Smartwatches have become one of the most influential tools in a marketer’s toolkit. What started as a fitness tracker or digital watch has evolved into a real-time data hub, monitoring everything from your steps to your sleep, your stress levels to your location. And yes, that data is increasingly being used to help shape more personalized marketing campaigns.

But as the wearable tech industry grows, smart rings have also started to gain attention, raising fresh questions about privacy, accuracy, and limitations. So, how exactly are marketers utilizing smartwatch data, and what are the potential challenges of the next generation of wearables like smart rings?

Let’s take a closer look.

How Smartwatch Data Fuels Marketing Campaigns

Marketing companies are progressively making use of the detailed data collected from smartwatches to tailor outreach more effectively than ever before. Here’s an overview of how this works:

Behavioral Targeting at a New Level

Smartwatches offer a rich source of behavioral data—daily activity patterns, sleep cycles, heart rate variability, and even stress responses. This enables brands to deliver ads that are aligned with your habits. For example, if your watch shows you’re most active around 6 PM, you might start seeing health food or fitness gear promotions appear around that time.

Hyper-Local Advertising

Smartwatches frequently track GPS location, making them an effective tool for location-based marketing. A coffee shop might offer you a coupon when you’re nearby. A gym chain could target you after noticing a decrease in your activity levels.

Real-Time Engagement

With notifications sent directly to your wrist, open rates for SMS and app messages are often higher compared to email. Marketers appreciate that you are more likely to see and engage with a wrist notification than a banner ad on your phone.

Smartwatch Data + CRM = Targeted Automation

When smartwatch data is integrated with advanced CRMs like GoHighLevel, the possibilities expand. GoHighLevel can trigger automated workflows based on behavioral data, such as sending a personalized SMS after a user reaches a fitness milestone or offering a wellness product after consistent sleep issues are detected. These platforms centralize data and automate personalized follow-ups across channels, enhancing both user experience and ROI. This is one reason why many of these companies work with a GoHighLevel agency to monitor and market to wearers.

Audience Insights and Product Development

Smartwatch data doesn’t just power ads—it also helps inform product strategies. Brands utilize aggregated data to identify patterns in user behavior, which can influence future product offerings and customer experiences.

Privacy Concerns and Ethical Red Flags

While the marketing potential is apparent, so are the concerns. Much of the data shared by wearable devices is deeply personal. Health status, location, and biometric readings raise important questions about consent and ethical use. As data protection regulations tighten globally, marketers need to proceed cautiously.

Where Smart Rings Fit Into the Picture

Smart rings are the sleek, screen-free cousins of smartwatches—designed for users who seek health tracking without the bulk. But while they may seem like the next step in wearable tech, they do have some limitations.

What are the disadvantages of smart rings? Here are a few to consider:

• Limited sensor range compared to smartwatches—no display, no GPS, and often less accurate heart rate tracking.

• Comfort and fit issues—an improperly sized ring can affect both usability and data accuracy.

• Durability concerns—rings can be more susceptible to damage and may be more challenging to charge or sync consistently.

• Privacy vulnerabilities—the data they collect is just as sensitive, but often shared with fewer safeguards.

While smart rings may be ideal for passive tracking—such as monitoring sleep—they currently lack the real-time engagement and flexibility that make smartwatches particularly valuable to marketers.

The Bottom Line

The future of wearable tech is about much more than just counting steps. Smartwatches and their data are helping to reshape how companies market, communicate, and build customer relationships—often in ways that users may not even be fully aware of.

And when platforms like GoHighLevel are used to harness this data effectively, marketers can create well-informed, thoughtful, and timely outreach with a precision that is still being explored.

However, as the industry looks toward new devices like smart rings, both consumers and marketers should remain mindful of the potential trade-offs. While greater convenience is often appealing, it can sometimes come at the cost of accuracy, utility, and privacy. Whether it’s your wrist or your finger collecting the data, one thing remains clear: the world of marketing will be watching.