Real-Time Engagement with Wi-Fi good for business

Mobile devices are everywhere now and we use them all day long everywhere we go. With so much in-door mobile usage, venues and businesses have learned to make it as easy as possible for their shoppers and visitors to connect to their guest Wi-Fi. The opportunities in retail outlets, hospitality venues, and service locations to collect data on customers are now becoming more the norm, with guest Wi-Fi being a prime enabler. As shoppers, diners, passengers, and other patrons log on to get their Wi-Fi connections, they provide a wealth of information available on their behavior and preferences. However, that consumer data has traditionally been used to feed marketing databases and processes for marketing campaigns that take place long after the consumer has left the premises, thus missing a great opportunity to engage on the spot with those consumers.

The latest Total Retail Report 2017 by PwC confirms that for consumers, one of the top three instore wishes is for “real-time, personalized offers designed especially for me” and this can easily be extrapolated to other areas where consumers use their mobile device while in venues such as restaurants or hotels. Thus, the challenge for venues is to provide visitors  with data and information they value and on timely manner.

In fact, digital interactions influence 36 cents of every dollar spent in a brick & mortar store.[1]  Venues recognize the need to close the gap and turn in-venue data into appropriate, personalized offers and data to be communicated to customers immediately

CaptiveXS Social Login and Analytics Hold the Key

New functionality in the CaptiveXS solution from RaGaPa allows venues to not only collect highly relevant customer data, but to also convert that data easily into pertinent information and offers that customers see while they use the guest Wi-Fi. CaptiveXS leverages the Facebook social login (users connecting to the guest Wi-Fi network via their Facebook ID) to gather facts or “permissions” about the user. Facebook has approved CaptiveXS to collect user name, birthday, email, gender, hometown, education history, age group, and likes, among other permissions. Facebook considers that CaptiveXS can enhance the end-user experience by applying analytics to make appropriate offers to the users. Equally important is the fact that the targeted message or promotion or coupon is delivered on the portal page as well as in-session using RaGaPa’s proprietary in-browser content insertion technology. What really sets the CaptiveXS apart is the fact that it can display on the portal as well as in-browser so the user can see relevant information even while they are beyond the portal page!

Examples of Targeted, Real-Time Offers

Venues offering Wi-Fi connectivity to their patrons can use CaptiveXS to make relevant real-time deals, upselling and cross-selling their products and services on the spot, as well as gathering data for targeted email messages and campaigns to build and maintain ongoing relationships afterwards. For example, a customer connecting to a venue’s guest Wi-Fi network via his or her Facebook ID might automatically see:

• A “birthday special” offer or discount coupon, if it happens to be the customer’s birthday at the time of connection
• A relevant product or accessory related to the customer’s hometown, such as apparel with the “Oakland Raiders” logo, if the customer hails from Oakland, California.
• A partner announcement about a job fair and career development, corresponding to the customer’s level of education.

Outlets and Venues Can Surf on the Social Network Trend 

This use of social logins (CaptiveXS also offers Google+ and LinkedIn logins, as well as Facebook) also ties in with the way in which social networks now influence purchasing behavior. The “Total Retail 2017” survey results show that social media have become the dominant online media source of inspiration, as confirmed by 47% of correspondents. Starting a guest Wi-Fi connection via a social login that a user associates with trustworthiness, and that triggers brand loyalty and brand endorsement (further results from the survey) gives retailers an additional head-start in moving customers to purchasing action via the targeted offers that CaptiveXS then automatically inserts into the customers’ Wi-Fi connection. Retail outlets and venues of all kinds can therefore surf on the wave of social network popularity, with the easy-to-use, effective CaptiveXS capabilities for turning customer data into targeted offers meeting customer wants and needs, all as soon as the customer connects to the Wi-Fi network and while the customer’s interest in buying is at a peak.

With so much in-store mobile usage, businesses and venues need to make it as easy as possible for their patrons to connect to guest Wi-Fi. They would also be wise to provide a real-time personalized experience to their guests or risk of falling behind expectations.