We have a Guest Blogger today – Nigel Mills of MBM – an IT support company from Wombourne near Wolverhampton in the West Midlands.
We have all been to venues where there are ‘follow-us’ signs for the latest Social Media platform or offers to win the latest i-pad in exchange for your contact details. The fact is increasingly people are expecting to be able to access the internet from all kinds of places from Coffee shops to supermarkets and if you are in the entertainment business (pubs clubs hotels etc) its quite frankly a must have.
So why would you give away free WiFi ? Lots of reasons but we thought we would pull a few together in our latest blog. WiFi allows businesses such as cafes, pubs and restaurants to attract customers which they would not have attracted in the past. From experience we all know that sitting alone in a café or bar is an awkward experience and discourages us from sitting alone on a regular basis.In a recent poll 53% of people surveyed would be happy to sit alone in a cafe if WiFi was available. Free WiFi access helps people connect with friends online and removes the stigma of sitting alone. Using social platforms like Foursquare or Swarm may even bring their friends and connections to your venue.
WiFi networks require a registration process for new users. This process requires new users to supply basic details in order to create an account, this could include name, age, gender and email address. You could even request additional details as people login for a second time thus building a profile of your users that will allow you to better target their needs next time they attend – Birthdays are an easy one – an offer to bring 10 friends in exchange for a welcome drink or maybe a Birthday cake is good business!
People base their decisions on which venue to chose on many criteria. Free WiFi is one of those criteria having the service will help differentiate your business from your competitors
Installing a WiFi Hotspot does not involve the costs that some businesses would imagine for example a business will spend a huge amount on a television subscription to play the latest football matches to attract customers yet many companies (including MBM) will supply the WiFi dish for FREE (with a small installation cost). A good IT support company will work with you to collate your data for you to use in future targeted campaigns.
Your Clients expect WiFi and you too can benefit – not too many win/win situations in business these days but I believe this is one of those!
You can find out more about the Author here