2015: The year of the beacon? (Interview)

Last year we were lambasted with the promise of a beacon-clad future, but has the b-word lost its buzz? This week we ask marketing expert Mark Mars, Managing Director of Perceptive Flow, a full service digital agency based in Reading, if he thinks 2015 will be the year that the beacon becomes mainstream.

 

1. How can marketers get beacon tech right? And wrong?

Beacon technology offers a new communication channel that provides the opportunity to not only extend a personal experience, but also target a consumer at the most opportune moment. It poses a digital form of outreach to identified shoppers by communicating messages and loyalty campaigns when the potential customer is in a close vicinity. For high street brands this could be game changer in terms of how their consumers interact with the shopping experience, pay for their products and services and provides a new way to relay useful and relevant information to them.

The danger is that retailers don’t target their audiences effectively, or offer products and services that are not relevant to them. Therefore affecting the brands reputation when it may have been neutral or positive beforehand. Applications are also going to get outdated very quickly, so early adopters need to ensure that in these early days they test different scheme to see what works best.

 

2. What does Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) offer that Near-Field-Communication (NFC) doesn’t?

First off, there are several technologies competing in the beacon technology marketplace. Consumers will ultimately decide what they want to adopt and new disruptive advancements will continue to be made all the time. In this specific example, what BLE solutions offer that NFC doesn’t is compatibility with existing technology. The majority of consumers now own a smartphone with Bluetooth, which is the platform BLE uses. Crucially, BLE can determine the location of mobile devices, enabling location-based offers and information. Ultimately, what brands will be most interested in providing. By the very nature of the name, NFC provides notifications based purely on very close proximities to the beacons themselves. From the end users perspective, BLE also consumes minimal battery power, so they shouldn’t be concerned about leaving it enabled in the background.

 

3. What should retailers consider before including beacon technology in their marketing strategy?

Beacon technology is low cost (in terms of the sensors themselves) and large retailers will most likely have their own beacon networks, transmitters and applications. The differentiator will be in the experience provided. Providing consumers with innovative and creative experiences via the messages provided will be vital. Think about how smartphone technology has developed over the years, there is now near parity in service provision. Like any marketing campaign, the technology is the provider, the tailored experiences delivered via open APIs and applications will need to come from the creative side of operations.

As with any new channel, there will be a certain element of trial and error to find out what works best for the company and their customer base. To be most effective, the introduction of beacon technologies should be in line with all your other customer touch points that, which when combined, lead to a positive overall experience.

 

4. How do you think consumers will respond to beacon tech?

Having shopping recommendations contextualised to their own personal likes and dislikes will mean that consumers can interact with a brand like never before. It will also give rise to greater brand affinity and loyalty, when their interpretations pay off, because the consumer will feel valued and have an enhanced level of involvement. Obviously, with any new disruptive technology, there will be initial wariness and misconceptions about how to enable the technology and brands will need to ensure they reassure their customers that it is not just smart, but also secure.

 

5. 2015: The year of the beacon?

That remains to be the million dollar question. If developers allow platforms to become more open and collaborative, so that they don’t tie down retailers to specific technologies, I can see it being widely adopted. In particular, the amalgamation of online and offline operations for high street brands. Especially in the integration of the final stage in the customer journey; the ‘mobile wallet’ payments market. Getting consumers to download multiple applications is not practical and retailers are also not going to share their data with their competitors, so a solution to this issue needs to be brought to the market.

Longer term, the developments have the potential to go beyond the retail industry and become the priority technology for delivering on-site notifications in airports, hospitals and beyond. Alongside it’s cousin, wearable tech, it’s definitely a key trend for marketing professionals to monitor very closely.