It turns out that getting iBeacon-triggered notifications really does help to increase user engagement. That's the judgement of inMarket, a firm that's been installing iBeacons in grocery stores across the nation. The iBeacons, set to trigger notifications on nearby devices with specific apps installed (including inMarket partners like Epicurious), have led to a 19-fold increase in "interactions with advertised products."
"We now have proof that consumers appreciate this value in a measurable way: They're more likely to keep apps that use beacon messaging, and they're more likely to interact with advertised products in-store thanks to beacons."
inMarket also claims that app usage increased by over 16 times when notifications were received (not much of a surprise), and that iBeacon notifications made a user "6.4x more likely to keep an app on their phone".
So the next time you're walking down the baking ingredients aisle and just happen to get a notification from Epicurious about their most popular pie recipes, it might not be serendipity — it' could be iBeacons. Question is, though, does such targeted advertising reaching straight into your pocket or purse border on boundaries you're not comfortable with?
Source: 9to5Mac
Reader comments
iBeacons in grocery stores leading to more engaged customers
You mean how Google reads your email and all the data you generate on all of its "free" services and then uses highly-specialized targeted ads to influence you on buying a certain product or service? Isn't this the same thing??
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No, this requires opt in so, presumably, you want the information.
Only a fool is influenced to buy something based on a targeted ad. Granted there are a lot of fools in the world but they deserve what they get if they make a purchase just because they saw an ad on a website or search result screen.
The only thing that is the same about these services is that you can opt out of both.
I'm a fool who likes pizza and wouldn't say no to discount in the mall for pizzas on my phone.
OMG I want a pizza.
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"19-fold increase in "interactions with advertised products.""
What the heck does that mean? Let me know when the 19-fold increase in interaction turns into a 19-fold PURCHASE increase. I think the newness of the push notifications are a flash in the pan. People will tire from getting so many notifications
+1 When I do Self-Scan at my local Giant either with the scanner or the app on my phone, I am tired of those sudden pop-ups (even for stuff I don't buy) especially when I am about to scan a product. If the iBeacon advertisements can work with a separate section that you can choose instead of just in-your-face, it might work out in the end. For example: an ad pop-up but after like a second or two it disappears into said section.