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]]>But what about environments where people want to explore—such as resorts, casinos or theme parks? In these environments, mobile wayfinding really shines. It puts a personal explorer’s guide right in the user’s pocket, helping people discover new points of interest and make the most of their stay. And while enhancing the guest experience, mobile wayfinding can also help drive incremental on-property spend and improve guest services’ efficiency and performance.
A recent article in Techzone360 describes how mobile and location technologies are powering the smart hotel of the future, yet the hospitality industry as a whole seems confused about how to start or where to go next. According to Econsultancy’s Digital Trends in the Travel and Hospitality Sectors, mobile experiences and analytics represent the top priority for tech investment in 2018. However, another survey—The 2018 Lodging Technology Study from Hospitality Technology—declares that just 26% of hoteliers plan to upgrade their guest-facing mobile apps in 2018, while 22% plan to add or upgrade location technology.
Confusion aside, mobile-first digital transformation is coming to the hospitality industry, and large properties stand to benefit significantly. Whether it’s added to an existing app or anchoring a new one, mobile wayfinding is a strategic way to gain quick advantages now, while building a scalable foundation for your mobile-first future.
Here are five reasons mobile wayfinding is ideal for large-property hospitality brands:
With a personal explorer’s guide to your property, guests will be able to:
Mobile wayfinding isn’t just for guests. By adding wayfinding to employee mobile apps, you can empower even temporary staff to be more efficient and productive while gathering valuable contextual data about both employee movement and guest behavior on property.
With mobile wayfinding in guest and employee apps, your organization can:
Among hotel execs, managers and staff:
Source: The 2017 Smart Decision Guide® to Hotel Guest Experience Management
Mobile changes fast. Even if you have a digital team that’s familiar with mobile strategy, they may not have the necessary skills or bandwidth to enable mobile wayfinding. That’s why it’s usually best to seek an experienced development partner with a licensable wayfinding solution.
If you need to build a new guest- or employee-facing mobile app, look for a provider with a complete, brandable solution and/or custom development program. If you’re just adding mobile wayfinding to an existing app, look for a provider that offers easily integrated mobile building blocks (known as SDKs, or software development kits) that enable indoor and outdoor mapping, routing, and blue-dot navigation and can be customized for your needs.
In addition, look for a mobile wayfinding partner with:
Phunware has been at the forefront of mobile wayfinding for years now, helping organizations across multiple verticals guide and delight app users with personal mapping and navigation tools. Our experience extends from luxury residential to retail and mixed-use properties, large entertainment venues, hospitality environments and more. To learn more about our approach, check out our wayfinding solution videos or download our Hospitality Solution Overview.
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]]>The post “I’m Here. Where Are You?” How Location Sharing Comes in Handy appeared first on Phunware.
]]>There’s another small-seeming mobile feature that is super helpful in multiple scenarios: location sharing. App giants like Google Maps, Snapchat, WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger all allow users to share their location with one another—it’s a great way to coordinate with friends (and get advance notice when somebody is definitely going to be late for the movie).
If, like many retailers, stadiums, hospitals and other physical venues, you have an app for the on-site customer experience, consider adding location sharing capabilities to it. This seemingly small feature provides convenience and social connection by helping people find each other within your campus or facility. Here are some examples of how location sharing comes in handy—useful information if your organization is looking for new ways to enhance the customer experience.
1. Healthcare: Hospitals and Medical Centers
Patients can share their location with hospital staff so they’re easy to locate in appointment waiting areas or anywhere in the facility. Critical physicians and nursing staff can share their locations with administrators so they can be found in an emergency. Staff can even share their location with patients or colleagues when en route to bring extra blankets, medicines, etc.
2. Hospitality: Hotels, Casinos and Restaurants
Guests can share their location and order details with staff, ensuring seamless delivery. Staff members can respond with an order receipt and the delivery location.
3. Theme Parks and Large Entertainment Venues
Visitors can create location sharing groups with each other, making their friends and family easy to find, even in crowded conditions. In a first-aid or medical emergency scenario, visitors can share their locations with the appropriate staff, who can use navigation to reach them as quickly as possible. Other staff, such as lifeguards or ride attendants, can share their locations with managers, helping to ensure coverage at all times.
