Effective marketing plans are always built using data. In the digital age, you can gather that data from various sources other than a traditional customer survey. Everyone leaves a digital footprint, but you need to know where to find it.
Even small businesses with little tech savvy can use Google Analytics to see how people interact with their websites. But how does a small brick-and-mortar business gather data on in-store foot traffic? Wi-Fi analytics is the answer.
Don’t stop reading because you think this is beyond your company’s skill set. If you offer your customers free Wi-Fi, you can and should be gathering data to inform your marketing efforts. Here’s how to use Wi-Fi analytics to propel your small business forward.
Start With the Right Tools to Capture Information
You’re missing a lucrative opportunity if you have Wi-Fi in your brick-and-mortar location just for you and your staff. And if all you do is an offer that Wi-Fi is free to customers while they’re there, you’re still missing that boat. A Wi-Fi solution like Plume WorkPass will enable you to capture and analyze customer data that would otherwise be lost in space.
A cloud-based system like this allows you to control secure access to your Wi-Fi. At the same time, you can gather information about customers in real-time. You may be surprised at the data you can collect when a customer hops on your network.
If your visitor signs on with a social media account, you can glean demographic data such as age and gender. You can see how often they visit, how long they stay, and where they linger. You can also count the number of new customers who have never connected to your Wi-Fi.
Use Foot Traffic Information for Staffing
The customer experience is key to any business, especially when those customers are boots on the ground in your location. Radiant “State of Consumer Behavior 2022” reports that 54.9% of consumers will stop buying from a store after just one bad experience. Imagine losing more than half of your onsite customers for that reason.
You may think you have a handle on when you’re busy by just taking random head counts now and then. However, looking at this stat in your system’s analytics will be more accurate and easier. Once you’ve identified trends over time, adjust your staffing accordingly.
Schedule more staff during high-volume periods and less when traffic is slow. That will reduce your costly investment in human resources pretty quickly. Your customers will thank you as well.
Overlay traffic patterns with information such as the type of customers during high-volume periods, the reason for visits, and the products they buy. That way, you can schedule the right number of staff and the humans with the best expertise. You’ll create the perfect customer experience storm to keep those customers returning.
Use Purchasing History to Tailor Offers
Using a customer’s digital footprint can all seem very Big Brotherish. You know how it works. You visit a brand’s website or click on a social media ad, and suddenly their ads are popping up everywhere.
Even small businesses can use the data collected by their Wi-Fi solution to uncover similar data themselves. Imagine walking into a store you’ve been to before and signing on to its Wi-Fi network. As soon as you’re connected, you get a push notification about a sale on a product you usually buy.
Don’t forget to sweeten a potential deal for a brand-new customer. Reward the customer for coming in with a new-customer special in exchange for an email address. It’s the brick-and-mortar equivalent of those percentage-off offers for initial online purchasers.
When you use every data point you collect about a customer to tailor offers, you’ll be tailoring each one’s customer experience. Your cloud-based solution will do all the work, but your business will reap the profits.
Discover Your Hottest Competition
If you use the internet, you’re probably familiar with those “cookies” consent screens on nearly every website. You probably click “accept” to eliminate the annoying box blocking part of the screen. But do you know what you’re consenting to?
Third-party cookies allow a website to see your browsing history. Not only is your ISP address captured, but where you’ve been online. Your cloud-based data solution will be able to do the same when customers connect to your Wi-Fi.
A little one-upmanship can be great for business! Run the analytics on where your customers have been digitally, and you’ll discover who your competitors are. Look for trends among customers, and you’ll uncover the hottest contenders. Then adjust your marketing plan to address ways to outperform your competition and win customers. For example, you might extend better deals to first-time buyers and repeat customers than your rivals offer.
Self-Propel With Data Analytics
Small businesses face huge competition. That’s especially true of small companies keeping their doors open at brick-and-mortar locations. You can’t afford to just run with the pack — you need to get out ahead.
Collecting and running analytics on customer data captured with your Wi-Fi network may sound too technical for many business owners. You need to use the findings to drive your marketing plan and boost profits. However, cloud-based intelligent Wi-Fi solutions are reasonably priced and handle all the work.
Data analytics won’t just move your business forward. It will carry it in that direction with speed.