Crafting and Launching Successful Beacon Apps - 11 Keys to Success

Crafting and Launching Successful Beacon Apps

@KurtMcIntire @MatthewJHolmboe

@KurtMcIntire @MatthewJHolmboe

@VillainVaughan

@AndrewAarestad

@ShawnBurtis

Mobile Development

Mobile Strategy

iBeacon Solutions

!

Projects

• Restaurant order payments startup (LA) • Retail analytics startup (Bay Area) • Advertising agency (Minneapolis) • Business reviews startup (NYC) • Proximity based rewards startup (Bay Area) • Tech and education entrepreneur (Queensland)

• Sports safety startup (Minneapolis) • Cycling hardware and software company (Minneapolis) • Personal accessories brand (NYC)

Beacons

BLE

products prototypes concepts

crafting and launching successful beacon apps 11 keys to success

1. Set stakeholder expectations Your stakeholders think beacons can do everyyyyyything

1. No app is required 2. All content lives in the beacon 3. Battery life is forever 4. Infinite range 5. Pinpoint accuracy

Common Misconceptions

Beacon and BLE do not make experiences. They make experiences better and faster.

2. Validate that beacons are needed

Geofences Wifi

NFC None

3. Know your operating systems Beacon development and deployment is different on Android, iOS and Windows

WindowsiOS Android

1. All the ranging, all the monitoring, with battery trade-off 2. An app isn’t required with Eddystone beacons 3. Greater than 57% of devices support BLE 4. Individual models are better at BLE than others

Android

Eddystone AltBeacon

1. Lock screen notifications even when an app is terminated 2. Suggested apps for those already downloaded 3. Greater than 84% of devices support BLE 4. Core Bluetooth is required for complex functionality

iOS

iBeacon Core Bluetooth

1. Available on Windows 8.1 with open-source WinBeacon 2. Available officially with Windows 10 3. Allows monitoring and ranging (watching and scanning)

Windows

Windows 10 WinBeacon

4. understand BLE background modes Do your business goals match limitations of background modes?

1. Determine proximity (immediate, close, far) from beacons 2. Get limited lock screen notifications

1. Avoid impacting battery life 2. Show content outside lock screen notification norms

What you can do

What you can’t

5. convey value during onboarding What do your users get for sharing their proximity?

6. handle BLE off states Not everyone has bluetooth “on” all the time. Let users know they’re missing out.

7. provide privacy settings Make it easy for users to understand what they’re sharing and how to change it.

1. Be transparent about why you want their location 2. Explain what you are collecting and how it benefits them 3. Give them an option to opt-out, or modify privacy settings

Optimizing for the user?

8. Ensure User Interface Matches Beacon Accuracy Beacon accuracy isn’t perfect. Your UI shouldn’t suggest it is.

We’ll tell you how far away your Tile is in feet

Tile is 16.8-ft away

9. utilize beacon cloud management If you don’t have a maintenance plan, your app won’t be useful for long

10. deploy with interference in mind Beacons signals aren’t transmitted uniformly and get scattered or dampened by materials

11. aggregate analytics centrally Capturing proximity analytics is a huge piece of any beacon project. Ensure you’re tracking centrally.

1. Set Stakeholder Expectations 2. Validate If Beacons Are Needed 3. Know Your Operating Systems 4. Understand BLE Background Modes 5. Convey Value During Onboarding 6. Handle Bluetooth Off States 7. Provide Privacy Settings 8. Ensure User Interface Matches Beacon Accuracy 9. Utilize Beacon Cloud Management 10. Deploy with Interference in Mind 11. Aggregate Analytics Centrally

crafting successful beacon apps

@VektorDigital @KurtMcIntire

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