Experience-Defined Wi-Fi for Restaurants
Experience-Defined Wi-Fi for Restaurants Connecting with your guests in a wireless world Wi-Fi has become a transformational business technology for restaurant operators. The evolution from basic Internet access to an experience-defined engagement platform is creating profound changes in the way restaurant operators communicate with their customers. This ebook discusses technology trends for guest Wi-Fi and analytics to deliver new opportunities for increasing sales and building brand loyalty. We will also examine the importance of selecting a secure and comprehensive PCI -compliant wireless solution as well as the privacy implications of Wi-Fi analytics and social engagement. 2
Brand Lifecycle Management Brand building, engagement, and protection What keeps me up at night is really what should keep all of us up at night. The first is food safety. The second is IT security. Greg Creed, CEO Yum Brands MUFSO conference The mobile enablement of customers and store employees puts brands in the spotlight like never before. It has now become a key element for the new front of the store experience and an overall brand engagement strategy, especially for new millennial consumers. Emphasizing much more than just speeds and feeds, next generation guest Wi-Fi services are an essential brand management solution that delivers insight into in-store guest behavior to reinforce brand awareness, engage customers, and build loyalty. And in addition to customer acquisition and engagement, guest Wi-Fi will also need to guarantee a high level of security to protect the brand and ensure consumer confidence. 3
The Roadmap to Maximize Your Guest Wi-Fi Close the loop Integrate Wi-Fi analytics and guest data with your other in-store information systems Observe your space Engage your guests Use guest Wi-Fi to promote loyalty programs and interact with customers Presence analytics can show you how many mobile users are in or near your store, how long they stay, and how often they come back Secure your Wi-Fi 4 Ensure your network is safe from wireless intrusions and complies with PCI rules
Guest Wi-Fi is a Proven Way to Attract Customers Create an inviting environment 65% 65% of consumers expect restaurants in the quick service segment to offer free access to Wi-Fi. (Source Technomic, Inc.) In today s age of smartphones, tablets, and mobile apps, users expect Wi-Fi hot spots wherever they go. Guest Wi-Fi is a proven way to attract customers and it opens new opportunities for restaurant operators to better engage their customers and increase return visits and revenue. Guest Wi-Fi can take the form of a simple splash page with terms of use to more elaborate captive portals and walled gardens. A captive portal can be customized with your company branding and designed to inform customers about specific offers and seasonal promotions. Customers can enjoy Internet access while shopping, read online reviews, and place orders onsite, right from their Wi-Fi devices. 5
The Benefits of Offering Free Wi-Fi Device Scape recently commissioned a study conducted by igr of 400 US retail places of business. The survey found that providing free Wi-Fi increased foot traffic, the amount of time spent on premise, and the amount customers spend. Which of the following best describes your average customer s behavior since you installed WiFi? Which of the following best describes your average customer s behavior since you installed WiFi? 32.6% 0.1% Don t know Spend same time 61.3% Spend more time Spend same money 45.9% 50.1% Spend more money 6
Simply adding Wi-Fi increases average hospitality sales by 5.2% IHL Group Store Infrastructure Survey 2015 7
Social Wi-Fi - The New Guest Engagement Platform 50% By the end of 2015, 50% of new customer identities will be based on consumers social network profiles, compared to just 5% in 2013. (Source: Gartner Group) Social Wi-Fi goes beyond simply providing the convenience of Internet access to your guests. It integrates Wi-Fi access with social networking channels to facilitate more personalized communication and outreach to customer communities. Unlike access centric ( plain vanilla ) Wi-Fi, social Wi-Fi allows customers to log into a guest network using their own preferred and secure social networking accounts. By streamlining the opt-in process, social Wi-Fi provides a rich information sharing environment for customers and restaurant operators while leveraging the convenience and portability of mobile devices and apps. Guests that opt-in with a social profile are electing to share public information in exchange for personalized offers and engagement. Analytics from the opt-in social Wi-Fi data helps organizations to create highly personalized offers for their customers. 8
