All too many mall operators have come to see their public hotspots as an expensive support and management headache rather than as an opportunity to add value, drive customer engagement and generate revenue. The solution to this is to partner with a specialist hotspot management partner that understands the Wi-Fi industry back to front.

Such a partner should offer a solution that gives the operator control over users connecting to its network, while alleviating the costs and complexities of managing Wi-Fi and maximizing the revenue and leverage opportunities to gather data and engage with Wi-Fi users.

Here are some of the benefits you can achieve through such a partnership:

Generate Revenue: We have built a “Plug and Play” Wi-Fi ad serving platform that will earn you revenue from the moment you activate the service.

Increased Wi-Fi user satisfaction: By working with the right partner, a company can create a reliable and secure service that will impress Wi-Fi users and ensure they come back.

Better customer engagement: The captive portal where Wi-Fi users log in and subscribe to Wi-Fi services can be a powerful platform for engaging with Wi-Fi users. Malls can, for example, provide Wi-Fi users with an online map of their property or information about the stores.

Promotions and Advertising: The captive portal is an ideal starting point for engaging customer journeys. Messages can be displayed to end-users before and during the hotspot session, with content targeted based on factors such as scheduling, demographics and geolocation. Users can be reached with promotions and vouchers relevant to their context or interests.

Data collection: Shopping centers or any public space for that matter, can leverage their Wi-Fi portal to collect rich customer information and use it to tailor the customer journey. This includes gathering user data, email addresses and cellphone numbers in compliance with the Protection of Personal Information Act. It’s also possible to gather foot traffic data (such as how customers navigate the mall or where they are spending the most time) to inform store layout and visual merchandising decisions.

Tight control over usage: A public Wi-Fi provider can manage the parameters of the access given to users, policies and rules can be created to throttle or cap users on a combination of time, data, bandwidth -and location. This can help to optimize the costs and quality of the Wi-Fi service.

By working with the right partner, you can transform Wi-Fi into a way to earn revenue, attract, retain and get more market share from their targeted consumers.