6 ms·
This is genius and fills a real need, here's why: I've spent the last two years building out a customer acquisition program for a brick & mortar chain with ~50
by aresant 13y ago
This is genius and fills a real need, here's why:
I've spent the last two years building out a customer acquisition program for a brick & mortar chain with ~50 locations.
We CONSTANTLY try to train the people in the store to ask for reviews / likes / etc which is a cornerstone of local SEO and the customer acquisition process.
The biggest issue that we encounter is that store employees have trouble figuring out how / where to have the conversation, and how to ask.
With one of these on every store counter we literally have a conversation starter and the novelty for the customer of clicking the "like" button on their phone and seeing the physical roll over is just enough bait to make it worthwhile for them.
I see two issues with the hardware:
a) €300 (~$450 US) is steep. I get this is prototype. But at $100 I would put them in every store.
b) There's nowhere on the sign for the URL / or a call to action "Like us at fb.com/blahblah" which means literally every Like you get requires a transaction / discussion w/a store employee to guide people there vs. just letting it hit organically.
Regardless I'm going to buy one, and if the devs are here and watching and would like us to knock out a case study of how well this works feel free to drop me a line via my profile -
- Gauhier 13y agoWow, that's encouraging for us, you totally seized what we are trying to do with this device. Let's get in touch!
- wtvanhest 13y agoYou should definitely make it easy for them to "like" the store they are in while they are on their visit. I understand that searching for he business on the mobile device would work, but if there was faster way, you should consider adding it as an upgrade.
- wikwocket 13y agoIn the meantime, people could probably print up signs with a QR code and instructions telling people to scan the code, 'like' the store, and watch the sign.
- ollysb 13y agoA like button on the wifi home page would work well.
- philwebster 13y agoFacebook should include a QR code scanner in their app to do this. I rarely scan QR codes because I would rather type in a short URL than find some QR scanning app. (I realize Google's app can do this, but you end up in an in-app web browser where you are likely not signed into Facebook.) If I could get to a business' official page in a couple of taps in the Facebook app, my chances of interacting with the page would definitely increase.
- philwebster 13y agoIt turns out the iOS Facebook app has this feature already under the sidebar > Find Friends > QR Code > Scan Code. The URL is in the form https://www.facebook.com/qr?id=########### https://www.facebook.com/qr?id=###########. Unfortunately when I scanned codes, the app did nothing even though it said it would bring me to a Facebook page, so the feature does not appear to be working properly.
- karlmalone32 13y agoIt looks like it only works with other people's QR codes from the "Find Friends > QR Code > Your Code" area and not random codes. Worked for me with those codes though.
- fudged71 13y agoThe Facebook page should also be mentioned on the receipt
- Gauhier 13y agoYes we will, we are working on including some NFC tags in the package but as this is still not totally sure for now we didn't publicly announce anything on that. QR Codes might also do the job but we are not totally sure that people actually use it... (Damn Apple & Android, this SHOULD be native in their camera...)
- twilightfog 13y agoI agree that the $450 price tag is too steep. At a stretch, I think that anything more than $100 is not attractive, even if its a novelty item. Why don't you raise the money for mass scale production on Kickstarter. IMO its better to sell 10 K for $100 than a few hundred at $450.
- loceng 13y ago1,000,000 sold at $100 is still ...
- seltzered_ 13y agoIf it provides business value, you can charge way more than 100 bucks. My brother had a (solari?) train-station clock of a similar shape, which was dead-on-arrival, didn't have a wood finish and probably costed about 400.
- 2pasc 13y agoTotally agree re: the price tag. Especially since most smaller stores have 100-1000 fans. They can pay $100 to get an additional 100 real fans. $400? I don't think so. Pascal
- guybrushT 13y agoWell done to you guys. This is a very good idea. I can see many potential extensions and applications. I was asking myself if this would have been as cool had this been just an LCD screen? Does this look cool because there is something exciting about manipulating a physical object with a simple digital signal? Is it the simplicity of this counter? I can't put my finger on it, but it certainly looks very cool to me :-) I would love to understand the philosophy that drove you to create this - if you can share. Because, you are on to something! :) I have shared this link with a friend and a cousin, both of them run their own store. Maybe you will hear from them soon. If you are interested in bringing this to new markets (e.g. India/SE Asia), drop me a note - maybe I can help. I have to say it again - very well done :)
- andrewhillman 13y agoWhy didn't you put this project on kickstarter? Also, what are those numbers/bearings made of? Wondering how much that material can withstand since it looks like the numbers flop around for every like... or was that effect just for the video?
