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Five ways your WiFi network can help you grow sales

Plume Marketing TeamTips and Tools
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As a small business owner, you know how to bring in customers. You know that marketing tactics run the gamut, from crafting a perfectly timed Facebook post to offering a spa weekend to the customer that guesses how many beans are in the bottle. But what you may not know is this: The right small business WiFi solution can mean the difference between success and failure. Still, a WiFi connection isn't the first thing that usually comes to mind for small business growth. And that's probably because we tend to think of WiFi like we think of oxygen—it's always there until, one fateful day, it's not. That's when customers get restless. While most smartphone users have a data plan, they're always looking for ways to save that data. And cell service isn't always reliable, so even those with unlimited data plans appreciate a strong, in-house WiFi signal at the office, beauty salon, or local cafe. When done right, WiFi can be your secret weapon. Here are five ways an adaptive WiFi solution can help your small business soar.

1. Sustain a strong WiFi signal

Customers will need to access the internet from your location for an array of reasons. At a print shop, they may have to look up the specifics of a print order. At a restaurant, accessing the menu via QR codes and ordering online has become standard practice. A poor WiFi signal makes those tasks time-consuming and frustrating. What about someone in a clothing boutique trying to ask their friends for feedback on a mirror selfie of the outfit they're thinking of buying? That person doesn't want to watch their message try to send at a snail's pace because everyone else in the store is also using the WiFi. As a small business, you need a WiFi signal that's strong and always available (even in the presence of bandwidth hogs). Customers and employees alike will thank you for a consistent, far-reaching connection. But become known for laggy, slow WiFi—or no connection at all—and you may watch business fall away. Adaptive WiFi ensures a robust, constant signal by automatically allocating bandwidth between nodes—sometimes called pods—within a space. If someone's monopolizing bandwidth with a lengthy download, adaptive WiFi switches to another channel with good connection.

2. Accept new forms of payment

The 2020 Visa Back to Business Study found that 54% of consumers would take their business to a provider that used a contactless payment system like Apple Pay. It also found that 20% of small- and medium-size business owners have implemented alternative payment systems like Square and Stripe since the beginning of the pandemic. Those numbers are pretty significant. It's important to offer a range of payment methods—and you'll need good WiFi signal strength to do that.

3. Provide WiFi for the wait

Whether you're an auto mechanic, a dentist, or a bookkeeper operating out of a small office, if there's waiting involved, your business needs good WiFi. (Imagine having to wait an hour for the dentist to fill your child's cavity while you have nothing to read but the outdated waiting-room magazines.) Being able to easily log in to the internet when faced with unexpected downtime makes for happy customers who show their loyalty with return visits.

4. Open a meeting space

Whether an office, a fabric store with a studio in the back, or a coworking space, a small business with a WiFi-enabled meeting space can make extra money by renting it out or by simply bringing in meeting-goers who are likely to become customers. Many local groups, like book clubs and small nonprofits, are constantly on the lookout for private meeting spaces—especially ones with great WiFi.

5. Raise employee engagement

When employees are at the front of the store and engaged with customers, they're making sales and building business. But if they're spending too much time in the break room or back office, your sales could be suffering. With an intelligent network solution, you can keep track employee activity and location, which you can use to manage productivity.

WorkPass can get you there

WorkPass uses the power of WiFi to unlock a suite of services that will help keep your small business running nimbly and efficiently. It doesn't just give you the benefits of fast adaptive WiFi—it also helps you keep your network safe, provides invaluable insights into your customers' behavior, and allows you to manage staff, and your network, from anywhere. WorkPass gives you intuitive management of people and device access, state-of-the-art security powered by AI, data visibility and protection, and WiFi motion sensing (for after-hours peace of mind). The best part? No need for any IT people. It's a simple tech solution that scales with your business. Learn more.