By Sarita Rao, Vice President, AT&T Wi-Fi & Data Patterns
For all the benefits that Wi-Fi has brought to small businesses, the misperceptions of its value have crept in over time.
Here are three common myths about Wi-Fi:
Myth #1: Customers don’t care about free Wi-Fi.
Your customers always want to be connected. They use connected devices for nearly every element of their lives.
Help your customers stay connected. It’s the key to their long-term loyalty and, yes, their wallets. When you offer your customers easy access to reliable and highly secure Wi-Fi service, it adds to the friendly, welcoming atmosphere that brought them to you in the first place.
It’s also one of the best ways for you to stay connected to them.
Myth #2: Free Wi-Fi may be great for customers, but it won’t grow my business.
Nothing could be further from the truth. Wi-Fi offers you a competitive advantage. It can often be the main reason why customers choose to shop at your store or order from your coffee shop instead of the one down the street. Offering it provides tremendous value to your customers.
Once you do, customers will come for the Wi-Fi, and stay for the amazing products and services that you offer. And, by the way, you will benefit from the rich insights you can get from the customer usage data.
Get to know your customers, enrich your marketing efforts and grow your business with Wi-Fi.
Myth #3: Great Wi-Fi takes resources, time and expert IT knowledge that my business can’t maintain.
There are huge misconceptions about Wi-Fi management. You don’t have to be an IT expert to keep track of your service; many suppliers have representatives to guide you along the way. Some even offer easy to use online portals that make self-service management a breeze.
With just a bit of research, you can almost certainly find a customized solution that fits your small business in terms of scale, hardware and cost.
Also, Wi-Fi management has become much easier over time. Enough so that, depending on your business, you might become your own IT expert and see just how easy it is.
In today’s connected world, small businesses could be missing tremendous customer acquisition and retention opportunities if they don’t offer Wi-Fi connectivity to their customers. Don’t believe the myths. Wi-Fi can help you grow your business.
Sarita D. Rao runs global sales and operations for AT&T Wi-Fi & Data Patterns. In this role, Sarita leads a large team to create innovative Wi-Fi and data analytics solutions that deliver valuable insights to business customers.