4. Retail
Store associates can share their location with app users so they’re easy to locate via in-app mapping and navigation. Alternately, shoppers can request customer service and share their location, enabling associates to navigate directly to them.
5. Airports
Families or groups traveling together can create location sharing groups to stay connected throughout the terminal before, between and after flights. Baggage-handling and flight prep staff can share their location with administrative staff to help orchestrate and coordinate flight transitions.
If you’re considering enabling use cases like the ones above, Phunware offers licensable location sharing functionality as part of our Location-Based Services platform module, which also powers indoor mapping and wayfinding. To learn more about the power of location-based technology, watch our webinar:
WATCH THE ON-DEMAND WEBINAR NOW
For more information about location sharing, download our Location Sharing feature sheet or reach out to me anytime. I love talking about new ways to make apps even more functional and valuable for businesses as well as people.
Download our eBook Location Technology 101 to learn more about the types of location technology and how they work together—so you can start envisioning the possibilities.
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]]>The post Passenger Airport Apps: Is Your Airport Missing the Connection? appeared first on Phunware.
]]>Everybody’s story is different. What nearly all passengers have in common, however, is a mobile device in their hands. In fact, according to SITA’s Passenger IT Trends Survey 2017, almost all passengers (98%) carry at least one mobile device when traveling—and 70% carry two or more!
SITA’s survey also found that passengers want to use their smartphones and tablets to make the travel experience better. For example, three-fourths of those surveyed would opt in to flight and gate push notifications and 57% would use mobile airport wayfinding if those features were available. That “if available” is the tricky part.
To empower mobile-savvy travelers, airports must have passenger-facing mobile apps with sophisticated location-based services. Unfortunately, many airports are lagging behind. 77% of airports surveyed in SITA’s Air Transport IT Trends Insights 2017 say they plan to trial or R&D location-aware passenger apps in the next five years. Five years is a long time—consider the fact that in 2013, we were all super excited to find out “What Does the Fox Say?”
Mobile moves fast. If your airport hasn’t yet launched an advanced mobile app for your passengers, you’re already falling behind.
Airlines have lots of resources to drive their mobile strategies—72% use in-house development teams to create passenger mobile apps, as opposed to only 46% of airports (SITA). But if you don’t have a team of mobile development experts sitting around Terminal B waiting to build your mobile app, don’t worry. In most cases, licensing solutions and working with an outside development partner will get you better results in less time.
Here’s what airports should look for in a mobile development partner:
Learn more in this eBook: Mobile First: Harnessing the Application Lifecycle for Transformative Business Success
Phunware has worked with some of the leading airports in North America—including Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport and Toronto Pearson. Want a peek at our innovative passenger app solution? Watch our quick video.
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]]>The post Bye-Bye, Bottlenecks: How Airport Apps Keep Passengers on the Move appeared first on Phunware.
]]>In fact, 42% of passengers surveyed in OAG®’s 2017 North American Market Report said security procedures and wait times are what frustrate them most about today’s airport experience. While TSA PreCheck was hailed by many as the answer security bottlenecks when it launched in 2013—and marketed heavily by TSA in 2015 and 2016—the program has failed to provide the value it promised. Many travelers today report longer waits in the PreCheck line than in the regular queue. In the OAG study mentioned above, 45% of PreCheck enrollees and 57% of business travelers reported feeling that the supposedly expedited security program had become too crowded and was “losing its initial value.”
Passengers are clamoring for new solutions to make their trips less of a slog. When it comes to speeding up security lines, there’s not that much airports can do—that’s in the TSA’s hands. Airports can, however, do a lot to streamline the passenger journey from home or office to the eventual departure gate by making the most of that constant traveler companion: the smartphone.
Learn more in this on-demand webinar: Mobile at the Intersection of Hardware and Software.
