Situation #1:
Display Local Currencies, Prices and Taxes
Not all of your products have the same price in all countries and you want to display to the visitor only the products and prices that are available in the country that they are in. Or, maybe you want to strategically offer different prices, rates and promotions based on location. Showing your prices in your visitor’s currency will help you transform your Web site from domestic to international and increase your sales by talking to your customers in their currency. Integrating IP geolocation data into your Web application gives you the ability to provide a unique online experience tailored to each visitor’s location.
By knowing the location of your Web visitors you could:
- Tailor your Web content, ad copy and landing pages to the visitor by including local currencies and pricing.
- Use the same template to create different versions of your landing pages. For example, for visitors from Mexico you could automatically redirect them to a page translated into Spanish, with the product prices shown in Pesos and advertising your store locations in Mexico. And, if the user was logging in from Paris the content could be in French and the prices in Euros.
- Restrict visitors from other countries from seeing certain products and prices – no angry customers.
Solution:
To display localized currency, prices, and/or taxes, Neustar IP Intelligence recommends you query the IP address location of each visitor to Web pages that display prices. For currency, you would review the Neustar IP Intelligence-provided data field for “Country,” then write a business rule to interpret the data. For example: IF (Country = “Japan”) THEN [serve currency in YEN]. A best practice is to also offer a link to allow the customer to change the currency or location.
To display localized prices you could review the data fields for Country, State, and City, depending on how granular your price differences are. To calculate taxes (e.g, sales tax, food tax), the “State” level should be used. For example, sales tax in Virginia is 5%; however, sales tax in Florida is 6%. You would query the IP address location of each visitor where price values are displayed. Alternatively, it is possible to only query Neustar’s data at the landing page, then store a cookie for that user session until final pricing is calculated and the transaction is completed.
Depending on the traffic volumes expected, Neustar IP Intelligence’s data can be accessed locally using API calls to the highly efficient Neustar IP Intelligence GeoDirectory Server which runs in your data center. Alternatively, for lower traffic volumes, Neustar IP Intelligence data can be accessed using SOAP calls to the Neustar IP Intelligence On-Demand Web service. In either case, the data retrieval is as easy as making a single API or SOAP call.
Situation #2:
Show Your Closest Store Locations
You want to drive traffic to your physical stores by targeting customers visiting your Web site or searching online for your products and services. Displaying a list of your closest stores makes customers more likely to visit your local business. By integrating IP geolocation data into your Web application you can display for visitors a customized landing page with a store locator based on their current location – without asking them to type in their address or zip code. This landing page could include a map, directions, phone number, even a printable coupon.
By knowing the location of your Web visitors you could:
- Automatically show visitors the closest store without the need to type in an address.
- Deliver relevant messaging to visitors for stores in their local area.
- Increase sales by driving online traffic into your local businesses.
- Offer the visitor coupons or notify them of special events based on their location.
Solution:
To display a store locator on your site, Neustar IP Intelligence recommends you query the IP address location of each home page visitor. You would review the Neustar IP Intelligence-provided data field for City, Zip Code, Area Code and Designated Market Areas (DMA). DMAs are groupings of US counties that can be reached by a specific group of TV stations as specified by Neilson Media Research. There are 210 DMAs in the US. There is extensive demographic information available for these areas and Neustar IP Intelligence provides them to help our customers understand the demographics of their populations.
You would then write a simple IF THEN rule to interpret the data. For example:
IF (City = “San Francisco”) THEN [serve ww.acme.sanfrancisco.mystore.storedetail]
The results can also be integrated into mapping software to provide driving directions. As a best practice you should display all of your store locations within a 30 mile radius to accommodate work and home traffic routes. You also should have a generic “locator” page to default to if the city cannot be determined or to allow the user to enter in another location.
Depending on the traffic volumes expected, Neustar’s data can be accessed locally using API calls to the highly efficient Neustar IP Intelligence GeoDirectory Server which runs in your data center. Alternatively, for lower traffic volumes, Neustar IP Intelligence data can be accessed using SOAP calls to the Neustar IP Intelligence On-Demand Web service. In either case, the data retrieval is as easy as making a single API or SOAP call.
Situation #3:
Display Local News, Events and Weather
You want to tailor your Web content to each visitor by displaying relevant content, such as local news, events, and weather? Depending on the nature of your company, you may even want to sell advertising on your site to local businesses. By integrating IP geolocation data into your Web application you can offer visitors localized content by state, city, even neighborhoods. In fact many consumers are turning to Neustar IP Intelligence customer hyper local sites like Examiner.com or City Search as their source for local information. By knowing the location of your Web visitors you could create geotargeted dynamic landing pages. Based on the visitors location the headline, weather and events listing might change, while the rest of the copy remains static. With these targeted audiences, you have the perfect platform for national, regional and local advertisers seeking specific audience targeting capabilities. Advertisers can determine precisely where their ads will run; ensuring that each impression reaches its target audience and the impression is not wasted.
Solution:
To display local news, events or weather, Neustar IP Intelligence recommends you query the IP address location of each visitor to pages containing those values. You would review the Neustar IP Intelligence-provided data fields of Country, State, Region and City, depending on the necessary granularity.
The landing pages can be dynamic, meaning that only a portion of the page needs to be geolocated. For example, you could change the graphic, banner ad, event title, etc. depending on location, but leave the rest of the landing page template the same. Additionally, best practices call for having a generic “location” page to default to if your are not certain of the location.
Depending on your objectives, you also could review the Neustar IP Intelligence provide fields of Designated Market Areas (DMA’s) and Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs). DMAs are groupings of US counties that can be reached by a specific groups of TV stations as specified by Neilson Media Research, There are 210 DMA’s in the US. MSAs are geographical boundaries of US counties or towns using data gathered by the US Census Bureau. There is extensive demographic information available for these areas, and Neustar IP Intelligence provides them to help our customers understand the demographics of their populations. For example, you could study a visitor’s behavior by calculating the distance between their actual location and your target promotion location.
Neustar IP Intelligence customer Examiner.com, one of the fastest growing Web sites for local news and information, uses geolocation to deliver geotargeted advertising and news to over 2 million monthly unique visitors in 57 US markets. Examiner.com segments their Web site into city editions and offers their advertisers geotargeted banner ad opportunities within the major metropolitan cities across the US. Ad campaigns can be targeted to a city edition, to a content category such as Sports, Entertainment or Technology, or in any combination.
Neustar IP Intelligence’s data can be accessed locally using API calls to the highly efficient Neustar IP Intelligence GeoDirectory Server which runs in your data center. Alternatively, for lower traffic volumes, Neustar IP Intelligence data can be accessed using SOAP calls to the Neustar IP Intelligence On-Demand Web service. In either case, the data retrieval is as easy as making a single API or SOAP call.