Social Wi-Fi Creates Loyal Promoters $174 A Facebook fan is worth $174 to a brand, up 28% since 2010. (Source: Syncapse) It s no secret that fans or followers are the ones most likely to engage with the brand and to share their own positive experiences with others. Social Wi-Fi enables restaurant operators to derive business intelligence from both real-time and historical Wi-Fi analytics and convert customers into loyal promoters via integration of social channels and customized Wi-Fi captive portals. Optimizing business operations and marketing strategies for loyal customers will in turn increase revenue and brand equity. According Syncapse, a social media marketing firm, a Facebook fan is worth $174 to a brand, up 28% since 2010. The study compared Facebook fans and non-fans and their corresponding product spending, brand loyalty, propensity to recommend, media value, cost of acquisition and brand affinity to arrive at the figure. 9
Give Them a Reason to Engage 74% 74% of consumers would be happy to receive a text or email promotion while they re using in-store Wi-Fi. (OnDevice Research). Hospitality and dining enterprises have long understood the importance of loyalty programs to drive repeat business and are quickly reaping the benefits of this new mobile engagement model. Loyalty programs are an effective way to leverage in-store Wi-Fi to reach out regularly to customers via personalized offers, coupons and geo-marketing campaigns. 10
Integrated Loyalty Club Drives Repeat Business By integrating their eclub membership application with their in-store guest Wi-Fi portal, Noodles & Company, a chain of over 300 fast casual restaurants across the US, was able to dramatically increase enrollment in their loyalty program, and in turn, increase revenue and brand equity. Simply allowing customers to sign up for the eclub while they waited for their food increased membership 12.5%. In turn, this loyal fan base accounted for an amazing 30X monthly ROI on their Wi-Fi infrastructure. Eclub Signup Monthly ROI 12.5% 30X Watch the Noodles case study video 11
Wi-Fi Analytics Provides Insights into Your Customers 30% 30% of Millennials said they would share personal information in exchange for a financial incentive such as a $10 discount. (Source: Mintel) Wi-Fi based analytics provides insights into the behavior of the audience your organization wants to engage. 63% Male Age 1% 37% 24% 16% 10% 3% 1% <15 15-24 25-34 35-44 45-54 55-64 >64 For those consumers unwilling to share personal information, analytics can provide valuable anonymous presence statistics such as footfalls and dwell times and their daily, weekly or monthly trends. Anonymous data includes guests that are in the store who have not logged onto the Wi-Fi network and those who have connected to Wi-Fi but have elected to keep their identity private. 37% Female 5% 47% 12% 12% 8% 3% 3% New vs Repeat Users For those consumers willing to share profile information, analytics can also provide aggregate demographics of users who log in using Social Wi-Fi such as age, gender, and social profiles as well as contact information of users who have opted into loyalty programs. 2K Total Users 1.7k New 0.3k Repeat 6% 13% And the more restaurants understand customer patterns and behaviors, the more effectively they can deploy resources, be it staffing, marketing dollars, or decisions regarding store locations and offers. Repeat User frequency 3.18 6% 12 Average no. of Days between repeat visits
Respect Customer Privacy, Honor the Social Contract 21% 21% of online adults said they had an email or social networking account compromised or taken over without their permission. (Source: Pew Research) While the engagement aspect of social Wi-Fi login is essential for building brand loyalty, it s equally important for restaurant operators to honor the spirit of the social contract by giving customers the option to connect anonymously if they choose not to share their personal details. This allows customers to choose their own level of engagement to the extent that they are comfortable sharing details about their preferences, demographics, and other personal information. So provide a choice to satisfy both millennials and non-millennials alike. 13
Leverage Wireless for More than Just Guest Wi-Fi Wi-Fi projects often start with a single use case, but other departments may soon jump on board. Restaurant operators are pragmatic, and rightfully expect that their wireless networks play multiple roles to justify the investment. Wi-Fi has to contribute to business efficiency, improve employee productivity, and play a role in customer engagement. Guest Wi-Fi is just one of the uses you can put your wireless network to work the others being connectivity for staff productivity including tablet-based applications, such as computer-based training, line busting, table side ordering or mobile POS. According to HT s 2014 Restaurant Technology Study, tableside ordering and payment devices are the single largest growth area in full service restaurants, with a third of respondents planning a rollout by the end of next year. Vendors are rolling out new solutions including those that are mounted at the table and those that servers carry that allow for mobile payment, faster table turns, upselling and more. 14