- Helpful_Bunny 13y agoPlease, elucidate: Is this project serious, or satire? If it's the former, we have no interest ($450? Who do you expect to use this, no major Brand Retailer will green light this, for both cost, practical application (a plug? Just how do you think retail space is planned out?), non-focus group aesthetics (97% of your market will not enjoy the '70s retro look) and the idea / concept cannot be protected at all legally - in fact, it probably breaks at least two patents I can think of); if it's the latter, you might be the top viral PR company of 2013. No-one in 2013 can produce retro-1970's SF Geek-chique like this and not being framing a viral hit, especially with Face Book as its target. And yes, we do mean "hit" in a dual sense. If you've not even seen the latter, I'd strongly suggest quickly (ahem not going to use the usual buzz word, but you should know it) your start-up, mulling over your skills, and seeing how much money you could make in an alternative market.
- Helpful_Bunny 13y ago[Edit - I re-read the FAQ, I will remove complaints in lieu of a serious question, and alter the tone; unprofessional of me, and I apologize to the longer-term member base] Since this was disliked, would the person responsible kindly explain their reasons? I'm 100% certain my critique is true in business terms, and any start-up should be 100% considering the retail market they're attempting to sell to. I did not mean to be overly critical, however any Start-Up should surely brain-storm these basic questions immediately? I am still 50-50 on this not being run by a professional PR team, however, I lack the motivation to really investigate their background at this point[1]. Am I too cynical to imagine that HN is popular enough to be targeted by K-street professionals? I'd have imagined that HN was a far more lucrative target than other social media, however, I apologize if this is not the case (and I have no knowledge of how the HN founders police this, so again, I do not wish to step on toes). [1]http://www.bloomberg.com/quote/FB:US http://www.bloomberg.com/quote/FB:US
- Helpful_Bunny 13y agoSince the polite version didn't work, here's the scoop: The CEO[1] of this start-up has a long back ground in the Advertising and Media Relations industry[2] and still works in his this field on current projects[3]. In this light, asking if this was viral marketing was entirely valid, and could have brought him work. Instead, abuse of the "down vote" system occurs (my second post removed this complaint, as the FAQ stated it shouldn't be referenced: however, I feel it should be acceptable to do so now). shrug I'll ask a third time: is this really a product, or is this viral marketing? [1]http://fr.linkedin.com/in/gnadaud/en http://fr.linkedin.com/in/gnadaud/en [2]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BETC https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BETC [3]http://vimeo.com/37597427 http://vimeo.com/37597427
- deleted 13y ago[deleted]
- deleted 13y ago[deleted]
- Groxx 13y agoCTA is a good point. I'll cast my vote for a QR code also - as much as they're apparently hated, they do tend to work, and are usually easier than punching in a URL (plus, they should be able to open the FB app directly). Or NFC / Android beam would be awesome, but there aren't too many phones that support it yet.
- fudged71 13y agoSorry, but the SMS generation is more likely to search for your brand than use a QR code. And since this is a display, you won't always be able to reach it to tap for NFC. Just show the Facebook URL of the store.
- Groxx 13y ago>the SMS generation is more likely to search for your brand than use a QR code I keep hearing this. I keep seeing the opposite. Have data, or...?
- fudged71 13y agoI'm at the tail end of the generation and am surrounded by these people. Maybe it's different geographically. But the effort to type two words is usually easier than finding that special camera app you might have (plenty of people still don't know what app they need to read the codes). QR Codes might be useful for a complex URL with some sort of novelty behind it; a prize or whatever. But your brand shouldn't be that hard to find. It's a Facebook sign. Get them to use Facebook to find the store. Same goes for Twitter. Accessory apps are a hurdle.
- atacrawl 13y agoas much as they're apparently hated, they do tend to work Working at a marketing agency, I have plenty of data that shows that, no, they do not.
- deleted 13y ago[deleted]
- dmazin 13y agoBy the way the Euro isn't that strong against USD anymore; €300 is $390.
- whytaka 13y agoRetail stores could hold "Be the Nth person to WIN!" contests all the time.