Retailers look set to be able to use location and beacons to better understand what consumers are doing – and make them timely, relevant offers as well as gathering vital data – with the launch of some smart new SaaS technology.
Users of Confirmit Horizons will now be able to harness mobile, location and beacon technology to better understand and act upon ‘in-the-moment’ customer behaviour as part of a Voice of the Customer (VoC), Voice of the Employee (VoE) or Market Research (MR) programme.
The increasing pressure faced by retailers and other customer-facing businesses to create dynamic shopping experiences that will encourage customers to return, either to browse and then buy online or to repeat purchase in-store, is a key factor behind the development of the solution.
“The popularity of mobile shopping apps and the willingness of shoppers to share their location (provided they get value in return) is expected to result in 72% of retailers implementing beacon technology within the next 5 years (Beaconstac). This means it is imperative that this technology becomes an integral part of our customer experience and MR solutions,” said Terry Lawlor, EVP of product management at Confirmit.
“Confirmit Horizons supports the creation of rules based on combinations of location events, allowing for selective triggering of ‘in-the-moment’ actions, such as requesting customer feedback. This will dramatically improve the ability of businesses to understand key customer behaviours, such as path to purchase or non-purchase and promotion conversion rates, for example.
“By offering an integrated location and beacon triggering solution as part of Confirmit Horizons we enable our customers to correlate location-based data with other rich sources of customer data, such as purchase patterns and demographics, to deliver unparalleled customer and market intelligence,” Lawlor said.
The Confirmit solution captures location events through geo-fencing or beacon technology and identifies when the mobile device is near, has entered, or has exited a specific location, such as a store or branch, or is close to a key location such as an in-store display. By building rules based on combinations of these location events, customised and context-rich messages or surveys can be selectively sent to customers or panellists via a fully-branded app. The solution allows businesses to maintain complete control of when and how next-step actions are deployed.
As part of Confirmit Horizons, all data captured through the new solution is stored in Confirmit SmartHub™, enabling location-based data to be combined with other sources of customer data to provide deep analysis of customer behaviour.
Crispin Beale, Chief Executive of Facts International, added: “Location triggering has the potential to provide incredibly detailed insights based on in-the-moment feedback from respondents. The applications of the technology are wide-ranging and we’re currently reviewing a number of projects in which beacon technology will be a game-changer in terms of the data delivered. I’m delighted that Confirmit has taken this step in continuing to lead the market, and am confident that Facts International will be harnessing it to deliver new solutions to customers in the coming months”.
