The frustrations surrounding poor Wi-Fi in venues kickstarted the creation of Purple, a company that counts guest Wi-Fi offerings as part of its mission to address poor Wi-Fi services, which has since evolved into a company savvy about how Wi-Fi can be employed in companies’ marketing strategies to attract and retain customers.
Gavin Wheeldon, Founder and CEO, established the company in 2012. Today it supports 350 million users – no mean feat – and 25 billion visits. This growth represents how increasingly connected and digitalised our world has become – weak Wi-Fi at a restaurant or cafe could turn consumers away from patronising, who would prefer for their reliable connectivity to be there from the outset.
Guest Wi-Fi provides a “more controlled, more secure environment for visitors in the venue,” said Shaun Bossons, CRO of Purple, who spoke to IoT Insider in a recent episode of IoT Unplugged. He noted that the security aspect of guest Wi-Fi is part of its appeal. “If you look at public Wi-Fi, these are more … open, accessible networks, so they introduce security risks.”
The current guest Wi-Fi market is robust, witnessing global growth,. which is indicative of how Wi-Fi’s role has changed over time. Today connectivity is an expectation: as a customer, you expect to visit a restaurant or a hotel, and if they don’t have public Wi-Fi, then you expect there to be a private Wi-Fi network you can pay to access. The message being, connectivity must be there.
However, because guest Wi-Fi collects data on the users that access the network – such as how long they spend on the network and what websites they visit – it lends itself well to being part of providing companies with greater insights about what they can do to attract more customers.
As a result of this, Purple have pivoted their own messaging from talking about the technology to talking about the business user. “They’re the ones driving the use case,” stressed Bossons. “So when we talk to somebody in an airport, we want to talk to them about how many passengers go through the airport in a year. If we’re talking to healthcare, it’s about patients.”
This also means literally changing their language, to ensure whoever they are talking to, understands how guest Wi-Fi can translate to tangible benefits for their business. The IoT industry is renowned for being full to the brim with technical jargon that is understood by those working in the industry, but not always by people who work outside of it but want to deploy the technology – which can sometimes be a barrier.
“We talk about making things scalable, secure, reducing liability, making sure they can trust that network to deliver what it needs to deliver,” explained Bossons.
Guest Wi-Fi is an opportunity
A key message that came out of the podcast episode was for companies to embrace guest Wi-Fi as an opportunity to gather data on users on their networks and use it to refine their marketing.
“A lot more venues, a lot more brands, are seeing it as … a tool to engage more … and that creates a whole level of analytics … that they can use to hopefully tailor engagement and improve experience,” said Bossons.
Bossons noted that companies have to strike a “balance” between using Wi-Fi as a tool for marketing versus not introducing risk to the business, by ensuring that the data is stored securely and privately.
How can companies take advantage of the data they’re collecting on their networks?
Bricks and mortar stores can use data from their Wi-Fi network to engage better with their customers, many of whom are familiar with online shopping, such as recommending loyalty programmes for customers to join or providing information on their click and collect services.
Bossons gave one example of a beer manufacturer who took advantage of guest Wi-Fi to encourage sales, through the ‘battle for the first drink’ approach in UK pubs where customers are likely to return to the same drink they first buy: “A beer manufacturer used guest Wi-Fi to provide a free pint if you sign up for the Wi-Fi,” he said. “That means that the beer manufacturer won that battle … the bar was able to capture great data from that guest, who was there, so they could market to them in the future, to get them to come back.”
In healthcare, hospitals can send questions to patients who log onto their Wi-Fi – such as their age and gender – and tailor the welcome message accordingly. “It might be an opportunity to remind an elderly patient to book their flu shot whilst they’re there. It’s those little examples that drive human benefits.”
Embrace guest Wi-Fi
Bosson’s key takeaway was to think of guest Wi-Fi as the perfect opportunity for a venue to communicate with their customers and, in some cases, influence purchasing behaviour, and therefore, to incorporate it into your marketing strategy.
“If you’re not using guest Wi-Fi as a true part of your digital marketing strategy, you’re missing out on a massive opportunity,” he said. “You’re spending your marketing budget trying to get people to go somewhere and then not engaging with them in a personal way.”
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