Coffee Shop WIFI: Everything You Need To Know

Coffee shop WiFi can be more than just a complimentary service offered to your customer. It can be a powerful tool to grow your business.

The Internet has simultaneously made everything simpler and more complicated for business owners. While it is easier to reach out to customers, the competition has also skyrocketed. However, the real problem is that most small business owners still rely on quaint marketing strategies.

A few businesses today take advantage of the WiFi they offer their customers. Instead, WiFi is a precious asset that can help you grow your business and revenues.

That is the case of using WiFi marketing, an innovative approach to connect and engage with customers who visit your business.

This article will explore using your WiFi to grow your customer base, automate marketing initiatives and simplify your daily management activities. Let’s start.

Why Your WiFi Is an Asset You Have to Monetize

Most local businesses nowadays offer free WiFi to their customers. This is reasonable because a WiFi connection is integral to the customer experience. Like drinking great coffee and enjoying a relaxing moment, people also want to browse the internet and enjoy their digital life.

Nonetheless, simply offering a WiFi connection to your customer, you are not doing a favor to your business. Instead, you can use the same internet connection to grow your business.

What you need is just a coffee shop WiFi marketing solution. These systems run on top of your WiFi connection and help you automate your marketing activities, secure your network, and manage your online reputation. In other words, WiFi marketing software helps you grow and manage your business.

Let’s have a look at the main benefits of such solutions for small business owners.

Coffee Shop WiFi Marketing: Benefits for Business Owners

Coffee shop WiFi marketing is beneficial in multiple ways. These solutions can save you time, money, and headaches, from simplifying best security practices to running marketing campaigns.

1. Automating marketing campaigns: WiFi marketing solutions can automate most marketing tasks, such as asking for reviews, running loyalty programs, and more.
2. Collecting data: Coffee shops can improve their service and create a more personalized customer experience.
3. Security practices: WiFi marketing solutions streamline the most effective security practices, such as changing passwords or creating a guest network.
4. Increasing brand awareness: WiFi marketing solutions allow coffee shops to create a custom splash page, which increases brand awareness. Moreover, these forms can help you collect contacts to reuse for other initiatives
5. Reputation management: WiFi marketing solutions allow you to manage your online reputation in one place. Instead of visiting multiple websites, you can manage reviews from one dashboard. This can help you save a lot of time and focus on important operations.
6. Third-party integration: Most software integrates with your CRM or other marketing tools. This helps you get more value out of your initiatives and data.
7. Internet experience: Most WiFi marketing solutions allow you to set bandwidth limits for every connected device. This help ensures that the signal is smooth and enjoyable for every customer.

You can use WiFi marketing software in multiple ways. The most effective use depends on your type of establishment and what kind of operations you want to automate. However, most local businesses find a few applications the most relevant.

Here are some specific use cases of how a social WiFi hotspot solution can help you grow your business.

Top 3 Use Cases of Coffee Shop WiFi Marketing

While coffee shop WiFi marketing comprehends a variety of strategies, there are three use cases that business owners love.

1. Getting more reviews. Instead of personally asking for a review, you can use WiFi marketing software to automate the process and get more reviews for your business. Some software also offers the possibility to revert negative reviews into internal forms. This helps you protect your online rating. If you find out a customer is unsatisfied at your venue, you can fix the negative experience promptly.
2. Growing the social media page of the cafè. Business owners can customize the captive portal to encourage customers to follow the business on relevant social media. Moreover, this strategy ensures that the followers are real and have already visited the business. This can help create a loyal customer base that a coffee shop manager can reach anytime necessary.
3. Collecting data. When people browse the internet, social WiFi hotspots will collect data and transform them into useful insights about the audience visiting the business. These reports are simple to read and provide useful information about users. For example, if you find out that your customers are primarily millennials, you can create a loyalty program targeting them.

Nonetheless, WiFi marketing solutions offer much more than that, and you will find more about these solutions at the end of the article.

How Much a WiFi Marketing Solution Will Cost?

Today, many solutions are available for business owners who want to implement a social WiFi hotspot. When it comes to coffee shop WiFi, the pricing structure of WiFi marketing solutions depends on several factors:

• Features
• Customer base
• Number of venues
• Hardware devices
• Hidden fees

On average, you can expect to pay anywhere from $40 to $200 monthly for a reliable WiFi marketing solution. Moreover, you should investigate if you need an additional device to run the software. Sometimes companies do not specify this aspect, which might change the final price completely. However, it’s important to note that price is not always an indicator of quality.