Mobile devices offer a combination of features and functionality uniquely suited for solving traffic problems—and reducing passenger stress—in airport terminals. The location technologies built into every smartphone and tablet can pinpoint the device in relation to the world around it. Notification features can communicate directly to the device user in real time and in very personal ways. Interactions with location services and notifications generate unique contextual data the airport can use to optimize marketing or operations. Let’s explore how these use cases can make airport apps a valuable traveling companion—and business tool.
Research firm Frost & Sullivan’s Strengthening the Airport Value Proposition white paper examines digital transformation in the airport industry and suggests that advanced IT solutions should play a stronger role in the value airports offer to both passengers and airlines. While numerous technologies support the air transport business, it makes sense for airports to focus on laying the groundwork for a robust mobile strategy in today’s increasingly mobile-first world. Wayfinding and passenger traffic management are logical first use cases, addressing real operational and passenger experience challenges in tangible ways.
In 2018, wayfinding is about so much more than signage pointing to gates, shops and restrooms. It’s about creating an in-terminal experience that maximizes non-aeronautical revenue and improves the passenger experience. An airport mobile app can give travelers an optimized route from home or office to the airport, help them find an open parking spot and show them the fastest possible route through the terminal to their departure gate.
Here’s how it works:
This passenger journey may seem futuristic, but it’s not. Nearly 60% of travelers surveyed in SITA’s Passenger IT Trends Survey 2017 said they’d definitely use mobile wayfinding if airports offered it, and another 34% said they might use it. SITA’s Air Transport IT Trends Insights 2017 report found that 74% of airports are investing resources in research and development and/or major programs around interactive navigation and wayfinding solutions over the next three years, and 80% are investing in Internet of Things initiatives like beacons and sensors. It’s a great time to get on board!
Airport apps aren’t just about in-terminal navigation or flight information. Today’s consumers are sophisticated and mobile-first. Their demands will never stop pushing the limits of brands’ creativity—everyone from entertainment companies to retailers to airports is trying to find a way to stay relevant and keep up with the breakneck pace of technological change. For an airport, a mobile app can become the hub of brand identity, with the ability to scale and accommodate new use cases as technology advances (and provide serious business benefits).
Analytics from passengers using airport apps and interacting with location hardware (be it Wi-Fi, physical or virtual Bluetooth beacons or even smart LED lights) can provide powerful insights for improving airport traffic flow, amenity placement, marketing strategies and other operations. The same data that tells passengers which security checkpoint is least crowded can be used to help airport managers understand opportunities to improve terminal traffic flow or drive more traffic to retailers and concessionaires.
Learn more in this eBook: Mobile Data: the Missing Link in Your User Acquisition and Engagement Strategies
The point is that mobile apps aren’t gimmicks or even nice-to-have any more. They are versatile platforms for engaging customers, creating brand experiences, improving efficiency and deriving insight. Businesses of all kinds (including airports) are trying to enact digital transformation so they can innovate and remain nimble for the future. Mobile is an increasingly important and valuable part of those digital transformation efforts.
Want to learn more about mobile-first digital transformation? Check out this on-demand webinar: Mobile at the Intersection of Hardware and Software.
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]]>The post 4 Ways Airport Apps Solve Retail and Parking Challenges appeared first on Phunware.
]]>But times change, and some recent developments are posing new challenges to airports’ retail and parking revenue. Today’s travelers are less affluent, with many demands on their wallets and time. E-commerce gives them more retail options than ever, and widespread duplication of retail outlets across (and even within) airports makes in-terminal shopping less compelling. And of course, travelers have less time to shop and dine because they’re spending more time in security.
Airport parking faces similar challenges: off-site parking, public transportation and—increasingly—ridesharing compete for travelers’ dollars. According to OAG’s North American Market Report, ridesharing is now the preferred third-party method of transportation to and from the airport—and roughly two-thirds of all travelers (and 70% of business travelers) wish it were available at more airports. The Economist also points out that environmental regulations are pushing airports to encourage public transportation and off-site parking as a way to reduce on-site air pollution.
