Every local business these days offer guest Wi-Fi to their customers. It is a trend that is quickly gaining traction and is highly favored by statistics. It is quite commonplace for businesses to provide a wireless connection to their customers. Everyone expects to access Wi-Fi hotspots whenever possible.
According to a survey, 72% of people appreciate the provision of Wi-Fi in public places. They connect to Wi-Fi in public places and have no problem using it. 78% of them actively look for and visit places that provide free Wi-Fi.
The survey further showed that three-quarters of the people tend to spend more time in places that provide free Wi-Fi. Two-thirds of the group said that they are likely to spend more money at places with free Wi-Fi. This is a fact that local businesses have understood and acted on the niche to increase their incomes.
However, the provision of free Wi-Fi by local businesses comes with its fair share of challenges. Sometimes there isn’t enough bandwidth to fully measure up to the desired speeds of each customer. In other instances, some customers will always try to take advantage of it because it is free.
Captive Portal
Since Wi-Fi is a necessity, there is a need to make it an income-generating tool for any business. An effective way of implementing the monetization of a guest Wi-Fi by any business is by the use of a captive portal.
A captive portal is a page that guests see before accessing a page. It is an essential tool in the monetization of guest Wi-Fi as it enables the guests to use Wi-Fi only after the access has been granted. It helps to minimize bandwidth hogging and allows users to access Wi-Fi after completing a beneficial process.
With the help of a captive portal, below are four reasons why every local business needs to monetize its guest Wi-Fi.
- Collect Data – Using the captive portal, a local business can collect quality data that could be beneficial to its expansion and growth. A business can have a few survey questions on its captive portal, that customers should answer before gaining full access to the free Wi-Fi.
Media logins can be used on the captive portal to verify the guest’s information. This information can be used to drive more targeted campaigns.
Numbers can also be used to verify the guest’s information details at the captive portal. The list of phone numbers used to access free Wi-Fi can be used to advance the business marketing.
- Advertisements – Using the captive portal, you can have guests watch advertisements before accessing free Wi-Fi. Here, paid ads are shown to guests before providing a free internet connection. The advertisements are in the form of videos, banners, and other forms.
- Promote Your Business – Monetizing your guest Wi-Fi can be your business giant marketing strategy. Using the captive portal, you can collect phone numbers, social media handles and addresses, which are useful data that will help in targeted promotions. Just make sure that your promo materials are engaging and don’t irritate your customers. Check best college paper writing service reviews to contact writers who can create appealing text for the portal.
It can have videos in which guests have to watch before having full access to Wi-Fi. These videos can have advertisement content that promotes your business. It helps raise awareness about your products or services.
- Cover Business Cost – With paid access to Wi-Fi, quality connection is mandatory. With a quality Wi-Fi connection, customer satisfaction is a guarantee. Increased customer satisfaction leads to more profitability, which in turn can help cover some business costs.
Wi-Fi Monetization Models
In the quest to monetize a local business guest Wi-Fi, there ought to be models put in place to actualize the process. Below are the types of monetization models.
Pay-to-use – In this model, the customer is forced to pay if they want to access the Wi-Fi. The customer walks in the business premises, pays for the Wi-Fi, and full access is granted.
It fully actualizes the idea of monetizing Wi-Fi; its significant disadvantage lies in the fact that customers won’t recommend the venue based on Wi-Fi. For any business, recommendations are critical to its success.
Freemium – In this model, the customer is granted full access to the Wi-Fi for a limited amount of time. After the prescribed duration is over, the customer has to pay to use the Wi-Fi.
The method gives the customer value to their money as they experience first the connection before paying for it. It also provides information as guests are required to log in their details before connecting to the Wi-Fi. This information can be used to target a group in future promotions.
This model is used in hotels and airports.
Premium – In this model, the Wi-Fi bandwidth speed is limited for customers. If a customer requires a higher rate, they pay a certain fee, and their Wi-Fi is upgraded.
It can be implemented in hotels where the urgency of a fast and reliable internet varies among customers.
In Conclusion
The monetization of guest Wi-Fi is beneficial to any local business. It is baffling how many local businesses have guest Wi-Fi. What is even more amazing are those that have monetized their guest Wi-Fi. Business is that you look for opportunities everywhere, and try to make a profit anywhere.
