While iPhone users have enjoyed new location-based experiences thanks to early implementations of Apple’s iBeacon technology, companies deploying the bluetooth beacons are also collecting some valuable data on users. We reported previously how some are experiencing huge jumps in app usage and ad engagement since deploying beacons in grocery and retail stores, and today we get some insight into how event planners are using beacons to collect valuable data on attendees. Aloompa, the company behind the iBeacons deployed at the recent Bonnaroo music festival, shared some numbers it gathered on concertgoers that it wouldn’t have had without its iBeacon deloyement. While users of the Bonnaroo app benefited from proximity based notifications for happenings around the event, Aloompa and event organizers gained new insight into how to improve the festival next year:
Aloompa tracked the most popular stage via iBeacons, the average length people spent in specific areas of the festival, how many users went inside VIP, as well as some stuff you might expect, like the number of notifications each device received on average. The image above shows a heatmap of festival attendees based on the iBeacons.
Beacon integration is important and helps with navigation throughout the festival site, as well as tracks loyalty to different stages and performers during the festival. For Bonnaroo, the data gathered is invaluable — from learning what people tend to do right off the bat upon entrance to a festival event, to seeing what stages tend to have loyal fans in common, the figures gathered by beacons can help shape and streamline the festival in the future.
Aloompa says one of its goals with the iBeacon deployment was to “lay the groundwork and precedence for real time crowd heat mapping for never before seen operational views.” It’s also hoping to let users in the future “relive their experience in a new way: a “retrospective itinerary” — not just looking at photos and tweets, but the chance to see where you were, when, and who you were with — creating a community feeling even after an event is over.”
The company notes that it didn’t collect any personal data about users and all data was collected anonymously. Here are the numbers:
- Most Popular Stage: What Stage
- Average length in VIP per person: 102.15 Minutes
- How many total users went inside VIP: 1,980 People
- Number of notifications each device received on average: 12.6 notifications
- Total number of unique devices who experienced beacons: 20% of app installs
- Delivered a total of proximity 97,270 messages to 20% of app installs over 4 festival days
- Messages based on over 811,961 observed user events
Some more numbers from Aloompa in chart format below:
