Tech Guest Viewpoint: A Smart Brand’s Guide to Beacon Technology

By Jessica Lee, senior manager of mobile, HelloWorld



It’s official – 2015 is the year of beacons. From supermarkets to museums, airports to retail shops, brands across industries are trying their hand at Bluetooth Low Energy technology to better connect with consumers and pass along timely information. Beacons are beneficial to brands, allowing them a more intimate connection to consumers, but to successfully implement, brands must embrace best practices for addressing audiences, making sure they’re adopting messaging strategy and cadence correspondent to shopper needs.



We’ll walk you through different scenarios, but first things first – when should a brand employ beacon technology?



Brands looking to embrace beacons should first consider the success of their own mobile app. Is it widely downloaded? Does it have an engaged number of users? Of a brand’s audience, you can expect fewer than 10% of its shoppers to have an app downloaded and from there only 50% have opted in to push messaging. To remedy this, brands should consider utilizing the database within a pre-existing app. McDonald’s was particularly successful in this technique; back in December, after integrating beacon with its Piper app, the retailer saw 18,000 offer redemptions in their test market.



There’s also a lot of talk around the proper cadence of beacon messaging. Though brands are keen to better engage with audiences, continuing the conversation comes with a risk. Shoppers who receive excess notifications are likely to stop using apps, cutting off communication altogether.



As a rule of thumb, less is more. Customers don’t want to be bombarded with messages when shopping in store unless they’re timely and relevant. Frequency should be set on a case-by-case basis. Some brands benefit from sending notifications at the entrance and checkout. Others offer deals based on shoppers’ in-store location. However, these touch-points aren’t set in stone; stores can change when and where notifications are sent based on current sales and promotions. No matter what the strategy, it’s better to leave consumers wanting more than to be an annoyance.



To give beacon messaging the most value, brands can vouch to surprise and delight shoppers with unexpected discounts. No matter what the promotion, brands should continually test the effectiveness of their outreach by sending consistent messaging across locations and noting how consumers respond. Those considering implementing beacon technology should equip no fewer than 10 locations; around 40 would be ideal for a true test of audience interaction. While it’s tempting to implement A/B testing right off the bat, consistency gives brands a clearer glance at how audiences are reacting to messaging across locations, revealing exactly who is tuned in.



For any technology to be successful, consumers must be willing to get on board. To drive downloads and further enhance consumer engagement, brands should take the initiative to market beacon tech in store. Train employees to speak about mobile offerings to capture customers and encourage downloads.



Placing QR codes or SMS calls to action throughout the store and providing customers with download links are great ways to supplement verbal efforts and coax conversions. Brands should also vie to think outside the box when communicating with customers. In addition to using beacons to greet customers with coupons and timely alerts, McDonald’s is also implementing the technology to present customers with surveys to refine its database and employment opportunities for those on the job hunt.



Beacons are a new channel for brands to explore and with that exploration comes experimentation. McDonald’s recently integrated their mobile app with Passbook to offer the option to save coupons to consumers’ phones. By utilizing Passbook and other POS technology, brands can get to know which offers are being redeemed and adjust their promotions accordingly. While beacon tech opens a new world of communication, it shouldn’t be used in a silo, but as a continuation of a larger cross-channel campaign. Doing so will help brands learn more about the consumer on the individual level and will allow them to target shoppers with relevant messaging on other channels.



While a major beacon push has been directed towards Millennials, fueled by their willingness to adopt new technology and exchange personal information for relevant deals, beacons have the potential to change the way brands and consumers interact across demographics and diverse industries. But to build momentum and convert more shoppers to beacon technology, brands must think strategically about the messages they hope to send and create timely offers that cannot be refused.