With these new and intensifying pressures on their retail and parking revenues, airports must look for fresh solutions and competitive strategies. Here are four ways mobile technology can help airports maintain non-aeronautical revenue, even as outside forces threaten it.
Partnering with retailers and concessionaires, airports can leverage mobile apps and location technology (GPS, beacons, etc.) to send targeted promotional messages to airport app users, right when they’re most likely to act on them. Let’s say Passenger Q is a frequent traveler and airport app user who has visited Airport News n’ Brews three times in the last two months. The next time she heads to the airport, she receives a personalized push notification as soon as her car enters the parking garage. The airport welcomes her back and offers her 10% off a magazine purchase with her coffee at Airport News n’ Brews.
To learn more, download our eBook: Mobile Marketing Automation: Why It Matters and How to Get Started
Or consider Passenger Z. He just downloaded the airport app for the first time and heads off to catch a midday flight. As soon as he exits security, he receives a push notification reminding him to pick up lunch from Bistro to Go and get a free cookie. Where do you think he stops next?
These kinds of timely, relevant messages can be powerful enticements for passengers who appreciate helpful suggestions to make their travel smoother and more comfortable (especially when they can also save money). According to SITA’s Air Transport IT Trends Insights 2017, however, only 18% of airports have implemented location-based food and beverage promotions, and just 19% have implemented location-based duty-free ads and offers via mobile. There’s a clear opportunity here for airports that are forward-thinking enough to take it.
An airport mobile app can act as a passenger’s personalized digital guide to and through the airport terminals, directly to their gate. And while they use mobile turn-by-turn navigation to speed their route through the concourse, the airport collects valuable (and previously unavailable) data about where bottlenecks occur and how passengers move through the terminal. This data can be leveraged to streamline operations, eliminate bottlenecks, optimize locations of mobile retail carts and much more.
Smart parking guidance systems like Park Assist® can help airports streamline garage traffic flow while driving revenue through sophisticated pricing strategies. An airport mobile app can (and should) integrate with these systems, enabling app users to find the closest open parking space with a tap and find their way back to their car just as easily. (Check out our Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport Customer Snapshot to see how it works.)
DOWNLOAD FT. LAUDERDALE AIRPORT CASE STUDY
In-terminal advertising is used to generate valuable non-aeronautical revenue, and in-app ads can do the same. The right app development partner can help you select ad units that won’t disrupt the app user experience and should be able to connect you with advertisers and campaigns that are relevant to your brand and the passengers who typically frequent your airport. According to App Annie, worldwide in-app ad spending shot up 37% from 2016 to 2017. That’s revenue that could be contributing to your bottom line.
Clearly, mobile and location-based technologies give airports many new options to address challenges to their main non-aeronautical revenue sources, retail and parking. The four use cases above are only the beginning. As mobile and location technologies continue to permeate the consumer and business landscape, the opportunities for airport mobile apps will continue to expand. Getting in on the ground floor now with a scalable mobile solution will position your facility to capitalize on those opportunities as they arise.
Learn more about how you can take a strategic approach to mobile in this eBook: Mobile First: Harnessing the App Lifecycle for Transformative Business Success
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]]>The post 5 Ways an Airport App Can Boost Non-Aeronautical Revenue appeared first on Phunware.
]]>The reality is, most airports need both. A web presence on the is table stakes for any large organization today. Websites are a great way to get basic airport information out there to passengers and the local community. But keep in mind, the average American adult spent 2 hours and 25 minutes per day in mobile apps in 2016—versus less than half an hour browsing the mobile web (eMarketer).
By taking advantage of built-in smartphone technologies that a website simply can’t leverage, an airport mobile app can do a lot to improve the passenger experience at your airport. It can also help boost non-aeronautical revenue, which comprises roughly 46% of total operating revenue at U.S. airports, according to Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) data from 2017. Let’s look at five ways a mobile app can help drive this revenue while improving the in-terminal experience for passengers.
What keeps passengers from spending money at your airport? Airports are challenging environments that can be frustrating and stressful. With an app, you can automatically send push notifications to passengers, informing them of gate changes or the shortest security line—reducing stress, saving time and keeping traffic flow smooth throughout the terminal. Passengers who aren’t stressed or rushed can then turn their attention to airport shops, restaurants and services.
