What do phone charging stations have to do with customer loyalty?
It’s an interesting question, and Loyalty360 asked Anthony D'Eramo, Vice President of Sales for Brightbox, for the answer.
Brightbox is a B2B kiosk technology and advertising company that provides a highly secure smartphone charging station, known as the Brightbox.
Can you talk about how Brightbox phone charging stations help build customer loyalty?
D’Eramo: Brightbox helps to build customer loyalty by connecting venues and brands with consumers through a highly desired amenity—a secure smartphone recharging station. In the Age of Mobile, customers constantly need both connectivity and mobile power. Smartphone charging stations are the 21st century drinking fountains for thirsty smartphone-wielding consumers. Venues and brands are increasing loyalty by providing a complimentary service, which enhances customer experience.
What is the key connective loyalty tissue here with phone charging stations?
D’Eramo: The key connective loyalty tissue is goodwill. Complimentary smartphone recharging engenders goodwill for brands and venues. Brightbox enables venues and brands to then leverage the intimate experience of mobile recharging into follow-on dialogues with consumers.
How do phone charging stations improve the customer experience?
D’Eramo: When a phone “dies” or even “could die,” users experience disconnection, disruption, distress, and dissipation. Without connectivity and power, users cannot stay in contact with family and friends, and cannot research products or use mobile apps. In a five-month 2017 survey in North American retail locations, Brightbox learned that:
- 77 percent of consumers do not wield DIY means to source mobile power
- 95 percent of consumers said having a secure recharging amenity enhanced their customer experience
Brightbox’s stations not only allow consumers to recharge their smartphones, but they also allow them to do it in the most secure way possible, by allowing the consumer to lock their phone in a chamber as it charges. This way the consumer’s day goes on uninterrupted and they can continue their in-store experience. This allows venues, especially retailers, to increase in-store dwell time and basket size.
How can these stations impact customer engagement/getting people to the store?
D’Eramo: Brightbox is more than a naked recharging solution. Brightbox’s brand-consumer interactive features give them the ability to:
- Ask for an opt-in email or SMS address, for CRM or immediate use
- Encourage sign-ups for newsletters and loyalty programs
- Conduct surveys to get valuable consumer feedback
- Message immediately to establish a direct dialogue
- Send special product coupons for immediate in-store path to purchase
- Offer links to app downloads for longer-term engagement and reward programs
Additionally, Brightbox charging stations can attract consumers to come into a store: A Brightbox survey revealed that 68 percent of consumers said they would choose a business with a phone-charging amenity over one without.
What are some of the other benefits of having phone-charging stations?
D’Eramo: Our kiosks offer venues and brands a trifecta solution to engage consumers. A Brightbox is a 3-in-1 solution: A critical modern utility, an intimate vehicle for direct consumer interactions, and a potent driver of deep advertising impressions.
Brightbox’s dual screen product is equipped with a small, interactive screen and a second large, HD screen. Together, they transform an intimate utility experience (secure recharging) into a memorable and impactful experience that produces ongoing, longer-lasting, and personal connections. The second screen, the Brightbox Digital Billboard, helps to create a pyramid of touch points, impressions, and possibilities. Using Brightbox’s digital screens venues and brands can engage consumers with content about new products, special promotions, or exciting loyalty programs.