Behavior Modification Part 2

GoWalla

In my last article, I wrote about the potential of a mobile application to change user behavior, that the real opportunity for marketers was in finding ways to convert this new behavior into profit. I’ve got an application on my phone right now that has the ability to do just that. It is called “Gowalla,” and it is pretty dang cool.

So just what is Gowalla? In brief, it is a social-networking type application that uses my location to share information about where I am and what I’m doing. When I reach a particular location (Gowalla calls them “spots”), I use the application to “check in.” It uses GPS data to determine if I’m actually in the right location, and if I am, I’m allowed to check in. If I want, I can push that information directly to my Facebook page or Twitter account. And if I’ve told it to do so, it will also tell my friends who use Gowalla that I’ve just checked in.

All of Gowalla’s spots are user-generated (not populated from a database), and you can create your own. So if your favorite eatery, park, museum or sidewalk crack isn’t currently listed, you can add it and other people can find it, too. You can also add comments about the location. Say, for example, you’re having a bowl of noodles at Mekong River (which I did earlier today). You can comment about how yummy the noodles are. That information is stored, and when other users view the spot, they can see what I wrote. In that way, Gowalla builds a community of shared information about the locations Gowalla users frequent.

Gowalla also allows you to collect “stamps” at the locations you’ve visited, and they get placed in your “passport.” The really cool thing about that is that you have a record that is GPS verified. If friends don’t believe that you were at the Eiffel Tower last Thursday, you can prove it.

In and of itself, Gowalla’s a neat application that’s fun to play with. But the real potential power of the app is in how it can change behavior. I’ve already visited several new places downtown, simply because there’s a Gowalla spot there. And as a creature of habit, I really like seeing the restaurants that other folks have added. But it is in the potential for marketing applications that it gets really exciting. Imagine if – as a restaurant or shop owner – you could accurately verify how many times someone has been to your establishment, and reward them accordingly? What if you could push an offer to someone based on the location of their last check in? This functionality doesn’t yet exist in Gowalla – but it is hard not to get excited about the possibilities. As a user, I’d love to be rewarded for visiting the places I go anyway (or being incented to visit new places). As a marketer, I love the metrics inherent in what Gowalla already does.

Gowalla is one of hundreds of applications that have unrealized business applicability. The mobile application market is growing – with devices on a number of platforms (Android, Blackberry, Windows Mobile) launching, or slated to launch. And though most of the applications that originate from a marketing organization are designed only to build brand equity, it is easy to imagine that changing. Just two weeks ago, Chris Wood wrote about coupons being the next trend in mobile marketing. Increasingly, I think we’ll see applications that are designed not just to encourage usage of the app itself, but designed to drive specific real-world behavior.