5 Analytics Platforms SMBs Can Use to Parse Customer Data

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With as many as 82% of smartphone users relying on mobile devices to help guide their in-store purchasing decisions, there is little doubt that online activities are affecting offline-purchasing behavior. What remains unclear, however, is whether small businesses are prepared to leverage the information they gather based on their customers’ mobile usage to improve their targeted marketing efforts.

A number of platforms are making it easier for local merchants to track consumer behavior on mobile devices, allowing retailers to analyze the influence that check-ins, mobile apps usage, and foot traffic patterns have on their bottom line. Here are five platforms that give businesses ways to use online data for better consumer targeting.

1. Euclid: Gather insight into shopper behavior.
Brick-and-mortar retailers who want insight into how their customers shop can turn to Euclid. The analytics company places small sensors in its clients’ stores that are used to pull all sorts of data from shoppers’ Wi-Fi-enabled phones. Retailers can look at capture rates to measure the effectiveness of their window displays, visit-frequency rates to determine whether special offers are increasing customer loyalty, and visit-duration statistics to gauge how their salespeople’s effectiveness at engaging shoppers and keeping them in the store. Euclid’s Standard plan costs $200 per store each month. The company also offers custom pricing options for larger chains and malls.

2. Placed: Obtain more information from mobile apps and websites.
Placed gathers location data from mobile devices and layers it with various types of metadata, like venue names and business categories. This information is then used to create detailed reports for businesses. Merchants can rely on the platform to determine whether adding certain features to their mobile apps (like voice controls or bar code scanners) could affect in-store purchasing behavior. Businesses can also determine where most customers were located when they visited their mobile sites. A clothing store that finds out that the majority of those visiting its site were at nearby fitness studios, for example, could use that information to create a targeted marketing campaign. Placed offers free tools for brands and developers.

3. MomentFeed: Measure the influence of check-ins. 
Businesses can use MomentFeed to determine whether their online marketing efforts on social networks like Facebook, Foursquare, Twitter, and Instagram are leading to offline sales. The social marketing platform tracks check-in behavior and turns that information into data that can be used to gauge customer demographics, visit frequency, and campaign performance. Retailers with multiple locations can also see what effect offline campaigns (such as print or television ads) have on check-in behavior at individual stores. MomentFeed offers a tiered pricing structure that varies according to the number of locations a business is monitoring.

4. Geotoko: Use data to create better location-based promotions.
Geotoko helps businesses and brands run smarter location-based promotions on platforms like Foursquare, Facebook, and Twitter. Retailers with multiple locations can create promotions with the help of Geotoko’s “campaign wizard.” Within 24 hours, the data being gathered through these promotions will start appearing on the Geotoko dashboard page. Merchants can find out when their stores are busiest and slowest and use the platform’s heat maps feature to compare their locations to competitors in the same neighborhood. Geotoko offers a small business package with prices that start at $149 per month.

5. Swipely: Understand what your customers want.
Merchants who want more information about the customers making purchases in their stores can use Swipely to identify patterns and opportunities for growth. Relying on the data generated by Swipely’s payment service, merchants can determine which days and times are the slowest and whether external factors (such as the weather) have an impact on in-store sales. Through this information, businesses can make smarter decisions about the best times to send targeted offers. Swipely says most merchants can implement its tools at no cost, however, businesses must contact the company directly for specific pricing information.

Know of other platforms that retailers could use to gather data based on their online marketing efforts? Leave a description in the comments.

Stephanie Miles is an associate editor at Street Fight.

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Stephanie Miles is a journalist who covers personal finance, technology, and real estate. As Street Fight’s senior editor, she is particularly interested in how local merchants and national brands are utilizing hyperlocal technology to reach consumers. She has written for FHM, the Daily News, Working World, Gawker, Cityfile, and Recessionwire.