The Wi-fi Marketing concept
Wi-fi marketing is a strategy to attract customers to your retail store by providing them with free wireless internet access leveraging it to communicate messages and promotions.Â
As a retailer, you have to ensure to stay ahead in your game reason being the competition comes not just from other retail stores but from online stores as well. Only a strong brand and excellent products are not enough, you always need to have something little extra for your customers. Wi-Fi marketing is the solution to this. It acts as a tool to understand your customer, engage them, and create loyalty. It has the power to grow your retail business.
What and Why of Wifi Marketing
In terms of marketing, Wifi acts as a complete game-changer. It gives a retail store the ability to engage with their customers by providing them access to free in-store Wi-Fi directly and simply. There was a time when Wi-Fi was thought of as a bonus to customers, but now it has become an essential strategy for any retailer who wants to grow.
According to a survey conducted by Cisco, around 96% of the customers prefer shopping at stores that provide them with free Wifi and are more likely to repeat their purchases from these stores. This strategy is a win-win situation for retailers and customers too. By giving customers what they want, you encourage them to stay longer and purchase more.
Online retailers and eCommerce have an advantage in that, it’s easy for them to collect personal data of their customers right from when the customer engages with them for the very first time. They are able to track the whole customer journey. Wi-Fi marketing gives you the same advantage. When a customer logs into your in-store Wi-Fi, they actually give you important data such as age, social demographics, and email address. It helps you to grow your email list. You can also use location and beacon technology so that when a customer is browsing a particular section in your store, you can send them specific real-time messages.
You can use Wifi Marketing to Grow your Business in the following ways:
Set a good quality and reliable Wifi in your store. It would make your customers want to return to you and give them added value every time they visit your store. It’s essential to ensure quality. Providing quality Wi-Fi will also means that consumers would check-in and tag your store every time they visit, providing you with a reach across social media.
It often happens that your customer might come to your retail store to check the price in-store and online and then leave to buy that product online. This is a common scenario these days. This situation can be turned to be in your favor. You can provide them real-time offers, encourage them to check online reviews to guide their purchase but make it easy for them to buy it from you right there.
Well, everyone knows it, Reviews are important to encourage growth in your business. They are essential for creating brand awareness, promoting new leads, and generating social proof, making customers want to visit your store. Wi-Fi marketing makes it easy to collect these online reviews by sending an instant request to the customer via email or SMS. It is easy to automate follows up by sending a request for product reviews or asking them to share experience on social media.
Nowadays, no customer wants generic messages. Instead, they expect a high level of engagement with brands. Hence, giving a personalized marketing experience to each of your customers will make your marketing useful and relevant. Wifi marketing makes it easy to generate and use customer data based on purchase, demographic, spending, and behavior to send targeted and personalized communication. You can target customers with tempting upsales, relevant loyalty offers, and discounts that genuinely interest them. Ex: Giving a discount on the birthday month of the customer.
Adding a gaming experience to your Wi-Fi strategy can change the game for you. Instead of giving your customers any direct discount, you can engage them to play some short online games. Based on the result of these games, you can offer a coupon.
Wi-Fi marketing helps to boost your brand reach. Just like restaurants are expanding by providing home delivery through an online app in addition to their dine-in option, Retail stores can expand their market share by delivering a combination of real stores and online shopping. Social media helps to direct the customer to your new platform. You can advertise your new app whenever the customer logs in to your in-store Wi-Fi.Â
Wi-Fi marketing can also help to calculate your ROI. It gives you reliable data on customer traffic. This will help you calculate customer acquisition, sales conversion rates, and spend per customer. You would know what works for your store and what doesn’t. Tus help to decide the strategy further.
Wi-Fi marketing should be a key growth strategy for every retailer. When used in combination with significant customer data to provide a very engaging experience to your customers, Wi-Fi marketing has the power to generate loyal customers and ensure growth for your retail business.
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