Last week I was enjoying a coffee at a UK bus station when I decided I’d like to download a film for the next leg of my journey. Not fancying the charges if I were to download it using 3G, I was very pleased to see that they offered free Wi-Fi.

The online time-per-user was limited to an hour, but this was more than enough time for me to peruse iTunes and download a cheesy rom-com to help the next few hours pass by.

In order to connect to their Wi-Fi I had to provide them with my name and email address. A fair exchange, in my opinion.

If you run a bricks and mortar business then this is a smart tactic for collecting
data from prospects.

The bus company knew that I had a connection to their business as I was using their waiting room facilities. They figured that if I’d used them once before, I might do again. However, if they had no way of communicating special offers with me as I bought my ticket in-person – so what’s to stop me from choosing their competitors next time? After all, I have no loyalty to them….

If only they had a way to regularly engage with me and shower me with discounts, deals and content then they might just win my loyalty….

So, what are the logistics of this? If you run a bricks and mortar business, how could you offer a similar service to your customers?

• Check out a service like this . They’ll help you create personal welcome pages and will provide support for any technical problems. Their packages start from around £20 a month.
• To stop people only coming to your store/premises just for the free Wi-Fi, consider limiting how long a Wi-Fi connection lasts for each customer. You may want to shorten this at peak times.
• Once a customer has signed in to access your hotspot you then get to keep and use their email data for your marketing so long as you make that clear on signup, and give them the option to opt-out. Make sure that you are transparent and fair, and give as many options as possible so that they don’t feel duped.

If your business model doesn’t require your customers to come and physically visit you in store or at a particular location then fear not, we have plenty of other great ways of building up your email lists up my sleeve. Stay posted.

We love to read your thoughts, tips and questions, so please don’t hesitate to speak your mind below, or tweet @dotMailer – we always respond.

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