The Beacon Technology
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Beacons use Bluetooth technology to detect when a mobile device is in proximity and send push notifications. Beacons have various applications including in retail to send coupons, payments, maps and sales notifications. They can also be used in transportation to provide travel updates, in homes for reminders, and in museums for audio tours. Beacons allow location-based messaging and can improve the customer experience for various industries including retail, travel, real estate, dining and media. Fresh Beacons is a platform that enables proximity-based messaging through geofencing, beacon detection, notifications and user profiling to engage customers.
The Beacon Technology
- 1. The Beacon Technology! Date: 1/21/2014!
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- 3. What Are Beacons?! • Strictly speaking, Beacon is a protocol that lets developers harness the latest Bluetooth Low Energy technology in their apps. " • Effectively, anything that has the latest version of Bluetooth can function as a Beacon. In some cases, that can mean a smartphone. Google recently jumped on the Bluetooth LE train, baking it into Android 4.3. Apple has been building it into their devices since the iPhone 4, meaning that every iPhone from the last two years is essentially a Beacon in itself." 3
- 4. How Do Beacons Work?! When activated, the beacon has location-aware technology that will recognize when another beaconcompatible device is in range. " The beacon can then send a signal in the form of a push notification to that device. " That signal initiates a "conversation," or a data exchange, between beacon and device." Once customers decide to receive in-store notifications, the user will receive the notification on their lock screen even if the app isn't open. " Customers who have the app installed on their device — as long as they also have Bluetooth turned on, and allow locationsharing with that app — will be prompted to opt in to in-store notifications. " One crucial wrinkle -- a specific app must be installed on the customer's device. " 4
- 5. Tying Digital Content to the Physical World! • The most obvious application for Beacons is tying digital information to physical places." • For one, the technology can pinpoint you–indoors or out–with an astonishing degree of accuracy. Multiple beacons can triangulate your position at distances anywhere from 100 feet down to just a few inches, heralding a new era of digital experiences based on “microlocation.”" • The protocol is designed so that all the triangulating happens constantly and quietly in the background. When you pull out your phone, the right content is there waiting for you. This immediacy is one big advantage Bluetooth now has over clunky predecessors like NFC and QR codes." • Examples:" - The Bar Kick pub in London is already taking a novel approach. Everyone sitting inside the bar will find the most recent digital editions of two popular magazines ready to read in their device’s Newsstand app, free of charge." - Citi Field, home of the Mets, is already experimenting with embedded videos, dynamic hot dog coupons, and straight-to-your-seat navigation—the augmented ballpark of the future, all built on iBeacon." 5
- 6. The Potentials For Beacons Are Vast! Events" Retail" Museums" Galleries" Travel" Real estate" Property Management" Dining" Media" Gas stations" 6
- 7. How Are They Being Used Right Now?! RETAIL From in-store coupons delivered via beacons to customer phones, to collecting data to run personalized loyalty programs and ad campaigns, retailers are the first obvious market for beacons. Because the retail applications are by far the most developed. PAYMENT This application links up to retail, but also has the potential to become extremely pervasive. The idea is that beacons can trigger an automatic payment when a person leaves a specific location, so that payment becomes effortless. That could be immensely useful for managers of crowded public transit systems and stadiums, even parking garages. " EVENTS Beacons can be used at music and sporting venues, to communicate information, to point people to complementary content, or promote sales. Further down the road, the technology might even incorporate a feature that will help users find friends who are also attending the event." CONTENT DELIVERY As we hinted above, music concert attendees might be offered the opportunity to buy the album of a band they just watched on stage, or soccer fans might be able to watch replays of a critical sequence in the game they're attending. " 7
