Market Recognition

Localized marketing apps can help you build a community around your brand with social features and loyalty programs. When properly executed, community-oriented messaging turbocharges word of mouth, promoting your brand recognition locally as a result.

For example, you can use the app to promote local events, sponsorships, and partnerships with other local businesses to show you’re part of the local community. This will improve your standing with the customers who want to support companies that give back to their community.

Integrio’s 5 Best Practices for Developing Marketing Apps

As an experienced outsourcing partner with HQ in Canada, Integrio Systems has been building reliable and scalable solutions for businesses for 20+ years now. Our area of expertise spans cloud solutions for Canadian manufacturers, AI-powered consumer loyalty tools, scalable ERP systems, and more.

Here are the five best practices we’d like to share with any business that is considering developing a localized marketing app:

• Privacy first. Canadian businesses are bound by the PIPEDA to ensure data privacy in all operations, and your app is no exception. So, use the Privacy by Design framework during development to minimize compliance risks and build trust among customers.

• Minimum notifications. 42% of users disable push notifications when their number reaches just three to six a week. 31% more will do so if they receive six to ten push notifications a week. So, minimize the number of notifications to avoid causing fatigue among users.

• Relevance and timing. To make the most out of your push notifications, ensure they are timely and relevant. The best way to do it is by leveraging data analytics to identify the most relevant notifications for each customer based on their preferences and previous interactions with your business.

• Cross-platform optimization. Roughly 60% of Canadians use iOS devices, while 40% have opted for Android. So, to effectively target both user categories, your app has to be present on iOS and Android. To keep development cost-efficient, consider web app development or cross-platform technologies (e.g., React Native, Flutter, Xamarin).

• Integration with loyalty programs. While location-based push notifications are the main feature of localized marketing apps, loyalty features shouldn’t be overlooked. They are the main way you can motivate users to install and use your app. So, determine the loyalty features your users will respond to – and invest in implementing them.

Final Thoughts

The “Shop Local” mindset continues to drive shopping decisions among Canadians. A localized marketing app can help you tap into it – all while increasing foot traffic, customer loyalty, and revenue. Beyond that, localized marketing apps can also be your key to understanding your customers’ behavior better and increasing marketing effectiveness.

However, building a localized marketing app requires paying close attention to data privacy, cross-platform optimization, and well-thought UX/UI. If you choose Integrio as your outsourcing partner, we’ll address these challenges for you – and ensure your app adds value to the customer journey.

Learn more about how Integrio’s outsourcing services can help you drive foot traffic and boost sales with a localized marketing app.