Feature launch: Source-level geolocation enrichment

At RudderStack, we’re committed to enabling data teams to turn their customer data into competitive advantage. Personalization is a primary means to this end. Tailoring content, offers, and recommendations to individuals is proven to enhance positive business outcomes like purchases and repeat engagement. But personalization requires the application of demographic, behavioral, and location data. Geolocation data, in particular, enables you to run geofenced campaigns, serve localized content, and make location-based offers or recommendations.

So, it’s no surprise that geolocation enrichment is one of the most popular uses for our beloved Transformations feature. Transformations allow you to transform your event data in flight using custom Javascript or Python functions. Because of their inherent flexibility, they enable a range of use cases. But this flexibility can come with a tradeoff – for the geolocation use case, it means you have to write a transformation for each individual destination, even if they’re all connected to the same source. This creates redundant work and adds room for error. We saw this as an opportunity for a better solution.

A transformation as powerful and popular as geolocation enrichment should be easy to implement without redundant work. That’s why we’re proud to introduce one-click geolocation enrichment. Geolocation enrichment is now as easy as flipping a toggle, and it’s available for early release on all sources and compatible destinations.

How it works

Every RudderStack source now has a geolocation enrichment toggle. When on, the feature enables automatic geolocation enrichment to compatible destinations. You no longer have to write code and apply a custom transformation for every destination.

Our geolocation enrichment feature uses IP address to look up geolocation information from MaxMind, enriches your event payloads with available location-related data, and automatically sends them downstream. Because the toggle controls geolocation enrichment from the source, not the destination, every compatible destination automatically receives geolocation data without additional work.

Like all RudderStack Transformations, geolocation enrichment happens in flight between source and destination. The feature makes it easier to add additional transformations to destinations without the risk of interfering with geolocation enrichment. You can see your geolocation enrichment in our transformation or destination live events viewer.

Feature demo: Geolocation enrichment

Check out the demo below to see the geolocation enrichment in action.

Get started

Geolocation data unlocks a powerful group of personalization use cases that can help you turn your customer data into competitive advantage. One-click, source-level geolocation enrichment is now available in RudderStack for early access on all paid plans. If you’re currently using transformations for geolocation enrichment, now you can simplify your event pipelines and transformations. If you aren’t currently enriching your data it’s now easier than ever to get started. Read the docs, and reach out to our team to begin enriching your payloads today.