- 8. How Are They Being Used Right Now?! TRANSPO -RTATION Expect beacons to be deployed all over airports, train stations, and urban transit hubs to alert travelers of delays, changes, and weather conditions. Eventually, beacons may be able to push add-on travel services to passengers, such as ordering a car for pickup at the final destination. " HOMES People might deploy beacons to send them reminders when they're in a certain part of their home, for instance, asking whether they've remembered to turn off the basement light, or to let one another know when they've arrived home. " AUDIO TOURS Providing visitors to a museum with information about the art they are standing in front of." SPECIAL FUNCTIONS AUDIO TOURS Automatically silence a phone in any place that would be considered severely rude and disruptive, i.e. movie theater or funeral home." In places where GPS signal is non-existent and highly inaccurate, beacons succeed with flying colors." 8
- 9. Retail! The focus of beacons has primarily been focused on the retail industry.! Mobile payment adoption will speed up: Apple recently unveiled its iBeacon strategy, introducing the technology at all of its retail stores;" Shoppers will be reminded about their favorite items and receive immediate, actionable messages;" Consumers will get personalized deals based on their past purchases and preferences, loyalty level, and propensity to buy or share;" Proximity marketing will entice people to enter stores with tailored information on new products or sales. "
- 10. Here's a rundown of how they're being used, and might be used in retail:! " • In-store maps: Beacons can direct a user to different parts of the store based on interests and offers. " • Flash sales: Beacons might inform customers about time-sensitive sales, which would help retailers manage their inventory and discounting. " • Coupons: The same technology can be used to push coupons to customers in-store, which we'll describe in more detail below. " $" 10
- 11. Beacon and Mobile Payments:! " • The idea is that beacons would assist shoppers in checking out with a completely contactless payment method that allows them to circumvent register lines and the traditional point-of-sale process. " • A payments beacon "corrals" a shopper and its device within the confines of the establishment as the Bluetooth LE connection forms an invisible boundary. Once that boundary is crossed, the customer is automatically checked out. " • In the future, Apple might use its fingerprint sensors to verify a user's identity for a beaconpowered contactless payment. " • If the wrinkles are ironed out, the use of beacons for payments could revolutionize the offline retail experience, and help bricks-and-mortar stores fend off the e-commerce threat. Imagine walking into physical stores, browsing at leisure, and never having to wait in a long line again. Instead, you scan items as you go with your phone, and you are checked out virtually automatically on your way out. " 11
- 12. Travel! Airlines and hotels can use beacons! Personally welcome travelers, upsell products and services and allow for frictionless payment for add-ons;" Hi Myles! It’s a full flight today! Touch here to pay $10.99 for priority boarding. Real-time demand-based offers would allow travel providers to optimize revenue;" Beacon technology could streamline the in-flight experience, including food and drink orders, and update the crew of travelers’ preferences and requirements."
- 13. Real estate! Beacons could be placed at open houses ! Instantly remind agents about prospective homebuyers’ tastes and preferences;" The master bathroom was redone last year. The wood in the vanity was imported from Africa. The homebuyer would receive messages as she moves throughout the property – pointing out unique traits or information."
- 14. Property management! Beacons provide a unique and engaging tenant experience! Doormen would personally welcome all residents;" Welcome home, Laurie! You had a package delivered today. Please stop by the mail room. Property managers could disseminate personalized and relevant messages and information;" When units become available, beacons could alert passers by who are on the market to move."
- 15. Dining! Beacons would empower wait staffs to better serve their customers ! Beacons allow wait staff to know customers’ preferences and special requests without the repeat customer having to restate it;" Tonight only! Free dessert with a purchase of $30. Restaurateurs could also automate promotions based on realtime inventory factors or seating capacity to fill tables. "
- 16. Media! Traditional and new media properties would use beacons ! Subscribe to Entertainment Daily while enjoying your breakfast! Allow media properties to provide full or partial access to a broad audience in cafés, waiting rooms and lobbies."
- 17. Gas station! Beacons can also be used in gas stations! Facilitate contactless payments;" Buy one 12 pack of any Coca-Cola product, get one free at midtown HESS! Alert drivers of specials to tempt them into the station.!
