Bluetooth-based indoor and outdoor beacon system has become a great tool to enhance customer engagement in the recent era. With this technology, the customer experience has reached a greater new level. This technology is helping businesses increase growth prospects in an affordable and effective way. Many companies and retailers are getting benefits from this technology. It is becoming more and more popular, especially in the recent era in different industries.
Today, many giants, such as New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and Walmart are making use of beacon technology. They all know the importance of integrating beacons technology into mobile apps. Let’s take a look at the 3 most common use cases of beacons in today’s scenario.
1. Proximity Marketing
The retail sector is making great use of beacon technology for proximity marketing. With beacons technology, customers in a store or nearby would get instant notifications about different products on their phones. Notifications are sent to nearby devices based on the interests and purchase history of the users. The beacons technology allows store owners to deliver personalized offers to their customers without involving maximum resources.
Walmart is the classic example of retailers who use beacons for proximity marketing. They are using beacons for perpetuating customized customer experience through great offers. Store owners can also share attractive discounts and timely reminders with customers.
2. Event Management
Successful event management is always a great challenge. It is essential to keep an eye on what is happening at every moment. Informing every person about everything ASAP is crucial in event management. Apart from that, you will also have to keep people updated on whatever change is made or about to be made in the program. Fortunately, beacons technology is also helping event managers to cope with such challenges. This technology makes a great difference without incurring a lot of costs.
You can use beacons for delivering complementary content, such as sharing information about future and present events. You can use outdoor beacon technology for the following tasks in an event:
- Register and identify the attendees
- Event promotion through proximity marketing
- Sharing valuable information about the event
- Social networking (such as contact exchange)
- Location navigation
- Exit surveys
Therefore, beacons allow you to manage events and collect valuable audience insights.
3. Transportation
Transportation, especially public transportation, is getting a great benefit from the beacon technology. For instance, you can use outdoor beacon technology for informing travelers about the vehicle’s current location and route schedule. This technology is also making ticket deployment more effortless and streamlined. Moreover, the beacon technology also helps in providing valuable information, like plane/train delays or changes.
It can also help provide information about different weather conditions of the destination. Therefore, the transportation sector can also get exceptional benefits from the beacon technology. In fact, many transportation companies are already making use of this great technology.
Apart from these three use cases, there are various other areas where beacons are playing a great role. Content delivery and payments are a few other examples of it. Many digital wallet programs, such as Apple Pay and Google Pay are offering support for beacon payments via WiFi and Bluetooth.
The Most Commonly Used Beacon Types
You will find many types of Bluetooth beacons in the market. They are available in several sizes and specifications. You can buy beacons according to specific battery performance, use cases, and other requirements. Here are some of the most commonly used beacon types you can find in the market.
1. Standard Beacon – Similar to compact WiFi and perfect for use cases like indoor tracking.
2. Small/Portable Beacon – It is the size of a credit card and an ideal choice for asset tracking and proximity solutions.
3. USB Beacon – It is a small, convenient, and portable beacon device. It is very similar to an ordinary flash drive. You can easily deploy it both indoors and outdoors.
4. Video Beacon BL Device – This beacon device is plugged into a screen’s back. It’s a little device that is suitable for digital signage and contextual videos.
5. AI Beacon – It uses algorithms of machine learning for detecting movements and gestures.
6. Sticker Beacon – It is the smallest beacons type and ideal for use cases, such as asset tracking.
7. Parent Beacon – It resembles a WiFi router. The parent beacon managing BL beacon collects data/information from other devices (beacons). The collected data is moved to other sources, such as cloud storage.
8. Dedicated Beacon – This type of beacon is suitable to track indoor activities. It is also an ideal choice when you need an outdoor beaconfor harsh environments. It is resistant to dust, water, UV, antistatic, etc.
Beacons also come under different specifications according to different application requirements. Therefore, you will have to be extremely careful about the specifications of the beacon before you invest.
Final Words
The Beacons technology is shaping the digital world towards a new level with its cost-efficient and effective communication features. These small devices have become a great tool to run effective indoor and outdoor marketing campaigns. The best thing about indoor and outdoor beacon technology is that it is highly cost-effective and compatible with millions of electronic devices. All industries, especially retail must take advantage of the beacons by incorporating them into their marketing program.
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