From coffee shops to shopping malls to restaurants and more, free Wi-Fi access is practically ubiquitous today. Know why? Customers and visitors demand it. Despite the increased demand for it, many businesses in the United States are hesitant to offer free Wi-Fi to the public or their customers. If you’re among them, then you need to rethink your decision. This is because free in-store Wi-Fi is much more than just a foot traffic generator.
Reason to Offer Free Guest Wi-Fi In-Store
Why should you warm up to the Wi-Fi revolution and start offering free guest Wi-Fi on-premise or in-store? There are several benefits of this including:
- Bringing in new customers who walk by your store or venue. As most consumers have a need to be connected, simply advertising free Wi-Fi via a window/door decal will do the trick.
- Increasing time spent in-store or on-premise which results in increase spend as Wi-Fi enables consumers to stay productive and connected, giving them no reason to rush their meals or shopping process
- Gaining a competitive edge; offering fast and reliable Wi-Fi will attract customers to your physical location and those customers will spread the word, attracting even more customers to your location, which will allow you to gain an advantage over businesses that don’t offer guest free Wi-Fi on-premise or in-store
Despite these benefits, you may be skeptical about offering free guest Wi-Fi at your physical location due to the costs involved. Although offering free Wi-Fi can be an expensive monthly bill, the costs can be offset with a Wi-Fi marketing automation and customer analytics platform. This platform offsets the costs of free Wi-Fi by encouraging sales and repeat business.
How Wi-Fi Marketing Can Turn Your Free In-Store Guest Wi-Fi Into a Profit Generating Tool
Wi-Fi marketing automation and customer analytics platform can have a positive impact on your bottom line. It can ensure this by turning your free guest Wi-Fi into a customer tracking, engagement, and loyalty tool. Following is how Wi-Fi marketing enables benefits for your bottom line:
1. Passively and Quickly Collect Customer Demographic and Behavior Data
To understand your customers, you need to do some research on them. If you’re not aware of what your customers want, then you won’t be able to meet their demands. In other words, you won’t be able to provide them with the product/service they want. This, in turn, will negatively impact your bottom line.
The good news is that you can solve the above problem by offering free Wi-Fi to your customers and by using Wi-Fi marketing software. When your customers try to connect to the free in-store Wi-Fi, the Wi-Fi marketing software will ask them to fill out a form. You can use the form to get feedback about your business or get answers to questions.
By asking customers questions, you can determine the demographics of customers as well as their likes and dislikes for the products and services you offer. Once you have this information, you can plan your products and services accordingly and get the best results.
2. Easily Implement Mobile Marketing Strategies That Land in The Hands of Customers When and Where It Matters Most
At present, there are 1900 million people in the world using mobile phones and this has led to a rise in mobile marketing. Mobile marketing is something you should ignore at your own peril. Total spend on mobile advertising is expected to reach $46 billion by 2019 and it is easy to see why.
The number of people using Wi-Fi is increasing each day. Businesses that make Wi-Fi marketing part of their overall business strategy enjoy a plethora of benefits. This includes improving brand loyalty, enhancing customer experience, and chartering a course for the future based on the data and intelligence that is right at their fingertips.
Considering that customers walk around town with their smartphones glued to their hand, it only makes sense for businesses everywhere to free in-store Wi-Fi. Unfortunately, that is not yet the case. Many businesses assume that offering free Wi-Fi in-store is not worth the expense. However, that couldn’t be more untrue. Wi-Fi presents businesses with a wealth of opportunities for tapping into the connected world and engaging with their customers in new ways.
Today, more and more businesses are relying on Wi-Fi to understand their customers better. Many businesses are taking advantage of Wi-Fi to launch digital strategies and connected experiences for customers. Previously, this luxury was only available to big retailers and other established businesses. However, with the proliferation of smartphones and the advent of Wi-Fi-marketing technology, any business today can develop more personalized and hyper-targeted, location-based email and text (SMS) campaigns. These campaigns are delivered directly to customers’ smart device (smartphone, tablet, laptop, watch, etc.).
3. Generate Valuable Data from Real-Time Customer Behavior and Campaign Analytics
A Wi-Fi marketing automation and customer analytics platform offers a host of analytical tools. Using these tools, you can increase your understanding of customer behaviors and activities within your store. Leveraging this information, you can strategically design the offering and layout of your store. You can also respond quickly to customer preferences by incorporating what they enjoy about their ‘shopping’ experience into your offering. In other words, Wi-Fi marketing software allows you to anticipate, predict, and plan the future better. This helps to improve your return on investment.
By now, it should be clear that Wi-Fi marketing can help turn your free in-store guest Wi-Fi into a profit-generating tool. Feel free to reach out to me to discuss if a In-Store Wi-Fi is right for your business.
by Bobby J Davidson
We love our company and we love what we do. Check out the ‘Why Percento‘ page to learn more: Love of Technology and Business! As the President of Percento Technologies International, I provide day-to-day leadership to the company’s senior management and I am personally involved in the strategy, business development and sales activities of the firm.
The company was founded in 1999 with the purpose of providing a one call source for organizations in need of Enterprise IT Consulting and Management. We also provide a line of products in the boutique Cloud Server space with a touch of high-end website strategy consulting and design services. We personalizes the IT Service experience with a team approach, working with clients from diverse sectors of industry, including energy services, financial, legal, entertainment, healthcare, hospitality, retail and general and/or corporate business. percentotech.com/contact