If you have a local, brick & mortar business, with customers that come to your location, you definitely should look into using Foursquare. (For more information on what Foursquare is check here.) With Foursquare, businesses have an opportunity to reward loyalty without requiring the hated loyalty card. And customers can get recommendations and information about places from their trusted network of friends, all while playing a bit of a game.
Foursquare works best for businesses where customers have some interest in the product or service (beyond just commodities). Checking into a gas station is very exciting unless there is some great value-added service. Foursquare will not work if you have an online only business or if customers never come to your location (some service businesses, for example).
Customers like to be rewarded for their loyalty. But keeping track of 12309823 loyalty cards is annoying. With Foursquare, they can show their loyalty while playing a game — and they’re rewarded with points and badges (you might be surprised how addicting that can be).
Your most loyal customers can get a bit of stardom as well. Not only will the mayor (the person who has checked in the most) show up when someone checks in, you can award discounts to whoever achieves mayorship.
To entice people to come to your location who may be nearby, Foursquare has also added the ability to market promotions. If someone checks in to a location near yours, they’ll see that you have a promotion and may be enticed to come in.
Foursquare is also rolling out access to some analytics and measurement for businesses about the customers who are checking in to their location, which may decrease the need for in-store other measurement tools.
Foursquare gives local merchants a useful tool for reaching out to their customers, rewarding loyalty, and reaching out to a wider network of customers.
Do you use Foursquare for your business? How?
(photo by KitAy)