Navigating by smartphone has become a mainstream experience. Why wouldn’t you provide an app that enables turn-by-turn navigation through your airport? Navigation offers another way to streamline the passenger experience, but it also helps passengers uncover compelling, satisfying interactions with your airport brand. Your app could help passengers find open parking, discover a great restaurant, locate an electronics store or identify the perfect place for a quick manicure.
We all window-shop airport stores as we walk through the terminal. What if you received a personalized coupon code on your phone, right when you approached the bookstore? What if you got a heads up about a meal deal at the closest café, just before you arrived at your gate? With technologies like beacons, your shops, stores, restaurants and other vendors can pay you to promote their businesses. More store sales + additional promotional fees = more revenue for your airport.
Thanks to the targeted audience segments that come through your airport (think business travelers, vacationing families, etc.), in-app advertising can also add to your non-aeronautical revenue. Many brands would salivate at the ability to reach such a clear, targeted audience—and would be happy to purchase some of your app’s real estate for advertising. You’d be paid for selling in-app ad space just as you’d be paid for selling space on billboards or digital signage.
As your app users travel through your airport—and everywhere they go in their daily lives—they carry their smartphones or tablets with them. This generates a daily digital trail that can tell you a lot about what they do, when, why and how.
You can use this information to continually test and refine your non-aeronautical revenue strategies, understand traffic flow in the airport better, streamline security lines and much more. This kind of contextual mobile data isn’t available to you without a mobile app and, in the long run, it can make your strategies smarter and help make operations run smoother. And that means more revenue throughout the terminal.
Download our eBook to learn more about how you can turn mobile data into actionable insights and successful strategies.
When passengers feel good about an airport they frequent—and when they feel that airport is cutting-edge, well-run, and invested in passengers’ well-being—that builds and sustains a strong brand. It helps attract conventions and other business travel. It increases loyalty among heavy travelers. And it makes your airport a place people want to spend their time and money, not just a place to pass through on their way to another destination.
Download our eBook to see how Phunware’s mobile solution for Fort Lauderdale Airport boosts revenue and streamlines the passenger experience.
At Phunware, we have deep experience building and optimizing airport apps throughout the app lifecycle. Our flexible mobile platform offers a wide range of advanced features you can use to enhance the passenger experience and drive non-aeronautical revenue at the same time. Intrigued? Learn more about our aviation solutions or contact a mobile specialist at info@127.0.0.1.
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]]>The post Data Download: Phunware’s 2017 Mobile Future Survey appeared first on Phunware.
]]>That’s why we recently conducted a national survey of daily smartphone and tablet users to find out what mobile means to them now and what they want from mobile in the future.
In the 2017 Mobile Future Survey, we learned that daily mobile users are more—and more deeply—intertwined with their devices, with 82% reporting that having their phones with them makes them feel “safe and secure.” Three out of five admitted feeling anxious without their devices. And a few even admitted checking their phone during sex!
But it’s no real surprise that users are device-obsessed—on a daily basis, it’s likely that you unlock your own phone to interact with it tens (if not hundreds) of times. That’s why we used this survey to dig deeper into the types of apps daily mobile users turn to most often, what drives downloads and the truth about app dormancy. We also investigated what mobile’s biggest fans want from their devices moving forward. And finally, we explored the types of personal information daily mobile users will share with brands and app developers—and why.
As our CEO Alan Knitowski put it, “This study proves that mobile is no longer simply about competitive differentiation—it’s about survival.” Want to learn more? Download the full survey report and keep an eye on our blog and social media profiles in the coming weeks for a series of infographics featuring data from this survey.
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]]>The post What a Trip! Update on Airport Security Bottlenecks and Other Traveler Concerns appeared first on Phunware.
]]>The question is whether these improvements will persist over the long haul. Bloomberg reminds us that “many of [this summer’s] remedies were temporary, involving the reallocation of existing funds and reassignment of employees to choke points.”
