(c)iStock.com/Yuri_Arcurs
The novelist Nicholas Sparks, in Dear John, writes: “Regardless of where you are in the planet, the moon isn’t larger than your thumb.” Let us paraphrase Regardless of where you’re in the Earth, how it can be put in marketing and there’ll be someone, somewhere, writing a piece on wearable technologies.
Some companies, however, are before the match. Take Shotzoom. The organization, by its own definition, “creates market top mobile experiences that enable busy lifestyles and enhance the fun of sport and physical fitness” Though the company has many different products, its main app is Golfshot, which combines GPS, stats and best practice suggestions to “guarantee” a lower score, whether you are a scratch player or a Saturday afternoon hacker.
The business was among the very first to register to some other capability announced by mobile marketing tech provider Fiksu, which tracks user behaviour like registrations, launches and purchases, on the Apple Watch. Shotzoom had developed a product for Android Wear, and was among the earliest to follow suit with the Apple Watch.
Ben Addoms the president of Shotzoom, notes the significance of golfers. “For us, wearables are really a clear fit because we’re in a market where there has been a well-established application around for quite a while now,” he informs MarketingTech. “Golfers have been buying golf-specific watches for decades, so we already knew there would be demand for a watch version of our program, either on iOS and Android.”
By the view of Shotzoom, they can identify active users of its Golfshot Apple Watch app, and delve into converting free app users into readers. That seems straightforward, however Addoms notes the following use case: reactivating consumers when the golf season begins.
He explains: “This is a powerful strategy for both our smart phone (abandoned) and smartwatch app users. By collecting information about our users, we are ready to identify those active users of the free program who may be a good fit for the paid version, and may retarget them across a variety of networks, such as Facebook and Twitter.”
The prospect of consumer data being collected and utilized in campaigns may tread the line between useful and downright creepy. In case you do not get the wording right, location-based services can be a nightmare for this. Addoms insists that he is “fairly confident” Shotzoom’s strategy is useful and relevant, as opposed to ‘creepy’. “We know these users are already interested in our program and we are attempting to help them get the best user experience possible,” he notes. “If we see that a user is utilizing the free app frequently, they might be missing out on a lot of enhanced features available through the paid version of this program.”
The freemium facet is key — when it’s a freemium option current research from shows six out of 10 consumers will subscribe to some service. That amount will go up as the millennial workforce becomes more pervasive. The Golfshot Pro — that includes the carrot of a free one week trial of Shotzoom — offers features such as club recommendations and 3D flyover previews . Here is the irony Shotzoom had experienced success with programs that are paid before coming to Fiksu, but a freemium business version was uncharted territory.
“We were presented with the challenge of advocating a freemium firm model for the very first time,” Addoms explains. “We chose to partner with Fiksu since we needed an experienced partner who could assist us develop a profitable mobile advertising and marketing strategy for this new business model.”
He adds: “We’ve learned more, faster, and been in a position to benefit from opportunities to develop with more confidence because Fiksu has the mobile and technology expertise required to be successful.”
Reviews of the Apple Watch app aren’t all free, with a single patron on the App Store landing page imagining “it’s the best of everything I have found but think it could be so much more”. Another claims: “The Apple Watch app continues to lag. At the cart or in the bag and I would like to maintain my phone. I really don’t want to constantly open my phone program only so the Apple Watch refreshes.” Addoms does not appear to reevaluate these criticisms. “The golfers that use Golfshot have had nothing but positive things to say concerning our Watch app, since they are thrilled to no longer need to take their telephone out of the golf bag whilst on the course,” he states.
Obviously, it’s still early days for Shotzoom since it investigates wearables, both from a standpoint and a scientific. Nonetheless, it is a use case for tech. With more than one million downloads of its program, to target, there are plenty of golfers across 50 states.
Please see IoT Tech Expo Europe at London’s Olympia 2-3, that December, 2015 if you want to know more about wearables.
