Seizing the Commuting Moment: Contextual Targeting Based on Mobile Transportation Apps

Despite the average daily commuting time of commuters increasing by the day, the way marketers can benefit from our commuting behaviors has not yet been thoroughly examined. Commuting can serve as one of the most attractive contexts that mobile marketers can target not only because of commuters’ high level of mobile engagement during long daily commutes but also because of its effortless and accurate identifiability. In collaboration with one of the largest global mobile service platform providers, this study investigates how contextual targeting with commuting is associated with responses to mobile coupons. The key findings indicate that commuters are about three times as likely to redeem their mobile coupon at a faster rate compared with noncommuters. However, multiple-coupon distribution strategy increases response rates more effectively among noncommuters than commuters. Moreover, the response rates of commuters and noncommuters are higher for coupons with shorter and longer expiration dates, respectively. The findings serve as useful guidance on who and which context to target, when to send mobile coupons, how many coupons to distribute, which coupons are more attractive, and what products should be advertised on mobile coupons. Despite the average daily commuting time of commuters increasing by the day, the way marketers can benefit from our commuting behaviors has not yet been examined. In collaboration with one of the largest global mobile telecom providers, this study investigates how contextual targeting with commuting impacts user redemptions of mobile coupons. The analysis is based on a rich field study in which 14,741 mobile coupons were sent to 9,928 public transit app users consisting of commuters and noncommuters. The key findings indicate that commuters are about 3× as likely to redeem their mobile coupon compared with noncommuters. However, a multiple-coupon distribution strategy is more effective in increasing redemption among noncommuters than commuters. Moreover, the redemption rate of commuters is higher for coupons with shorter expiration periods, whereas that of noncommuters is higher for coupons with longer expiration periods. On the basis of theories from psychology and physiology, we argue that stress, which is exacerbated by commuting, increases commuters’ coupon redemption rate. We provide empirical support for this argument and show that marketers can increase response rates by focusing on specific periods of the day when comm