Beacon Highlights From SXSW 2015
Having just returned from SXSW in Austin, I was struck by the amount of content and interest surrounding beacons and location-based technologies. Not because of the buzz and hype, but from the deeper discussion and observations of an ecosystem that is starting to mature. From well attended beacon-focused meet-ups, dedicated sessions on the topic, to the SXSW app itself, you couldn’t avoid the growing attention and increasing relevance of the tech.
Below are 5 beacon related takeaways from SXSW:
Beacons are here to stay
While the tech had its skeptics in the early days, given the multitude of use cases and the ability of the technology to help deliver frictionless and powerful user experiences, it’s safe to say beacons have staying power. This was put on display by the countless start ups incorporating the technology, the multitude of enterprise adopters sharing their stories and use cases, and the over 1000 beacons set up at the event itself.
Beacons need to be looked at as a powerful component of an overall mobile strategy.
Many retailers and brands spoke of the importance of looking at beacons as a powerful technical piece of an overall customer experience. While impactful on their own, other tech such as wifi should also play a role in delivering location relevant content to users and customers. Devon Wright of Turnstyle provided a good perspective on this at a session by the Location Based Marketing Association.
Marketers need to put the user first!
For all the excitement around what can be done with beacon technology, we need to look at the customer first. What types of content and experiences can we use beacon tech for to improve and enhance the customer experience. Before building out a proximity solution, we need to better evaluate the needs of the customer and how we can improve the customer experience on mobile. Arlie Sisson of Starwood Hotels highlighted how they have put customers first by using the tech to expedite and improve the customer hotel check-in experience.
Beacons are changing the way people connect
A very tangible beacon-related highlight at SXSW came from the South by app itself. One of the more valuable beacon-based features of the app allowed users to easily connect with and discover other conference attendees who were in the same session as they were. Of course networking is one of the benefits of being at SXSW and the implementation of beacons in the app helped attendees make meaningful connections with others through the ‘who is near me’ discovery feature.
The ‘gap’ between online and offline retail is closing fast
Ryan Craver’s retail focused presentation on the SXstyle stage highlighted how new technologies (especially beacons) are bringing the e-commerce experience in to brick and mortar retail. Just as Uber is disrupting travel, beacons are changing the way we shop as our mobile devices become smart, location-aware in-store shopping companions that put the e-commerce experience in the palm of our hands.
