General Information Archives

Pokemon Go – Unique Business Applications

Unless you live under a rock, you’ve likely heard of Pokemon GO and the buzz it has created in the last couple of weeks. It’s attracting people of all ages – I’ve seen adults & children alike wandering about, staring at their phones like it’s the zombie apolcalypse.

Businesses have noticed as well and have recently found ways to capitalize on this new craze; after all, it’s the first app of its kind that requires players to be out and about. Many times Pokestops are found near businesses, and this created a great opportunity.

Below are four interesting ways businesses have taken advantage of the Pokemon GO insanity:

Pokemon GO Tours: a simple concept really – find a route where Pokemon are in abundance, create a tour, and charge customers for the ride.

This is exactly what is popping up across the country. A recently launched Pokemon GO Tour in Austin combines catching Pokemon with a tour of the city. Here’s a brief description of how it works according to a recent article:

“Everyone get out your phones and get ready,” said Philip Loyd to a bus full of Pokemon passengers.

Loyd guided passengers by live tracking Pokemon creatures and alerted passengers on what they’re about to catch, when and how long they have.

“Alright, everyone, so we have a cadaver coming up. We have about 90 seconds to catch it,” Loyd told the gamers aboard the air conditioned bus.

When there’s a lull of virtual creatures, Loyd gave background information on neighborhoods they passed through.

The bus tour that started in East Austin eventually makes its way to famous Austin landmarks. One of the tour stops is Vic Mathias Shores, a hotspot for pocket monsters.

Here, passengers spread out and conquered as many Pokemon as they could.

Such a simple idea, right? Other tours are quickly popping up, such as the one at Churchill Downs and the above mentioned Austin tour – just Google “Pokemon bus tours” and see how many pop up.

Animal shelters utilize Pokemon GO players as volunteers: this is probably my favorite use of Pokemon GO:

From reports on this program, it seems that it has been successful in increasing foot traffic to the shelter. It’s a win-win situation – increases awareness of animals that are available for adoption and, at the same time, gives the shelter animals a bit more attention and exercise. I’m sure the shelter volunteers appreciate the extra help!

Pokestops as a means of luring customers their way: businesses have been on the hunt to find Pokestops near their business. While they cannot create a Pokestop at their business (yet – sounds like “sponsored locations” will be launched soon), if there is one nearby, they may have some luck with purchasing Lures to encourage people to be near their place of business.

A Lure is simply a feature of the game that will do as it says – “lure” nearby Pokemon into your area for players to catch. It’s simple enough to purchase a Lure, but keep in mind it may not work if you don’t have a Pokestop nearby and/or it is too far away.

To Purchase Lures:

Open the Pokemon Go app
Catch your first Pokemon and you’ll get a red Pokeball
Tap the red Pokeball at the bottom of the screen and hit “Shop”
Scroll down and buy a pack of Pokecoins (the apps currency)
Once you have Pokecoins use them to buy a Lure Module

Are there Pokemon around you? Shout it to the masses! When businesses realize that Pokemon are hanging out nearby, they have turned to social media & other marketing avenues to promote this fact, hoping to increase foot traffic (and customers). Some things businesses have used:

Post to social media sites to alert players that there are Pokemon in the area, and follow up by offering a special discount if they come in, make a purchase, and mention Pokemon GO.

Encourage foot traffic to turn into sales by offering discounts and deals for those that show screenshots of Pokemon captured at their place of business.

Knowing there is a nearby Pokestop, businesses have created signage that is displayed in store windows encouraging Pokemon GO players to wander into the store.

Who knows how long this Pokemon GO craze will last – it’s hard to tell, but while it is the talk of the town, many businesses have seen the value in making the most of it. It’s a good time for business owners to download the app and see what creates are lurking nearby – it might be good for increased foot traffic and sales!

Well Played, Sam’s Club, Well Played…

Some Costco customers were unhappy with the news that Costco was ending its relationship with American Express and forming a new relationship with VISA. Costco informed customers they should have received a new VISA card in May or June, and as of June 20th, customers would no longer be able to use their American Express card to make purchases. However, problems arose when some customers didn’t get the new card in time, others were unhappy with the switch, and then others who were ready to abandon Costco all together. This caused many Costco customers to re-evaluate their membership with the retailer.

During all of this, Sam’s Club was paying close attention.

In a bold move, Sam’s Club allowed Costco customers to visit Sam’s Clubs, using their Costco Card, for a short period of time after the announcement – from approximately June 20th to July 4th.

This was an excellent example of how a retailer watched the competitor and took advantage of a potentially difficult situation for Costco customers.

By allowing Costco customers to visit a Sam’s Club, it gave an easy opportunity to check out the competitor, see what they have to offer, and give unhappy customers a chance to make a change.

Why was this such a great move?

Sam’s Club quickly identified the pain points of Costco customers. Building on that emotion, they opened their doors to the competitor’s customers at a time when many were already thinking of changing their shopping loyalty. They made it easy to check out the competition.

If done correctly, Costco customers could be wooed by Sam’s Club and the retailer could offer these customers the chance to sign up for a membership right then and there, or at least sign up for email notifications or something similar. This is a quick way to grow an email marketing list.

