iBeacons have been increasingly getting lots of attention about how they transform the mobile industries and revolutionize the way people use their smartphones.
At KNOQ, we are committed to bringing the most of this advanced technology to our customers and share some tips on how our customers and partners can improve their mobile experiences. Here are 10 things you can do with iBeacons right away and enjoy ground-breaking experiences.
1. For Shoppaholics and the Retail Industry
If you do shopping, iBeacons can navigate you around a store and guide your choices with videos, coupons and discounts in real time, depending on where you are in store. With iBeacon, you receive product info as you walk through a store or better deals for similar products or directions to other sales. For instance, you visit a supermarket to make your weekly stock of yoghurt and plan to visit a diary section only. As you walk towards the diary corner, you receive an iBeacon notification on a one-off 50% discount for your favourite toothpaste and make a good deal.
2. For Travellers and the Hotel Industry
If you are a globetrotter looking for the improved hotel experience, iBeacons are becoming your personal hotel advisers. For instance, iBeacons notify you to possible room upgrades at discounted rates as soon as you walk in the door or send you tips on the hotel attractions.
3. For Environmentalists
If you are committed to green technologies and energy preservation, iBeacons can offer you a perfect solution. iBeacons uses Bluetooth Low Energy technology, which essentially means that iBeacons can run off a single standard lithium battery for 1-2 years with no need for external power supply. Exploit this potential to communicate with your staff, send meeting notifications and reminders while reducing your paper and energy consumption.
4. For Marketers
If you are a business company choosing to optimize your marketing costs through better targeting and actionable messages, iBeacons can help with customer segmentation and engagement. With iBeacons, you can have a direct way to find out what your customers are doing, and can pinpoint exactly where in your venue they are doing it, how long they are doing it and maybe what their preferences are. That way, you can trigger location-based features on customers' smartphone apps, including targeted coupons, store maps, and hands-free payments. In other words, you can send your customers personalized messages and deals when they enter your venues and offer them a better idea of what to buy and/or how they can utilize coupons or other deals more effectively.
5. For Big Events
If you are an event planner, iBeacons can enhance your interaction with your event attendees be creating an interactive journey based on proximity or using the concept of gamification. For instance, you are exhibiting your honey products at the international honey festival and need to drive traffic to your exhibition booth. As iBeacons can deliver contextual messages based on the range of beacons (between few centimetres to 70 meters), you can use this feature to craft an exciting experience for your event attendees. For instance, when your attendees are 10-15 meters away, they may receive a push with a message ‘Looking for a high-quality organic honey? We are just around the corner – find us and get a small nice gift from us’. As your potential attendees are approaching closer, they may receive another message ‘You are about to see us in a second and enjoy a delicious honey’. As a happy attendee comes to your booth, your final message ‘Welcome to the best honey booth’ is complimented by your warm welcome in person.
6. For Professors
If you a university teacher, iBeacons can allow you tracking and monitoring the class attendance. Most modern smartphones support detecting iBeacons. You can make the most of it. With iBeacons installed in your classroom and yours and students’ devices on a Bluetooth mode, you can determine your students’ locations. Use your university iBeacons to communicate with your students, alert them on any changes in class schedule or remind of deadlines.
7. For Tech-Savvy People and their Homes
If you are dreaming of having a smart home, iBeacons can help you enable this. Place iBeacons around your house and in rooms and manage your home lighting, appliances and electronics based on your microlocation – all without lifting a finger. For instance, as soon as you enter your home all the lights turn on and your TV activates and when you move out the lights and TV shut off to conserve energy.
8. For Visitors
If you are a city tourist, iBeacons can guide you to city attractions and most exciting goings-on in your real-time location. Imagine you are waiting for a public bus to take you to the retro cars parade in the central square. iBeacons installed in your bus station will notify you on any bus itinerary as they approach your location – easy to make your next travel choice.
9. For Culture
If you are visiting a fine arts museum and feel frustrated by seeing signs in an unfamiliar language, iBeacons can serve your personal interpreters and museum guides. With beacon-enabled signs, you can get translations in your language along with much more information about the painting and the author than any sign could hold.
10. For Humanitarian Purposes
If you are an NGO striving to improve educational opportunities for visually impaired children, iBeacons can help you better connect them with the world and access information on their surroundings. For instance, you are taking your students to a natural history museum. Your students can receive detailed voice information as they approach any exhibits as well as being alerted on what’s going on around them.
This article is a courtesy from Natalia Nadel, Beeleever and Founder of KNOQ.