While some solutions may come with sophisticated features and capabilities, these may be unnecessary for small businesses. You should look for companies that create products for businesses like yours.

Therefore, before picking a brand, research and evaluate if you need all the features offered. Typically, a solid coffee shop WiFi marketing system includes:

• Reviews automation
• Email and SMS marketing
• Security management
• Reputation management
• Network management
• Data collection and simplified reports

You might also like to collect data and use them for advertising. Or else, you might be interested in offline mobile attribution. Therefore, you must define your needs and find a solution that fits your marketing strategy and business requirements.

Coffee Shop WiFi Management: Is It Complicated?

Regarding basic tasks, coffee shop WiFi management is relatively simple. For example, setting up the network and a password is something anyone can do. You should also locate the router where the signal can reach every corner of your venue. Depending on your establishment, you might need WiFi extenders. These devices ensure the signal is strong everywhere and your customer can enjoy it.

An important aspect of a coffee shop’s WiFi management is the network’s security and bandwidth allocation. As your WiFi is part of a business, you need to consider the security and privacy of your users. Managing these aspects can be tricky because they are not common operations. They might require IT expertise that, on average, business owners lack.

Moreover, putting security or network management into practice might be time-consuming and tedious. For example, allocating a certain amount of bandwidth per user might be impossible without technical knowledge and expertise. Or changing the password can be a repetitive and tedious task.

These systems automate the most common network management and security practices, allowing you to focus on what matters for your coffee shop.

However, ensure that your WiFi marketing system can integrate with your internet provider. While it is a remote possibility, it is better to ensure that the two systems can communicate smoothly and do not create any trouble.

Coffee Shop WiFi Security: Here Is What You Should Do

Let’s now talk about coffee shop WiFi security.

As previously mentioned, you are responsible for ensuring that your users have a safe experience while using your internet connection. This is why security practices are important, and you should not overlook them.

Luckily, there are just a few things to keep in mind to make your network safe and secure.

• Setting up a strong password: A robust and complex password is essential for securing the coffee shop WiFi network. Passwords should be long and include a mix of letters, numbers, and symbols.
• Changing the password frequently: To enhance security, change the password frequently. This action prevents unauthorized and abusive access to the network.
• Creating a guest network: Create a separate guest network for customers to use rather than allowing them to access the main network. This can help protect the coffee shop’s devices and data from breaches.
• Clear Guest WiFi conditions: Write precise and comprehensive terms and conditions to protect your business and your users. Ensure to include information on acceptable use, data privacy, and security measures.

In addition to these practices, it is also recommendable to use a firewall. This will strengthen the security of your network by blocking the most common cyber attacks. However, such installation might require technical expertise.

Another recommendable initiative is to install a VPN on a router level. This will encrypt the data and information of the users, making browsing more confidential and secure.

Coffee shop WiFi security practices are no different than other businesses. However, most businesses ignore them. Do not make the same mistake and implement these practices.

How To Find a Coffee Shop WiFi Solution

Many coffee shop WiFi marketing solutions are available on the market. However, you need to find the one that fits your business needs.

Look for those features and capabilities relevant to your industry, such as review automation, network management, or captive portal customization. Moreover, ensure to understand whether you need additional hardware and the price scheme. Sometimes, companies offer plans that are only apparently convenient. If you read the terms carefully, you might see a variety of hidden fees.

While pricing is important when selecting a WiFi marketing solution, it should not be the only factor. Taking advantage of a few companies’ trials can be a good idea if you have never used a WiFi marketing solution.

If you choose a WiFi marketing solution designed specifically for small businesses, you will get the tools you need without spending a fortune. For example, if you choose Beambox, you will find all the most important features that WiFi marketing hotspots should include.

Beambox is specifically designed for small business owners. You can use Beambox WiFi software to grow your rating, manage your network and ensure the security of your users. Additionally, with Beambox you can design your captive portal to reflect your brand identity or to collect customers’ contacts.

Moreover, Beambox integrates with most internet systems and requires no additional hardware. 12,000 venues are using Beambox to grow their venue and scale their operation.

If this sounds interesting, you can try Beambox for free for thirty days. Start your free trial now!

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