My family owns a small bookstore in the town where they live. It has free wireless for customers to use. Yet during these slow times, it still leaves all of us feeling like we might need to consider doing more to get the attention of those who are willing to use the free service, without thinking to contribute to it by purchasing coffee or books from the store. Now by no means is this an ultimate solution, but it is pretty clever. Changing the hotspot’s SSID to promote the “special of the day” is both effective and clever.
My personal favorite SSIDs in the list linked above include the following:
- “ByAnotherCoffeeYouCheapSkate”
- MmmmYummyMuffin
- HaveYouTriedTheCarrotCake?
Again, I find this to be really clever. And this brings me to today’s question. Have you seen any hotspots in your locale trying this sort of technique? Despite the obvious conclusion most will have that some people will smile, then promptly ignoring the statements, the fact is that it does have a certain level of teeth to it. Am I wrong here?
Honestly, from a customer standpoint, I think clever SSIDs are a good marketing strategy and will CERTAINLY grab a customers attention. How often do you see a SSID in Starbucks that says “TryTheNewHolidayDrinks”? It is very uncommon. I think if hotspots (especially those in areas where there is something to buy) tried doing this, they would attract those who are simply mooching internet. It might get people to think twice about what they want, thinking, “hmm, that sounds great!” prompting them to buy your product.
Hello,
Has your family considered changing the access point’s SSID to a coupon, such as “5PERCENTOFF_THE_FIRST_THREE_PURCHASES_AT_THE_REGISTER” or “BUYAPASTRYGET1FREE” or somesuch? If so, did that have any effect on sales?
Regards,
Aryeh Goretsky
It’s a clever idea, but it may also backfire. A wifi user may suspect that the SSID doesn’t belong to the store they are in. What if there are competing stores next to each other and both employ similar SSID’s? Another scenario: what if it’s a rogue hotspot from a nefarious neighbor? Maybe prepend the SSID with the store name?
Honestly, from a customer standpoint, I think clever SSIDs are a good marketing strategy and will CERTAINLY grab a customers attention.
Noti-Fi Advertising Network (NAN or Noti-Fi(tm)) provides instant location-based and location-oriented mobile marketing via smartphones, laptops and tablet computers. Our paperless, green technology replaces outdated flyers, text and email messaging services with an ALL-IN-ONE paperless and non-invasive multi-media network, providing end-users with easy, quick and cost effective access to business information, 24/7.
Noti-Fi Advertising Network (NAN or Noti-Fi(tm)) provides instant location-based and location-oriented mobile marketing via smartphones, laptops and tablet computers. Our paperless, green technology replaces outdated flyers, text and email messaging services with an ALL-IN-ONE paperless and non-invasive multi-media network, providing end-users with easy, quick and cost effective access to business information, 24/7.