- 18. Who Can Challenge iBeacon?! • Every iOS device since the iPhone 4s and the third-generation iPad is already capable of being either an iBeacon receiver or transmitter. That equates to roughly 200 million active iPhones and iPads that can serve as nodes in any iBeacon system. " • Beacons can also be used to send offers to Apple's Passbook app. Already, about 8% of all U.S. smartphone owners use Passbook, which means about 20% of iPhone owners use Passbook. " • Nonetheless, other companies, both large and small, are entering the mix with their own hardware, software, and services that may appeal to retailers and other institutions over Apple's iBeacon ecosystem. " • One inherent disadvantage that Apple's iBeacon has against these companies is that Apple devices and iBeacon technology are dependent on the iOS ecosystem. " • Many of the other beacon manufacturers have developed technology that moves across iOS and Android platforms with room to expand to other mobile platforms as well. " " 18
- 20. Introduction! What are Fresh Beacons?! The Fresh Beacon Platform enables deployment of mobile-centric customerengagement systems for delivering highly relevant communications based on end-user context, interests and location, in real time." 20
- 21. Introduction! Use the Fresh SDK to empower you application, then manage it from the web Communicate Geofence Dashboard Profile Fresh SDK Proximity Web Analytics Privacy Notificatio ns STEP 1 Fences Engagement Profile Rules STEP 2 21
- 22. Geofence! Geo-targeted communications have been shown to work twice as well as untargeted communications p Uses a combination of GPS, Cellular and WiFi along with our proprietary algorithms to run all-day in the background while only consuming a few percent of battery life" p Supports radial or polygonal geofences with radii of 50 meters or greater" p Support both app-wide geofences (all users get the same geofences) and peruser geofences (each user can also have personal geofences)" p There is no hard limit on how many geofences you can have" 22
- 23. Proximity ! Fresh Beacons work indoors and out where other location technologies often can not! p Uses Bluetooth LE beacons that you place in strategic locations" p Can run all-day in the background while consuming miniscule amount of battery life" p Supports beacon detection from 1 meter up to 50 meters" p Beacons are managed centrally via the Fresh Manager so you can update where you’ve placed them, see their battery life, combine them with other modules, etc." p Beacons use a secure transmission so that only your app can identify them, no cross-targeting from competitors" p There is no limit to how many beacons you can have" 23
- 24. Notification! We allow you to deliver a message to the right person at the right place at the right time! Notifications can be triggered by a combination of Location (Geofencing or Proximity), Profile and Time" A consumer with a Beacon-enabled App! 1. Sighting The consumer’s Beacon-enabled app on the smartphone detects a trigger or hub.! 2. Relay 3. Resolution 4. Action The sighting is sent to the FDG cloud." If the developer is permitted to see that trigger, the cloud provides information about the sighting to the developer." The developer is free to take the action they choose in their app." 24
- 25. Privacy ! FDG doesn’t collect UUIDs (unique user IDs) and we require transparency to end-users The Fresh Beacon platform was built with Privacy in mind from day one. This is manifested in three ways:" " p The user must opt-in to enable Fresh Beacon features" p In the app, the user must be able to optout and/or delete the collected data on the phone at any time" p FDG has received TRUSTe certification for how it handles consumer privacy" 25
- 26. Profile ! Inferred Interests can be used for targeting your application’s experiences and/or notifications Personal Places of Interest which consist of the top 20 places your end-user dwells at. These can be used as a starting to point to create personal geofences for each user." 26
- 27. Management ! Both a web portal and set of APIs that allow you to configure and control all the features of Fresh Beacons Includes analytics & reporting while also offering bulk download of raw data for you to slice & dice as you see fit." Communicate Fences Dashboard Web Analytics Engagement Profile Rules 27
- 28. Management ! How can Fresh Beacon help your business?! Online Brands ! Retailers and Venues ! Ad networks ! Extend the effectiveness of their mobile strategies by adding real-time context to their offers and services to engage customers in the right way at the right time. " Enable brands with physical locations to increase sales and drive loyalty by delivering highly relevant communications while those consumers are physically present in their stores and venues." Drive additional revenue by extending the effectiveness of mobile advertising by adding real-time context and precise location relevance to the ads they serve when consumers are out and about." • Build loyalty and preference by making mobile communications relevant and timely" • Make competitive offers based on current location and interests" • Refine and improve their offerings via analytics provided by Fresh Beacon platform" • Send customized communications and make offers based on interest" • Refine and improve their offerings via analytics provided by Fresh Beacon platform" • Extend targeting of mobile ads beyond ‘what the customer is doing on mobile device’ to ‘what the customer is doing in the physical world’ matched against the interests found in the customer’s profile" • Proximity-enable traditional Out-Of-Home advertising to increase ad effectiveness" 28
- 29. For more information, please email us at beacons@freshdigitalgroup.com." 29