Wireless networks: Which is the right one for you?

From data insights and customised login pages, to live feedback and tailored messages, there’s more than meets the eye to guest Wi-Fi. But it can be overwhelming trying to understand each product and choose the best solution for your business. Don’t worry, as an established provider of guest Wi-Fi, we work with over 600 brands, connecting 28 million customers (and counting!). So it’s fair to say that we have some insights to share when it comes to understanding the variety of features, and how to understand the potential benefits of those features.

In this article, we’ll examine the various features of different guest Wi-Fi solutions, so that you can make an informed decision.

When it comes to a guest Wi-Fi experience, from your customers’ point of view, it’s all about speed, security, and reliability. They want to be able to easily get online and stay connected whilst they are visiting your premises.

From a business perspective, offering your customers a guest Wi-Fi solution isn’t just about goodwill. It encourages footfall, with 71% of customers in a 2023 study saying that reliable and secure Wi-Fi is a key consideration when choosing where to visit. Other significant benefits include access to data, which will allow you to personalise and target your marketing for better ROI, an easier way to build stronger relationships with your customers through seamless engagement, and increased brand visibility.

Let’s explore some of the key features offered by some of the biggest guest Wi-Fi suppliers, and how these features can benefit your business.

Data Insights

In order to create valuable marketing campaigns that target your customer demographic, data insights are vital. It can often be hard to obtain contact information from your customers, however, providing guest Wi-Fi is an effective method which is proven to be successful in collecting data. You can build up an accurate picture of how often people visit your premises, which times and locations are the most popular, and the offers and promotions that appeal the most. All of this data can then be used to build personalised marketing messages and offers for your customers, which makes them feel more valued and builds brand loyalty.

It’s estimated that 56% of social media users will log in with their profiles in exchange for a customised brand experience, indicating the extent of how much guest internet access is valued and appreciated by customers.

Data insights can be utilised to fuel tailored marketing campaigns, monitor footfall, and benchmark against competitors. By choosing a guest Wi-Fi solution that offers comprehensive data capture, and a user friendly way to access this data, you are investing in insightful marketing, and overall, an optimised experience for all.

Some suppliers offer connectors, which is a feature designed to help take your marketing campaigns to the next level. With Connectors, your guest Wi-Fi data is fed to your Meta accounts to find more people like them, targeting them through Facebook and Instagram campaigns, allowing you to market your business through social media with ease, resulting in increased visitor loyalty.

How are the data insights presented?

If you are particularly interested in how implementing guest Wi-Fi can help you tailor your marketing campaigns, it’s important to ensure that the supplier you choose provides advanced data insights that you can access with ease. Many guest Wi-Fi solutions allow you to capture data through a captive portal, where you can easily and efficiently view the digital profiles of customers who chose to sign up, and see data on who is visiting your venue, how often, and how they interact with the business. If you are a business with multiple venues, guest Wi-Fi can also allow you to understand them better by comparing them across the sites.

Of course, some guest Wi-Fi suppliers take this further, offering advanced features to help you get the most from captured data. With advanced analytics, you can not only work out which venues are the most successful across your business, you can benchmark against your competitors. It's always worth looking at the level of data insights offered by a supplier to ensure it is comprehensive enough to suit the needs of your business.

Customised login pages

In addition to employing a straightforward and intuitive login process, many internet service providers offer the option to design login pages that customers will be automatically directed to, meaning you can exhibit fully branded splash pages with multiple login methods, fostering a seamless, immersive experience that resonates with all guests.

Customers can also be asked if they would like to sign up to email marketing and promotions. According to an OnDeviceResearch survey 74% of respondents would be happy for a retailer to send a text or email with promotions while they’re using in-store Wi-Fi. You can also opt to direct guests to tailored web pages once they’re online, promoting app downloads, online store visits, exclusive offers, events and much more. This ensures not only a personalised customer experience, but continuous targeted brand promotion. For businesses such as visitor and tourist attractions, this tool can be utilised to drive the sales of annual passes, by displaying their benefits on the Wi-Fi login journey.

