iBeacon Proximity ServicesBest Practices

Welcome!

Welcome to the Webinar on ‘Best Practices on Proximity Marketing with iBeacons’.

We are PassKit, the world leaders in mobile wallet.

Thanks for your questions, we’ll respond to the most frequently asked questions in

the next hour. Topics include:

What it is, how it works, best practices, security, things to consider.

Throughout the webinar feel free to post your questions in the chat box or on the

mobile wallet forum http://forum.passkit.com

1. Why are we excited about it?

iBeacons has gained a lot of popularity amongst our clients, including agencies,

developers, and systems integrators.

It presents an unprecedented opportunity to engage and build relationships with

your customers that are relevant and real time:

Precise location based services;

Send targeted and specific content;

Deliver highly relevant interactions.

The outcome:

Enhanced user experience & increased level of engagement;

Increase customer loyalty & foot traffic.

Beacons: the power to go from online to offline to online.

2. What are iBeacons and Beacons?

iBeacon is nothing more than Apple’s trademark that refers to the protocols,

devices, and uses of Bluetooth LE to create user experiences.

Beacon: any device that transmits a signal (BLE signal) which allows another device

to determine its proximity to the beacon (broadcaster).

UUID: the identifier that distinguishes your beacon from others.

Major: specifies a particular beacon within a group.

Minor: groups a related set of beacons.

Main function of a beacon = one way broadcast.

3. What is a beacon’s range?

3 Specifications:

Far - 10 meters;

Near - couple of meters;

Immediate - a few centimeters.

Maximum range of a beacon will depend on its location and placement,

obstructions in the environment, your customers’ device, etc.

Users receive different interactions based on their proximity to a beacon.

4. What is the most interesting feature of beacons?

Leveraging beacon technology to go from offline to online.

Wake a user’s device from a sleeping state/background.

Allows businesses to determine where a user is and take immediate action to

respond to and deliver something of value to the customer.

Contextually relevant interaction.

5. What should I consider when buying hardware?

Battery Life

Changing and maintaining batteries when beacons are deployed on large scale.

Need steady power source to continuously broadcast such that your customers

receive that great experience

Beacon Encasing

If outdoors, protecting the beacons from weather conditions (i.e. rain, humidity).

Managing a Network of Beacons

Remotely managing your network of beacons (updating UUID or firmware)

Future proofing is necessary.

Buy GemTot iBeacon Hardware - https://passkit.com/buy-ibeacon/

6. How much do beacons cost? Do I need beacon hardware?

On average, the hardware for a beacon costs $30 USD

Anything with a USB port can be converted into a beacon with a USB dongle

The technology is young, and as with any technology, price falls

Any PC or Mac, as long as its Bluetooth 4.0 capable, can function as a beacon

Within iOS framework, operating as a beacon must be in the foreground

Buy GemTot iBeacon Hardware - https://passkit.com/buy-ibeacon/

7. Can iBeacon be used for payments?

No - iBeacon itself just broadcasts a one way signal.

Payments are not a beacons’ primary function.

A beacon’s role is to know where the user is in proximity to itself.

It’s up to the business to use that information to provide a differentiated serviced

to customers.

BLE has the potential to replace NFC:

Adoption cost for retailers is negligible (beacon hardware vs POS terminals);

BLE format allows for very secure and exchange of data, perfect for

authentication and commerce.

8. Can you piggyback off another beacon’s signals?

Yes - beacon signals are based on radio and can be read.

A beacon’s sole purpose is to advertise.

Challenges:

Potential for anyone to use your beacon UUID and program it into their own app

to target your customers.

To protect yourself from this, think about how to manage your protocol:

Rotating UUIDs at intervals;

Setting up your app to recognize the change in UUID, etc.

PassKit has figured a way around this with its own beacon network to remotely

manage this for organizations.

9. Do I need a mobile app for my customers to benefit?

It depends on the level of convenience and interaction you want to provide.

Using Passbook Passes (http://create.passkit.com), customers will receive a basic

lock screen message when in proximity of your beacon.

With apps, you can provide customers with an even greater level of interaction.

If you have an app or will be developing an app, we recommend adding beacon

functionality (minimal cost for maximum gain).

However, PassKit has come up with a solution to get around the need of an app.

To learn more, contact us.

10. Can Android devices receive iBeacon messages?

The format that the signal is broadcast is Apple proprietary.

It is possible to build iBeacon functionality into your Android app:

In iOS, there is the ability for an app to silently awaken when it hears a beacon

signal.

However, this feature is not yet available natively in Android.

It is possible to Android replicate the experience but there will be implications on

battery life.

How do I get started?

Start with the customer in mind what value you want to create for them.

A seamless and engaging customer experience.

Best practices for delivering content:

Relevant, valuable, timely

Think about your deployment environment:

Managing a network of beacons and addressing issues such as UUID updates,

battery changing, security, etc.

Bottom line: You cannot ignore where iBeacon and proximity marketing is going.

Questions

Thanks for attending!

Thank you for all of your questions.

We hope that you have a better understanding of iBeacons and the power it

presents for businesses and customers.

If you have any more questions, post them on http://forum.passkit.com/ and keep

the conversation going.

Get in touch if you’re interested in our beacon solutions.

Visit https://passkit.com/buy-ibeacon/ to purchase iBeacon hardware today!