Understanding your customer’s behavior requires you to ask three questions: Who is the visitor? What are they looking for? And did they visit your physical location? Most companies encounter their customers in digital silos, therefore also isolating every physical encounter. And most fail to see their customers holistically across the multi-screen customer journey.

86 percent of 500 brand marketers surveyed in the US and the UK said that their business’ website was mobile friendly, and 76 percent actually have a dedicated app. I can’t express how valuable it is to be able to reach your customers on mobile devices since just about all of them own one.

Did you know that there is also a wealth of information buried in those mobile devices? This isn’t just data; this material represents important opportunities to better service your customers. But how do you track that data? Well, here are some of the ways.

Cross-Device Attribution

If one customer is using at least three different devices, how do we track them? This is where cross-device attribution could very well prove to be an invaluable opportunity for your marketing team.

Each device used by a customer can contribute to the completion of a sale in some way, and the data these devices provide is important to think about when looking at a customer’s journey. For instance, 32 percent of customers take their first steps toward making a purchase through mobile searching, then ultimately complete their purchase path on a computer or in store.

Through cross-device attribution, you can identify which device a customer is most likely to use for purchase and then design advertisements to suit that platform. Mobile ads will have less text than desktop ads and should feature an increased button size to make them “thumb-friendly.” Seeing how a mobile user switches from one device to another through cross-device attribution is a great way to improve the way your business communicates with potential buyers.

Geotagging

Cross-device attribution is one way to view the map your customers create as their relationship forms with your business, but another option is through geotagging. Geotagging helps customers find locations from image, photographs, websites, video, etc. The best way to track a mobile user through geotagging is by utilizing social media.

When a customer tags your location or product, you can get an idea of what their experience was like while engaging with your business. Instagram is one platform where mobile users are most likely to take a picture and tag your location, but you can also geotag through Facebook posts and Tweets. You can tag your website, content, RSS feeds and social media platforms in order to improve your search engine ranking, too.

You want your customers to find you as easily as possible, right? Geo-targeted ads are another way to track mobile users by leveraging the power of geotagging. Say you have a new product that’s being sold at only a few of your locations. You’ll want to target customers in those areas to notify them about this exciting deal. Then, when the geo-targeted ad is clicked on, you can see how sales have increased in the location where the product is being featured.

Show your customers that you value their relationships by personalizing their experience. Trust me, personalized touches like these can mean the difference between lackluster sales and success!

Beacons

Want to go the extra mile? The emergence of beacon technology is allowing business locations to track mobile users while they are in the store. Beacons are devices that can be placed throughout your location and send notifications to your customers’ mobile device. Beacon technology provides insight into the real-time mobile journey of your customers as they engage with your business. It also gives you the ability to connect a customer’s online and offline experience.

The technology combines the golden nuggets of a customer’s mobile data with their in-store path to provide an optimized experience. At this point you’re wondering, “How can I use beacons to help my business grow?” Use beacons to send a notification to a customer reminding them to mention their presence in your location on social media. You can then track their presence and increase your visibility at the same time. A double dip of value!

Conclusion

When utilized correctly, all of these mobile tracking tools and tactics can be extremely beneficial for marketing, personalizing experiences and, ultimately, customer conversion. Think about it—when you access the valuable information hidden in a mobile device, you can create a custom experience for each of your customers. Cross-device attribution shows you who the visitor is, geo-targeted ads can provide information about what they want and beacons will answer the question, “Did they show up?” Give your business the opportunity to reach its full potential by doing more to learn about your customers and how you can best reach them.