It’s dynamic in the sense that it can send information to a specific user based on where they are (in this case a store) and send this information based on prior user history. The beacon serves as somewhat of an in-location GPS. This way the grocery store can help move inventory and the customer received a deal on a product they have proved to like before.īeacons can deliver content to a mobile device based on user analytics, proximity marketing, indoor navigation, contactless payments, etc. As users walk by a certain aisle, they may be prompted that a particular brand of coffee has a ‘buy one get one free’ offer, and it was only prompted because they purchase this product regularly. Say a user downloads his or her local grocery store application and the store itself has beacons enabled on the sales floor.
Grocery and retail stores can serve as a good case study. What are these Beacons anyway?Ī Bluetooth-enabled beacon is a device that can send information and alerts to users based on proximity in a closed space. How should the user feel after a notification has been sent as a result of the user’s proximity to an actionable beacon? They should feel like the prompt was worth it in retrospect. The same goes for integrating context into beacon enabled or featured mobile applications. It is automated and helps orient the user when they need to be oriented (in retrospect being prompted to leave for a meeting and arriving on time is usually a good thing). It prompts the user when he or she ought to leave for a meeting based on real time traffic and commuting preferences (by car, train, and even walking). Take for instance Google Calendar integration into Android. Asking yourself, as a designer or developer, what a user ought to expect without expecting it, is key in contextual development.
A contextual understanding of a user’s needs is all about anticipation.
Yeah, it is kind of a hard one to wrap your brain around. Designing and developing the needs that surround beacon optimization comes from a contextual understanding of their function and the user’s needs. Incorporating the needs of users for a feature that has not explicitly been developed or used is a tough endeavor.
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