LevelUp Syncs With iBeacon to Connect with Customers Earlier
Bluetooth Low Energy connectivity, which has gone mainstream in retail because of Apple’s iBeacon technology, has been deemed by some to be the future of mobile payments — and that future is coming more quickly than we thought, with mobile payment company LevelUp adding iBeacon support over the past few days.
LevelUp has so far added iBeacon technology in its home city of Boston, partnering with dozens of merchants around the city to offer LevelUp customers better discounts and loyalty rewards. According to Seth Preibatsch, chief ninja of LevelUp, customers spent up to “25% to 40% more on average when they knew they were about to unlock a loyalty reward.”
LevelUp has reconfigured its app to receive notifications when the iOS device is near LevelUp partner merchants that are offering deals. These deals can be wide-ranging: from rewards that offer “free or enhanced ordering” to reduced rates and coupons.” The specifics of the rewards don’t matter — the goal is to get these deals from the merchants into the hands of the consumers.
LevelUp has done some beta testing with about 20 Boston businesses, which has resulted in “pretty dramatic lifts in [merchant’s] transactions and orders,” according to the company. Bank Innovation has reached out to LevelUp for more information on the test.
Location-based reminders and similar technology are just one way payments companies be more proactive and interact with customers before the point of purchase, creating new moments of opportunity. Ron Shevlin, senior analyst at the Aite Group, spoke on this theme at NextBank USA last week. Shevlin emphasized how payments companies and banks need to recognize that there are new moments of opportunity created through new technology and mobile devices. By meeting customers before the swipe, banks and payments services will be more engaged — which will increase customer loyalty and help companies access important customer transaction data.
