Latest / Marketing Automation with Fexingo: HubSpot, Marketo, and Automated Customer Journeys / How Marketing Automation Fails When You Move Cities
Transcript
- Lucas: So I finally did it — I moved across the country last month. And you know what happened? The very first week in my new city, I got an email from my airline's loyalty program: 'Great news, Lucas — you're eligible for a bonus on flights from your home airport!' Except they still thought my home airport was the one I'd just left. Luna: Oh, classic. So they were pushing you to fly out of your old airport, hours away. Did you click through? Lucas: No, but it got me thinking. That's a perfect example of what we're calling the geography blind spot in marketing automation. These systems track clicks, purchases, even browsing behavior, but they miss one of the biggest life events there is: a permanent move. Luna: And it's not just airlines. I bet my old cable provider still thinks I live in my college town. Every company I did business with has my old address. Lucas: Right. And the reason matters. It's not that they don't have the data — it's that they don't connect it. Your billing address changes, but the marketing database still has the old one. And even when they do update the billing, they rarely retrain the models that decide which offers to send. Luna: So the billing system knows you moved, but the marketing cloud is in the dark. That's a classic data silo problem. Lucas: Exactly. And the cost is real. One study from a few years back found that over forty percent of consumers have received irrelevant location-based offers after moving — and a third of them said it actively hurt their opinion of the brand. Luna: So it's not just annoying, it's brand damage. Lucas: It is. And it's so avoidable. I mean, think about what a move actually triggers: you need new services, you're buying new furniture, you're changing your commute, you're exploring new restaurants. That's a goldmine of purchase intent. But most automation just keeps sending the same 'welcome to your neighborhood' email — to the old neighborhood. Luna: And that's a moment when the customer is actually open to hearing from you. They just moved, they're making decisions, they're spending money. And you blow it by sending them a coupon for a store that's two states away. Lucas: So the question is: why is the industry so bad at this? I think part of it is that moves are relatively rare events. We build automation for the frequent stuff — abandoned carts, product views, anniversary dates. A move happens maybe every five or ten years, so it's not on the radar. Luna: But when it does happen, it's a big deal. It's like a wedding or a baby — you'd think they'd have a trigger for that. Lucas: And some do. But the triggers usually depend on the customer actually telling you. Like, there's a 'change of address' form. But we all know how often that gets filled out. And even when it does, the automation often stops at updating a field — it doesn't cascade into the rest of the journey. Luna: So it's not that the data isn't there, it's that it's not connected to the part of the system that decides what to send. Lucas: Right. And here's a concrete example. Let's say you have a customer who's been buying from a home-goods retailer for years. Their zip code has been constant. Then one day, their zip changes. If you're only tracking purchases, that looks like a data error. So you don't act on it. Luna: But if you're tracking life events, that's a signal — they may be moving, and they're about to need a lot of stuff. Lucas: Exactly. And some brands have started to catch on. I remember reading about a moving company that partnered with a furniture retailer — when someone booked a move, the retailer would send a 'new home essentials' campaign with a discount. That's smart. But it's rare because it requires two companies to share data, and that's hard. Luna: So what's the practical fix? If I'm a marketer using HubSpot or Marketo, what do I do today? Lucas: First, audit your data. How many of your contacts have a shipping address that hasn't been verified in over a year? You can bet a chunk of those have moved. Second, add a 'life event' field to your CRM — not just 'address', but 'move date' and 'old zip' and 'new zip'. Then use that to trigger a sequence. Luna: And if you don't have that field, you can infer it from behavior. Like, someone suddenly searching for 'apartments in Austin' or 'moving company'. Lucas: Exactly. And that's where machine learning can help. But even a simple rule — if a contact's IP geolocation changes drastically and they visited the 'relocation' page, flag them — can work. The key is to treat a move as a journey stage, not a data update. Luna: And I guess the flip side is, as a consumer, I should just keep my address updated everywhere. But honestly, who has time for that? Lucas: That's the point — the burden shouldn't be on the customer. A good automation system should be proactive. And there's a broader lesson here: marketing automation is only as smart as the life events it can detect. We've spent years getting better at tracking what people do on our site, but we've ignored what's happening in their actual lives. Luna: So the next frontier is integrating real-world signals. Like, you could use change of address data from the postal service, if that were available. Lucas: It is, in some countries, but it's often locked down. Still, there are third-party data providers that aggregate moves. The issue is that many marketers either don't know they exist or don't want to add another data source. But the ones who do — they're going to win. Luna: And win the loyalty of people like you, who are already annoyed at their airline. Lucas: Honestly, if just one airline had sent me a 'welcome to your new city' email with a discount for a local route, I'd be a customer for life. Instead, I got a flight deal from an airport I'll never visit again. Luna: Yeah, that's a missed connection. And it's not just airlines — think about all the subscription services, insurance, utilities. Every one of them had your old address. Lucas: Right, and that's the scale of the problem. But it also means there's a huge opportunity for the brand that gets it right. A move is one of the few times a customer is actively looking for new providers. If you can be the one who says 'we know you just moved, here's how we can help', you've got their attention. Luna: So what's the takeaway for our listeners who are marketers? What's the one thing they should do this week? Lucas: Look at your data for anyone who's interacted with a 'change of address' field or a 'relocating' page, and set up a simple campaign that acknowledges the move. Even if it's just a one-off email saying 'welcome to your new area', it's better than what most companies do — which is nothing. Luna: And if you don't have that data, start collecting it. Add a field on your preference center: 'Have you moved recently?' Lucas: Exactly. And you know, this is the kind of practical insight we try to bring every week, and we're able to do that because we keep this show ad-free. We don't run commercials, and that's a choice we've made from day one. If you appreciate that, and you want to support what we do, you can find us at buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo. It's a simple way to keep the episodes coming without any sponsor pressure. Luna: Yeah, and we really appreciate that support. It lets us stay independent and focus on topics like this, which we think matter to you. Lucas: So back to the move — I'm actually excited to see how the brands I interact with handle this. I've been updating my addresses, and I'm keeping a mental note of who gets it right. So far, my bank was on it — they updated everything automatically when I changed my address with them. But my gym? Still sending me reminders to come in for a workout at my old location, which is three hundred miles away. Luna: Maybe they're just motivational. 'Come in for a workout — it's a long drive, but think of the cardio.' Lucas: Ha. Well, that's the thing — a little bit of context would go a long way. If they just sent 'we know you moved, here's a nearby gym', I might have stayed a member. As it is, I'm shopping for a new gym in my neighborhood, and they're not in the running. Luna: So the lesson is: a move is a chance to keep a customer, not lose them. And the brands that see that will win. Lucas: Exactly. And it's not just about moves — it's about any life event that changes behavior. But moves are unique because they're so disruptive and so predictable. We know people move, yet we're still surprised when they do. Luna: Well, maybe we can do a follow-up episode in a few months and see if you've switched your airline. Lucas: I might have to. At least then I'll get emails about the right airport. But I'm not holding my breath.