Discover how to take advantage of in-store tacking for your business.
Phygital reality is an imperative in the way it communicates and interacts with the market. Online and offline environments are increasingly converging. The real competitive advantage lies in the ability to extract the right information from each environment, to increasingly personalize the customer’s journey.
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Yes, back to the same: data!
The truth is, data is crucial to making strategic decisions for the growth of any business. We’ve talked a few times about its importance, especially for departments that make strategic decisions and define the direction of a business.
We also spoke a few times about the different sources of digital information and their measurement. With the acceleration of the digital transition, almost imposed in the last two years, the question arises: Is it worth collecting data in offline environments?
Our answer is always “Yes” and once again we turn to what we love most – data – to support our position. According to PWC’s report on consumer trends, released in June 2021, 45% of consumers continue to prefer to shop in physical stores, reducing the distance between purchases in physical stores and via smartphones.
The recovery of offline purchases rhythm leaves no room for doubt – there is still a large portion of the market that searches for products and/or services offline. And these data should not be left out.
Tracking in-store with Smart Wifi: The best of both worlds
The good news is that the possibility of tracking in a physical store, through E-Goi’s Smart Wifi, and integrating the data collected in real-time into the E-goi Corporate CDP (Customer Data Platform), gains a truly robust view of your customers. The idea is to take advantage of CDP to add not only information from, for example, the CRM, POS, or customer support system, but also behavioral information that you can collect when customers are in your store.
The challenge is then to combine all these data, to take advantage of a privileged moment of proximity to your customers: the moment when they enter your physical store and when, therefore, it makes so much sense to communicate with them
Big Wifi is watching you
One of the most common ways and which has the best results when it comes to monitoring behavior in physical stores is the use of Wifi hotspots. The truth is that this is not a disruptive invention, for some time now E-goi has been developing Smart Wifi solutions for tracking in physical stores.
This is a very simple solution that answers one of the most frequently asked questions in any store – “What is the Wifi password?”
MAC address and Captive Portals for Wifi network registration: the pieces of the information puzzle
The connection to the smart wifi system is simple: just take advantage of the first registration of subscribers on the captive portal of your wifi network to collect data, such as mobile phone or e-mail. This can guarantee further communications with the user while gaining the device’s MAC address.
From the first registration, and whenever the same mac address is detected in the store (device with the Wifi on), its recognition and wifi connection is automatically made, allowing the tracking system to monitor the presence in-store, according to the zones and areas of interest previously mapped by the system.
From then on, and with the user’s consent, it is possible to extract valuable indicators such as the most frequent areas in-store, the average duration of each visit, the length of stay per area, among other indicators.
This is therefore a crucial competitive advantage: it is possible to monitor the path of the potential customer in-store, including the places where they stop and where they don’t, as well as discovering more information that adds to their unique customer profile, within the CDP. It also reinforces the strategy of capturing and real-time communication with contacts, through the channels that are more in line with their behavior.
Door to screen monitoring
The possibility of monitoring behavior in a physical store enhances the omnichannel strategy of any business. It allows you not only to know the route in a physical store but also to understand what you will be doing in addition to the visit. The MAC address thus identifies the customer, being able, through the captive portal, to create an effective communication strategy, with digital channels.
The collection of information in real-time via Smart Wifi makes the data more accurate, complementing information for the resolution of the customer’s profile:
- If it’s already part of your loyalty program;
- What is the average store purchase ticket;
- What are the favorite products in-store and online;
Advanced Segmentation
The integration of data collected in online and offline environments in the E-goi Digital Solutions CDP establishes advanced segmentation possibilities, capable of offering unique and personalized experiences. The so-called identity resolution process enriches the accuracy of collected data at each point of contact with the consumer. A connection between the two worlds is thus achieved, enhancing the proximity and immediacy of the offline environment, with online communication channels.
In all these cases, you have has the best marketing automation platform to communicate real-time with your customers and according to the information collected:
- Sending a discount voucher via SMS upon entering the store;
- Campaigns with a reminder of abandoned products in an online store when the customer enters your physical store.
The diversity and wealth of information sources also helps to create advanced segments. You can thus create segments, within your contact list, based on the average purchase ticket, for example. Following this logic, you will be able to create gamification structures for the segments with the lowest average ticket and reward campaigns for the segments with the highest.
You will also be able, through the CDP Machine Learning processes, to enhance your upselling strategy, with the sending of “Next Best Offer” campaigns. Based on purchases made in physical and online stores, you can suggest other complementary products in online and offline campaigns.
Summing up
In our opinion, there is no plan A or B. The smart wifi solution combined with CDP from E-goi Digital Solutions has only one goal: to create long-lasting connections with customers, regardless of their environment. The diversity of contact and information gathering points ensures that you know your market like no one else. Basically, you can be for your customers like the employees of your favorite cafe: you don’t even need to order, they already know you like your coffee in a hot cup.