This can be a huge benefit to many businesses, however, for environments where there is high turnover of guests, such as cafes, hotels, or conferences, a login page can create unnecessary delays and congestion at peak times. Simplifying access to guest Wi-Fi in these instances is the best solution, as implementing and maintaining a login system requires resources that could potentially be used to support other features of guest Wi-Fi that would be more beneficial and relevant to your business.

While login pages can provide an additional layer of security, they can also be targeted for attacks. For example, poorly implemented login pages can be vulnerable to phishing or other cyber threats.

Many providers also offer customisable access policies, allowing you to filter content shown to your customers, blocking inappropriate or harmful websites, ensuring a safe browsing environment, although this can be costly, as login pages require not just the initial setup, but also ongoing maintenance, support, and potential troubleshooting.

If you’re looking for an option that allows the capture of email addresses for marketing, it’s important to choose a supplier who offers this feature. Just make sure you ask questions about security, user friendliness, and ongoing maintenance.

Customer satisfaction and feedback

Through interactive feedback portals accessed through guest Wi-Fi, customers can engage with surveys, giving instant, real-time feedback on their experience. If you struggle to collect feedback from your customers in other ways, this feature will allow you to really get to know your visitors, offering a truly personalised experience blended seamlessly into internet access. This can often improve customer loyalty, due to being able to capture and understand key aspects of why people interact with the brand at scale.

However, if you already have systems in place that successfully collect feedback, you may see the addition of Wi-Fi feedback systems as a distraction from primary business operations, in which case you may choose to not use this specific feature. For smaller companies, collecting customer feedback in more traditional and manageable channels may be more efficient, but for those looking for a way to better understand their customers’ needs, this is a great feature to be aware of.

Security

It’s important to protect your data; aside from GDPR and Data Security obligations, the reputational damage that can be caused by data leaks is potentially extremely costly. By using a guest Wi-Fi solution in your business, you can keep the guest network separate from your main network to prevent unauthorised access to sensitive data and confidential resources.

User authentication is also often employed by providers, with options for various authentication methods, such as passwords or email verification, to ensure only authorised users gain access to the benefits of the network.

Time and usage limits

There are a multitude of benefits to investing in guest wireless connectivity, however, many companies avoid obtaining it as there is a concern that customers are more likely to overstay their welcome, reducing table turn (in restaurants and coffee shops). High usage by guests can also strain the network’s bandwidth, leading to slower internet speeds and potential disruptions for business operations. That’s why many providers offer options designed to control this. Often, you can place a restriction on usage, and can set session limits to discourage loitering. You can also set limits on the amount of data a guest can use, preventing excessive usage and maintaining the optimum network quality for everyone.

Compliance and legal considerations

By introducing guest Wi-Fi as a benefit, you can also ensure that guests agree to a terms of service and acceptable use policy before gaining access, legally protecting your business. It is also required by law to keep and maintain logs of user activity, aiding in compliance with legal regulations and assisting in any necessary investigations. Some suppliers have features available that support compliance, offering cyber threat intelligence with an additional layer of DNS protection, as well as content filtering for complete Wi-Fi security. It’s also worth checking that they engage with 3rd parties to routinely test security measures, and that databases and data storage are always encrypted.

Conclusion

As the need to stay connected continues to increase, with 82% of people checking their phones in stores before shopping, wireless networks are playing a pivotal role in shaping the future of connectivity. The importance of guest Wi-Fi is increasing, and by choosing the right provider, you can unlock key insights about your customer demographic.

In order for the investment to be beneficial to your business, it’s important to decide which features of guest Wi-Fi would benefit your business the most, so you can choose a supplier that provides exactly what you need.

At Wireless Social, we are driving innovation by offering unique features of guest Wi-Fi, tailored to the needs of modern users. This includes valuable features such as our Insights Plus package, allowing you to access advanced data insights about your customer, and Integrations, a unique tool that uses data provided by your current guests to find more people like them. This allows you to tailor your marketing towards a new audience through social media. In addition, our powerful ‘Activate’ platform allows you to supercharge your Guest Wi-Fi experience, driving engagement, footfall, and customer satisfaction like never before.

If you would like to learn more about what our guest Wi-Fi can do to benefit your business and customers, our friendly team will be happy to answer any questions you may have. Get in touch with us now.