How to: iBeacon - Next level customer communication
Do you already know about iBeacons? Tools and applications such as Facebook, newsletters, email and SMS are great ways to stay in touch with your customers. But with the overload of messages and information that customers are confronted with every day, it's easy for your company to get lost in the crowd. That's why you should use iBeacons:
Customer communication at the right time, in the right place, addressed to the right person - it's possible with iBeacon! Targeted messages via Bluetooth signals directly to your target group's smartphones can work wonders in customer communication.
Beacons: Communication in the right place at the right time
Experts in the field of digital customer loyalty have found new innovative ways to provide entrepreneurs like you with a direct and easy way to reach your customers.
This method of customer communication is known as "beacon marketing". But before I can go into the topic of beacon marketing in more detail, let's clarify the basics:
What is a Beacon?
A beacon is a small device that sends a short-range Bluetooth signal to certain receivers (e.g. smartphones) at regular intervals. This signal is transmitted in a specific format - a communication protocol. The two most common protocols of this technology are iBeacon and Eddystone, which use beacons.
In this article, we will focus on the iBeacon protocol, as we use it at hello again and can therefore speak from our own experience.
What is an iBeacon?
The iBeacon profile is the first and currently most frequently discussed communication protocol. It is the language used for "beacon" technology. It was developed by Apple and has a strong coupling with the mobile operating system.
Although the iBeacon profile also works on other mobile operating systems, it works best on Apple iPhones and Apple iPads. Therefore, the term iBeacon (instead of the regular term without the "i") is obvious.
How does an iBeacon work?
A beacon that uses an iBeacon profile contains a combination of letters and numbers that are divided into specific groups. Each code is unique for each beacon and a mobile application only becomes active when it recognizes the data associated with that beacon.
As soon as a beacon is recognized by an app, a predefined action is triggered: a push notification on the home screen, or a request to visit, open the app, or something similar. You can imagine that an iBeacon has the ability to "wake up" apps - using very little energy.
This function has many advantages. Your customers don't have to actively run your app, they don't have to enter any codes or scan anything. They just need to have your app installed, and once they do, you can send and collect personalized, location- and profile-based data.
Beacon technology: Helpful for customer communication
Beacon technology can make your customer communication much easier. Services such as hello again support this type of communication. You have automatically integrated beacon marketing into your own individual customer loyalty program.
Beacon marketing is a way for you to reach your customers with a small, wireless device - the beacon - and thereby fully automate your customer communication. The beacon itself is placed in the store near the entrance and runs on a low-frequency Bluetooth function. Beacon technology allows businesses like yours to send messages directly to your customers' smartphones when they walk through your door or pass by the store.
Advantages of beacon marketing?
Beacons: Customer loyalty made easy.
A friendly greeting when a customer enters the store, an unexpectedly great offer when the customer walks past the store. No matter what the message is, it will reach your customers in the right place at the right time and put a smile on their face.
Customers associate a positive experience with your company and are happy to come back. This is exactly what the beacon makes possible. It not only sends messages from your defined locations, but also automatically checks your customers without you having to carry out additional market research.
Beacons: In the right place at the right time.
Push notifications are a good way to address customers directly. Unlike text messages, push notifications are not perceived as spam, as they are approved by the customer themselves via the app settings. But: the right timing is everything! While a push notification gets to the right person, a beacon device also sends your message at exactly the right time.
According to studies, messages sent by a beacon significantly increase the success rate! Sending to the right person at the right time and in the right place makes a big difference to the conversion rate.
Beacons: Your app will never be forgotten again
The beacon is connected to an app that your customer has already downloaded. Digital loyalty programs offer companies a loyalty program to keep their customers AND a beacon that is placed in the store.
But what good is an app if it is forgotten months after it has been downloaded? This problem can be solved with the beacon! This technology can activate your customer's forgotten app as soon as they send a relevant message to their phone via the Bluetooth low-energy device - like a little reminder.
This puts your company back in the minds of your customers, brings them back into the store and thus increases customer loyalty and your sales.