Good Reputations Can Be Wiped Out In An Instant 35% In the aftermath of Target s 2013 breach, 35% of the retailer s customers have changed their shopping behavior post-data breach. (Source: BizRate Insights) Along with the massive worldwide adoption of wireless and mobile technology comes an equally massive challenge to secure sensitive data against wireless threats. This problem is exacerbated by the lack of IT support at remote locations as well as the inability of even the best security professionals to keep up with the increasing sophistication and proliferation of these threats. A key component of any good security strategy should be the implementation of a wireless intrusion prevention system that can effectively detect and block wireless threats before they can cause any harm - preferably one that can operate autonomously 24/7 without the risk of false negative and false positive readings that could result in undesirable outcomes. Good reputations and consumer confidence cultivated over many years can be wiped out in an instant if customer financial and personal data have been compromised. 15
The True Cost of Non-Compliance 114 days It took an average of 114 days in 2013 between the date of an initial intrusion and the time it was contained. (Source: Trustwave) According to an article from InfoWeek: Dark Reading, It now takes a large organization an average of 31 days, at a cost of $20,000 per day, to clean up and remediate after a cyber-attack, with the total price tag for a data breach now at $640,000. And if that those costs are enough to scare you, a recent Forbes article estimated that Target s December 2013 data breach has cost the company $148 million in losses. Target eventually slashed its second quarter earnings per share guidance from $0.85-$1.00 to $0.78, citing the data breach as well as debt retirement expenses as primary reasons. Even Visa has warned that failing to demonstrate compliance by January 1, 2015 will result in fines of up to $25,000/month USD. This strong position from Visa is not surprising given the frequent occurrence of large-scale data breaches recently. 16
AirTight Solution Overview Beyond Basic Guest Wi-Fi AirTight Networks integrates secure Wi-Fi access, social networking, and powerful analytics to deliver an experience-defined Wi-Fi solution for restaurant operators. In addition to driving guest engagement and enhancing customer loyalty, AirTight also protects your network and brand reputation from security breaches. AirTight Wi-Fi is easy to deploy and manage, enabling store operators to focus more time and energy on their customers rather than configuring their network. LOYALTY PROGRAMS CRM PRESENCE ANALYTICS With our social network opt-ins, guest Wi-Fi, walled gardens, analytics, remote cloud management and PCI compliance, you ll be doing SMAC (social, mobile, analytics, and cloud) in no time! Top rated wireless IPS, rich analytics, full featured firewall, QoS, and guest access management all come bundled at no extra cost with AirTight Wi-Fi. And having moved intelligence to the edge with our controller-less architecture, we have eliminated network bottlenecks and single points of failure so you can enjoy reliable, uninterrupted operation at every one of your locations at all times. MARKETING SOCIAL DEMOGRAPHICS 17
A Complete Wi-Fi Engagement Solution Ease of Use Zero touch deployment Customizable dashboards Robust reporting engine Automated PCI compliance reporting App ecosystem Presence analytics Loyalty analytics Location analytics Demographics User profiles Wi-Fi Analytics AirTight Mojo Studio Single Sign-On Guest Engagement Guest Wi-Fi Social login Brand building CRM integration Wi-Fi monetization Massively scalable Hierarchical management Template-based configuration Extensible Cloud-based Management Secure Wi-Fi Access Suite of Wi-Fi platforms Software configurable radios Business Wi-Fi features Controller-less architecture Best Wireless Intrusion Prevention 18
Who Uses AirTight Wi-Fi? 30,000 AirTight s Wi-Fi solutions are deployed in over 30,000 restaurants locations world wide. Hear what AirTight customers are saying: I was blown away by the price point, features and functionality we were going to get with AirTight. Other solutions did only part of what we were going to address with AirTight, but at a higher cost. The AirTight decision was a slam dunk. This was one of the easiest technology projects I ve ever instituted. There have been no issues and nothing but positive feedback. The beauty of it is the simplicity. The Web interface is so easy to set up and intuitive with very good description on every screen. One can start to use it in 20 minutes. It s powerful and simple! 19
For More Information How to reach AirTight Networks Web site www.airtightnetworks.com Blog blog.airtightnetworks.com Twitter @airtight Email info@airtightnetworks.com Phone +1 650 961 1111 2015 AirTight Networks, Inc. All rights reserved. AirTight is a registered trademark and AirTight Networks, the AirTight Networks logo, AirTight Cloud Services, AirTight WIPS and AirTight Wi-Fi are trademarks of AirTight Networks, Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. 20