People say there is no such thing as a free lunch – and most of the time, it’s true.

But when we think about guest wifi – we know that it’s as close to a free lunch that we’re every going to get. Mobile data does not come cheaply for Australian’s, so providing free wireless access is akin to providing water to the thirsty. But what is the true cost to businesses providing this service? Is it simply an expense, or can you generate real return from it? Let’s take a look.

The benefits of Free Guest Wifi

  • New Business where business would have been lost Tourist from all around the world will flock to cafes that have those big beautiful letters “FREE WIFI HERE”. It’s no wonder that more and more businesses are providing free Wifi for their customers. Getting people into the door of your business is one of the biggest challenges – giving them an incentive makes it that little bit easier.
  • Longer visiting times Free wifi allows users to check their email, surf the web and enjoy content as they would in their own home. It’s no surprise that when people stay longer, they tend to spend more. This is not always the case, but as an average, this is good news for your business.
  • Repeat Customers Customer loyalty comes in all shapes and sizes. If you’re competing against other businesses that provide a similar product or service, what really sets you apart? Is it your price point, your customer service, ambiance, or a mix? Free wifi is another element to providing people the reason to return. It’s not uncommon to hear people recommend a meeting spot at a cafe simply because “they have free wifi”.
  • Increase customer satisfaction & brand recognition Customers who get something for free love to give back. Being in this socially connected world means we have the ability to snap and share our experiences every second of the day. Allowing customers to do that on your premises increases customer satisfaction (who doesn’t love free data?) and also gives your business free social media marketing. Win-Win!

The pitfalls of Free Guest Wifi

  • Security, Security, Security! Guest wifi should be for guest devices. Never, ever expose your business critical wifi network to your customers. Imagine having both your POS and Guest Wifi running on the same network? Now imagine a tech-savvy individual having the ability to shut down the communications between you and your POS. Not great. Having a secure network is extremely important when thinking about guest wifi. The easiest to implement is to set long, hard to guess passwords, and set the SSIDs (the network name) to Hidden or “Do not broadcast”.
  • Bandwidth Killer Australian businesses aren’t blessed with large data plans either. It is getting better, but it can still be a considerable operational cost. Offering free wifi is great, but remember, someone is paying for that data. Without the right checks in place, people can quickly exploit your generosity.
  • Network throughput Network throughput is another thing to consider when offering free wifi. Many businesses run on ADSL2+, and that means a (theoretical) maximum of 24Mbps per second. Let’s face it, it never hits that anyway. So multiple devices all consuming media can be quite the throughput killer too – which is going to hurt if your business relies on internet services, such as Kounta or Xero.
  • Lack of Analytics Modern business strives on data gathering and information crunching. Traditional guest wifi just doesn’t have the power to collect the data that is there to be taken. Knowledge is power.

Next Generation Wifi for the Small to Medium Businesses of Melbourne

We were lucky enough to be invited to see a presentation on the next generation of business networking devices.

Meraki, by Cisco, really blew us away. The feature set is amazing from both the technical and non-technical side of things.

What does this mean for small to medium businesses who want to offer free wifi?

  • Security Meraki allows you to create a secure guest wifi network with, literally, a check of a box. It’s that easy.
  • Bandwidth safe Meraki allows you to completely block content through your wifi network. Meraki manages the lists for you, just set the category and it’s done! Instead of completely blocking heavy content websites, you can throttle those websites, such as Netflix, to a slower speed.
  • Network throughput We can also make sure all your business-critical information is sent first, with the highest throughput. We can even filter based on devices, so your guests can continue to enjoy their Wifi without disrupting your business.
  • Analytics Meraki has the ability to collect data in a powerful way. We can layer PurpleWifi on top of Meraki, making the data even more interactive and useful.

Social Media Check-in

This is the ROI end of Meraki. Now imagine; every time someone visits your store, in order to gain access to free Wifi, they must like or check into your Facebook page.

You can calculate the value of every like to your page by using an online calculator. For many businesses, the value of a like is around $3-$5.

If we assume that the cost of your internet and infrastructure is around about $0.20 per hour, per customer – that’s at least a 10x return – per customer! With access to that like or check-in, you have the ability to continuously market to these customers. That’s a powerful marketing tool that costs you a fraction of the typical acquisition cost for a social media follower.