Norths Collective plans to roll out virtual beacons as part of its customer acquisition and data strategy, to follow the forthcoming launch of a members app.
The hospitality group owns seven venues and two fitness centres across Sydney and the Gold Coast.
This November, the group will launch its own app, which has been two years in the making and includes digital membership cards and QR code-reading capabilities.
It was developed by Melbourne-based consultancy Reinteractive and is underpinned by Heroku and Salesforce CRM.
Norths Collective innovation and marketing specialist Robert Lopez told iTnews “it is a future goal for our app to get real-time messaging based on location”.
The group would be able to set up to 50 geofences or geolocations, enabling push notifications to be sent to the app alerting members of promotions or offers.
Lopez said members with the app would need location services switched on to receive its real-time messaging, via the virtual beacons.
Lopez is aiming for virtual beacon technology to be live in “Q3 and Q4 of next year” .
It is yet to select a technology partner, but wants one that can interact with Salesforce.
He noted ultimately “the beacon technology for us really would be about understanding how to get in the right message, at the right time to our members”.
"We could start looking at using virtual beacons around key shopping areas to show messages around dinner promotions,” Lopez said.
As members enter a geofenced area, a notification could be sent for a ‘two-for-one' deal, for example, in an effort to lure members away from competitors.
“How do we get an extra visit out of our members a week? How do we get this message to them in real-time that really starts engaging through the right channel?" he said.
As it gathers data momentum. Norths Collective will be able to fine-tune the timing and purpose of its messaging.
He added the company has to “look beyond just our industry and our direct competitors” as it competes for the “entertainment dollar”.
Lopez said virtual beacons will “enhance the behavioural data” which has been a focal point for the company during its transformation program.
“We can all of a sudden start plotting location heatmaps that show us where members are and what time of the day they were presented messages," he said.
“We can start to understand behaviourally what our members are doing when they're not with us” - and plan promotions or offers accordingly.
Lopez added the app will bring in gamification “which is going to be great because it is all about how can we engage with our members".
"We're also using Salesforce personalisation to drive the real-time personalisation in the app.”
