Foursquare: Reach Customers Through Their Phones

Are you a start-up business trying to advertise new specials offers? Are you trying to gain a loyal customer base? Are you trying to find a new way to tell potential customers that you even exist? If you answered yes to any of these questions then Foursquare might be for you. Foursquare not only provides loyalty programs for its customers, but it also helps provide promotion through cellphones and social media. Combine that with the ability to track your customer base, and Foursquare has the potential the change the world of e-commerce.

First let’s begin with the customer loyalty programs. Foursquare gives a business the ability to track a customer’s activity and offer them certain benefits for their loyalty. For instance, say you check into a business 10 times, you may be able to receive a free meal. Other specials can work based on frequency, i.e. every 3 times a customer checks in they get a discount on drinks. A business may also choose to advertise a special for any customer that is signed up with foursquare. The final special is known as the “Mayor” special. This special is given to the most loyal customer who has come to the restaurant the most times within a certain period of time. This customer keeps his title of “Mayor” until another customer surpasses him.
So how do these specials work? Do you get emailed a coupon that you will never print out, and even if you do, forget to bring it when you actually go to the restaurant? No. With the new Foursquare application for smartphones (iPhone, Blackberry, Android), a simple display of your phone will entitle you to these specials. Your loyalty card is now your smartphone.

Foursquare gives the user the ability to tell what specials are going on right next door with its geo-targeting system. So say your business is located in a shopping plaza and your trying to alert customers to the great special you offering today. All a customer located in that plaza needs to do is turn on his or her Foursquare application and your offer will pop right up. It will also alert the customer to what requirements are needed to unlock this special offer.

Now for the businesses, a wealth of knowledge is acquired through the use of Foursquare. You are given information on where your customer base is coming from. Information on what time the customers are coming at and on what days is also very useful information. Based on the specials being offered you can check their effectiveness in increasing the current customer base. Normally the only way to advertise specials is word of mouth from customers who have already been there. Now it is possible to attract new customers by simply flashing your special on their phone. No longer will your good deals go unnoticed.

All of this seems great, but it’s still only scratching the surface of Foursquare’s potential . Combined with a company like Mobio, Foursquare can begin to realize its full potential. Imagine being able to not only make reservations on your smartphone and present the special coupon, but also pay through your phone as well. Imagine if your credit card was linked directly to your phone, allowing you at the press of a button to pay for your meal with the discount you had just gotten.

The social media aspect is the final important detail of Foursquare. Through websites such as Facebook and Twitter, local companies involved with Foursquare are able to advertise its specials to its past customers. There is also the ability to thank customers for their business and open up a dialogue in which a customer may discuss any comments about their experience or ask about any future deals. Although the website is still in its infancy stage in gaining a customer base (there are currently only 2000 business listed nationwide), the business model has the potential to be an everyday commodity for most families and businesses.