There are a few signs of hope on the horizon. Just last week, both houses of Congress approved a bill to upgrade airport security, which includes expedited security checks. What’s more, the TSA and American Airlines Group, Inc. recently announced plans to open automated conveyer belts to speed carry-on luggage and bins through security lines at the airline’s hubs in Los Angeles, Chicago, DFW, and Miami. There are also plans to add CT-scans (computed tomography) to checkpoints in Phoenix by year’s end.
Airports can take their own steps to alleviate security bottlenecks without incurring extreme costs or burdening passengers. Phunware is already powering the Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport (FLL) app and others, streamlining the passenger experience.
There are all kinds of unexpected situations that can cause a flight delay or interrupt the flow of passenger traffic through the airport. The New York Times just published an entire article about how planes can get held back by a broken coffee maker, and there’s an #iHateTheWait hashtag for frustrated tweeting at TSA.
With a passenger mobile app, airports can help reduce passenger stress and keep things moving when things don’t go as planned. Timely alerts via push notifications and personalized navigation to and through the airport can help travelers make the most of their time—and their trips. And the data they generate as they use the app and move around can help airports understand and optimize their operations.
Now’s the time for airports to seize the mobile opportunity and make things better for their passengers—and their non-aeronautical revenue.
Want to stay up to date on how mobile can help airports elevate the passenger experience? Subscribe to our monthly newsletter.
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]]>The post Where Can I Get a Drink Around Here? Navigating FLL Airport with Phunware appeared first on Phunware.
]]>You slog through the terminal with your belongings and find a place that looks okay, but wasn’t really what you were hoping for. As you walk, you see an airport map a hundred feet ahead of you. When you reach it, you see that the restaurant / bar / coffee shop you really wanted is actually at the other end of the terminal. By this point, you only have 45 minutes left. Do you dash down there or settle for the okay-looking place that’s right next to you?
Sounds familiar, right? But what if you could pull up a map of your layover airport as soon as you landed, search the directory for the thing you’re craving, and navigate there with turn-by-turn directions? If your layover airport is Broward County’s Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport (FLL), that’s exactly what you can do.
Thanks to Phunware’s technology, passengers at FLL now have information about parking, flights, shopping and dining right in their pockets. With interactive directories, an airport map and navigation, parking tools and information about the surrounding area, the FLL app is the perfect in-airport companion.
Want to see how it’s working? Download the Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport case study to learn how Phunware helped boost airport revenue and streamline the passenger experience.
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]]>The post Stress Less: How Airport Apps Can Help Passengers Handle the Unexpected appeared first on Phunware.
]]>We can’t stop things like flight cancellations, gate changes and other unexpected events from happening. But what if we could lessen their impact?
With a passenger mobile app, airports can give passengers as much notice as possible while minimizing the difficulties caused by an unexpected event. And that can make all the difference between a harried, unhappy passenger and a satisfied, understanding passenger who feels cared-for and appreciated.
Here are four examples of real-life unexpected events and how mobile apps can help airports lessen their impact:
Traveling is stressful enough when everything DOES go according to plan. Airport mobile apps can help lessen the impact of unexpected events—smoothing out the rough spots for both passengers and airport operations.
Want to see how a mobile app is helping both passengers and airport administration? Check out our case study that shows how its working at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport.
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]]>The post Once Upon an Airport: A Holiday Traveler’s Tale appeared first on Phunware.
]]>You throw everybody in the car at dark-thirty-a.m. because you’re trying to maximize the family time and you only have three days off. One of the kids is probably still in PJs.
Dodging traffic and flying cereal from the backseat, you make it to the airport 20 minutes later than planned. Now, you have to find parking, which means driving around in circles until somebody cries (possibly you). Then you schlep everything and everybody onto a shuttle and rush over to the baggage check. One of your bags is overweight, and you’re feeling a little pudgy yourself right now.
Next it’s the TSA line and the kids are fidgety, and who knows how long you’re going to have to stand there? SO MANY LINES.