The company took advantage of some free marketing & advertising. Realizing that the Costco news would send shock waves across the internet and news outlets, they realized that by taking this step, they would be included in the conversations, thus spreading word of mouth easily and without much advertising spend.

By closely monitoring social conversations, Sam’s Club also has another unique opportunity; while the majority of online conversations may revolve around the card switch right now, many customers may also be expressing their dissatisfaction with other aspects of being a Costco customer. If Sam’s is listening, it is giving them the ammunition they need to further develop their marketing content to align with showcasing their strengths over the competition. One of their newer marketing tactics involves mirroring Costco’s new marketing campaign, as seen below.

While this was a very popular news story between two large brands, the key takeaway is the importance of competitive intelligence. No matter the size of the company, paying attention to the competition can give a business a much-needed marketing push, or at the very least, learn more about the competitor’s customers and find new ways to engage with them and showcase the benefits of doing business with someone else.

Employee Feedback Gone Wrong

Employee feedback is important to the success of a company; simply put, gathering feedback from your employees can give insight into many areas of the customer experience, including:

Where employees feel they are not supported

Issues with morale, management, or loyalty

Great ideas and insight into ways to make the customer experience stronger – after all, employees are on the front lines and have a unique insight that upper management may not

Customer perceptions- customers like to talk to employees, and they may hear a pattern of similar concerns/strengths regarding the company during daily interactions

I’m a huge proponent of employee feedback and enjoy working with clients on an effective employee feedback program. However, when not done correctly, it can be a waste of time and money while tanking employee morale and loyalty.

Here’s a real life example of how an employee feedback program can go wrong (true story):

A company provides an annual employee feedback survey where topics range from coworkers, overall job satisfaction, management review, and a general feedback/comments section. The company houses an online portal for employees to track hours, request time off, and for continued online training. The company decides to use this online portal for efficiency and a streamlined process.

Each year before the survey is dispatched, they hold a staff meeting and remind employees that they survey will be live soon. They stress the importance of being honest and assure staff that the information will remain anonymous.

Bob, an employee who is eager to provide feedback, waits for the release date and then goes to the site to take the survey. He first finds that he has to login with his employee credentials. That makes him wonder how anonymous the survey really is. He is hesitant to provide completely honest responses to some of the questions, as he had had some issues with his direct supervisor. He has tried to resolve them in the past without success and isn’t sure if there would be ramifications for sharing this feedback with corporate. So, he continues on the survey without providing this information.

A week later he is working alongside Jane, a coworker. Their direct supervisor approaches Jane and says that her records indicate she hasn’t taken the employee feedback survey yet and needs to do so in the next three days so they get 100% participation. As the supervisor walks away, Bob and Jane talk about the fact that the survey is supposed to be anonymous, yet the supervisor knows who has taken it and who has not.

In the break room, conversation turns to the feedback. Some employees say they were completely honest in their feedback, though there were only a couple. Most say they were concerned about potential backlash and admitted that they gave high ratings across the board since they had to log in and they know that managers will know who said what.

What went wrong:

Management tried to assure employees that the survey was anonymous when in reality the employees had to log in to participate. As employees found they had to login to take the survey, they started off with a sense of distrust. This could (and in fact did) skew the results.

To further complicate things and show that the survey was not truly anonymous, the supervisors were seeking out employees who did not yet participate and remind them to take the survey. If they weren’t sure the survey was anonymous before, they realized it at this point.

By trying to obtain 100% participation in the form of supervisors and department managers reaching out to employees with reminders, it also enforced the concern that these managers were not only privvy to who took the survey and who didn’t, but would potentially have access to the feedback provided. If employees wanted to share negative feedback, especially about a manager or supervisor, or even how a department is run, knowing that this information could be easily accessed gave hesitation to being completely honest.

How can this be done better? There are some steps this company can take in the future to improve methods and ensure that employees are providing the most honest feedback possible:

Make it truly anonymous: while using the company’s online portal is likely efficient and cost effective, it would be better to find a way to use the portal but not require employee login to participate. This would give a sense of anonymity and perhaps garner more honest feedback.

Realize there will not be 100% participation: while the company’s procedure to remind employees to take the survey was likely done in good faith, wanting to hear from every employee, the way they went about it didn’t bode well. While 100% participation would be great, the reality is that this won’t happen. Encourage employees and offer general reminders (“the survey closes in five days; please take some time to participate if you haven’t done so already), but realize that not everyone will participate.

Offer options to take the survey outside of work: this company’s portal can be accessed by employees at any time, whether they’re at home or at work. For this survey, employees only had the option to take it while at work. Give them the opportunity to take it at their convenience. This will not only increase response rates, but will provide another layer to ensure results are anonymous.

Hire a third party vendor to conduct the surveys: employees may find it hard to provide feedback when they know their direct supervisors will see it, especially if there are significant issues. Hire a third party to execute the survey and aggregate results so the results truly stay anonymous. The company will still receive employee comments and performance ratings, but will only be tied to the store location and not to a specific employee.

More and more companies are collecting employee feedback, which is an excellent way to get insight into day to day operations. Employing best practices will ensure that it is money well spent and the data collected is as accurate as possible.

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