"Footprints" Marketing - What Is It?

A few years ago, IBM developed a technology that helps stores learn more about their customers by following their footsteps.

According to Channel Web Network, IBM's technology -- called "Footprints" -- paints a digital map of the trails customers take through a store.

An IBM press release states, "The technology uses ceiling-mounted heat sensors -- similar to the ones used in motion detectors for alarm systems and home exterior lighting. Each sensor covers an area from one to two-and-a-half square feet. By compiling the data from multiple sensors and analyzing it by computer, retailers can determine how customers move through the store, how long they stay at a particular location and when traffic peaks and ebbs."

Here's the advantage to having this kind of technology: The layout of a store can be optimized for typical customer movements when tracking shopper's footsteps in the store. For example, if the tracking data tells you that people who are buyinng blue jeans are also buying t-shirts, it only makes sense to put the two items closer together, making access easier for the customer and spurring additional sales.

According to retail analysts, roughly 70 percent of all purchase decisions are made impulsively in the store. Shoppers typically spend less than five seconds thinking over each buy.

Also, customers actions are predictable: Customers tend to veer to the right soon after they enter a store, according to Paco Underhill, author of the book "Why We Buy." Underhill runs a New York consulting service that tracks consumers, often hiring consultants to literally follow shoppers as they walk through a store to learn more about what works and what doesn't. (Source: TechWeb.com)

According to IBM, Footprints also offers another advantage by preserving the privacy of the shopper. The data Footprints gathers only shows that a person or group of people were in a particular area at a particular time and doesn't discern other, more personal information.

While Footprints is interesting, this type of technology has existed online for many years, through your websites analytics program. You can literally track the exact movements of your websites visitors, including where they went, what action they took and how long they stayed on your website. For example, by carefully analyzing my websites analytics program, I know that the 5 most popular destinations on my website after my home page are the following categories:

1. Copywriting
2. Internet Marketing
3. Article Marketing
4. Internet Marketing Forums
5. Self Improvement/Motivational

Having this information at my fingertips allows me to concentrate on providing the type of content that my visitors actually want to read. It also allows me to put front and center the types of products and services my visitors would be most interested in purchasing. Catering to my visitors wants, needs and desires keeps them coming back to my website over and over again, and gives me numerous opportunities to convert them into customers.

Dale King is the owner of GuruKnowledge.org - The Ultimate Marketing Resource!

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