Once you make it through, somebody’s got to go to the bathroom. Where is it? Where’s the gate? Ack! The bathroom is in the opposite direction from the gate! Are we going to be late? We need snacks. WE NEED COFFEE. HELP.
Now it’s time for boarding, which is its own special nightmare. Great, the lady in 24A is glaring at you and all the kids and NOW THE LITTLE ONE HAS LOST MR. WUFFLES…
…Not so festive, is it? At a time when every Scrooge in the media is expounding on the frustrations of holiday travel, we’re seeing reports of longer lines and beefed-up security, and some airports are even deploying therapy dogs to help relieve passenger stress—it’s no wonder some airline passengers are the farthest thing from jolly.
We can rewrite this story with a mobile app—and get airports off the naughty list!
All across the country, branded mobile apps are redefining the airport experience for the better. With beacon-enabled technologies, airports can streamline the passenger journey to and through the airport, eliminating stress and frustration all along the way. At the same time, mobile apps can help airports elevate and understand the passenger experience while driving additional revenue. Phunware’s already helping thousands of air passengers enjoy a much merrier trip this season at the Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport. Download the case study to lean how a branded mobile app helped boost revenue and streamline the passenger experience.
From all of us at Phunware, Happy Holidays—and stress-free travels, wherever you’re headed.
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]]>The post What Can You Do with Mobile Marketing Automation? appeared first on Phunware.
]]>With marketing automation (MA), your brand can take targeting and personalization to a whole new level, leveraging consumer behavior and smartphone capabilities out in the real world.
Want to deliver an amazing connected mobile experience? Check out this on-demand webinar: Mobile at the Intersection of Hardware and Software to learn how to engage with users where and when it matters most.
Essentially, you build a strategic message plan around specific information about where your mobile app users are and what they are doing. By taking advantage of built-in technologies on the user’s smartphone—as well as intelligent analytics—you can understand your users better and reach them more effectively.
By combining location insights with your back-end customer information systems, you unlock a deeper understanding of your customer than ever before. You can use this understanding to personalize very specifically—you can even target just a single person with a highly specific message. This gives your marketing much more relevance and a stronger chance to succeed.
More and more consumers are demanding a personalized experience—online, in-store, and on mobile. “Consumers want more than just an experience—we want a personal connection that identifies with who we are, our interests, expectations and abilities.” (CMSWire) Marketing automation can help make your app super-important to your users, even as it makes their shopping experience more pleasurable and useful. And all of that helps increase customer loyalty and sales.
Want to a more in-depth look at marketing automation and insights on how different industries are using it? Download Mobile Marketing Automation: Why It Matters and How to Get Started.
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]]>The post Why Mobile Technology Is a “Great Opportunity” for Airports appeared first on Phunware.
]]>Nearly all travelers today carry a phone, and usually, it’s a smartphone loaded with travel apps, according to the 2014 SITA/Air Transport World survey. Of travelers with smartphones, 76 percent use airline apps, and 43 percent of those travelers said the mobile apps “made a definite improvement to their travel.”
Mobile technologies “present a great opportunity for airlines and airports to engage directly with their passengers to provide efficient services throughout the journey,” according to SITA’s Chief Executive Officer Francesco Violante.
Many airports are awakening to the opportunity by swiftly ramping investments in mobile app development, beacons, Near Field Communication (NFC) and other technologies to assist their travelers.
Another SITA study, the 2014 Airport IT Trends survey, reveals:
A native, location-aware mobile app, combined with technologies such as geo-fencing, Wi-Fi, and beacons, can help airports keep travelers more informed and less stressed. And when travelers are less stressed, they have more time and energy to visit restaurants, shops, and services. That’s good for passengers—and it’s good for the airport’s bottom line.
For example, an airport’s custom, location-aware app can help arriving passengers easily find available parking spots, while wayfinding capabilities can give travelers turn-by-turn directions to an airport restaurant that offers healthful food options.
Such sophisticated, native mobile apps are more affordable and easier to develop, deploy and update than ever before. See our eBook on Harnessing the App Lifecycle for more information.
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