For the majority, our first experience with Bluetooth technology probably involved some sort of wireless headset or hands-free device. However, a new wave of Bluetooth beacon devices is now emerging. These new Bluetooth beacon devices are lower in cost and they consume less power.
From a non-technical, user perspective, the name Bluetooth covers any form of Bluetooth connectivity and requires some sort of manual activation via your smartphone. In reality, there are two types of Bluetooth “radios”: Bluetooth Classic and Bluetooth Low Energy Beacons (BLE). Despite their similar names, the two Bluetooth “radios” are not compatible with each other.
Bluetooth classic is most frequently used for streaming high data loads such as music from your phone to a Bluetooth-enabled speaker or streaming a podcast to your wireless headphones. As such, Bluetooth Classic tends to transmit more data and consume higher levels of power.
BLE beacons, however, transmit data at regular intervals, consume less power, and as a result, can last for several months (sometimes years) on a single battery. The long survival period is one of the reasons why it’s called low energy.
What is a Bluetooth Beacon?
A Bluetooth beacon is a small and wireless battery-powered radio transmitter that uses BLE as its transmission protocol. This mini-radio transmission device can be “discovered” and seen by all BLE scanners within a certain radius. The Bluetooth beacon, however, cannot “see” anyone back.
Beacon technology doesn’t require an internet connection and acts as a broadcaster within a short-range radius. The receiving device, such as a BLE-enabled smartphone, often acts as an intermediary device that uses the information from the beacon to do something with it.
The transmission distance is typically around 10-30 meters for interior spaces. Bluetooth beacons enable the connection between the physical and digital worlds by creating a communication bridge between enabled devices and the person carrying them. In theory, beacon technology allows businesses to automate certain processes and enhance experience-based actions and interactions.
Bluetooth beacons are part of the Internet of Things (IoT), which is the connection between different devices and machines to collect and transfer data without human-to-human or human-to-computer relationships.
How do Beacons Work?
Bluetooth beacons work by transmitting packets of data that are picked up by a compatible receiving device via radio waves. These packets of data are either self-contained or are triggers to events on the receiving device such as push notifications, app actions, and prompts.
BLE uses the same spectrum range as Bluetooth Classic (2.400–2.4835 GHz ISM band) but on a different set of channels. BLE has 3 primary advertising channels, making it faster for devices to connect with and reducing a listening device scanning time. To prevent narrowband interference problems, BLE uses frequency hopping via digital modulation techniques or direct-sequence spread spectrum to counteract.
A Bluetooth beacon has a theoretical maximum radius distance of less than 100m. It can also have up to 6ms latency from a non-connected state. The actual range and response time depend on the beacon itself and what process it has been programmed to do.
BLE is mostly used in short-range applications such as indoor wayfinding (using the standard 1M PHY). Most Bluetooth beacons can reliably transmit up to approximately 30 meters without any physical obstructions. A typical operating range is around 2 to 5 meters, depending on the transmit power. The higher the range, the higher the battery consumption.Now that you have a theoretical understanding of how beacons work, let’s take a look at them in action.
Bluetooth Beacons in Action
BLE beacon technology is the most common technology used for providing indoor positioning. Unless you’re Mapsted – the world’s first patented, hardware-free indoor location technology, indoor positioning technology will rely heavily upon the installation of unreliable Bluetooth beacons.Mapsted is always in lockstep with clients to understand their individual goals and the journeys they want to create for users. This is the first and most important step in ensuring that the desired results match expectations.
BLE beacons are typically mounted throughout an indoor venue on walls or other physical entities. As previously mentioned, the beacon devices emit wireless signals, which BLE receivers (e.g. smartphones) can receive.
Current smartphones can support the Bluetooth 4.0 protocol. In the future, when smartphones support the Bluetooth 5.1 protocol, they can take advantage of a new feature for direction finding, which is capable of also measuring the direction of the beacon, which can help improve the positioning accuracy significantly.
BLE signals contain metadata that is processed and used to determine the user’s location. There are two popular protocols for BLE communication, iBeacon, and Eddystone.
iBeacon Metadata (Received):
- MAC address (unique ID for each beacon – only available on Android)
- RSS (received signal strength)
- Proximity UUID (identifier for a collection of beacons)
- Major (identify general areas, e.g., floor number)
- Minor (identify more specific areas, e.g., a specific region of the Major’s floor)
Eddystone Metadata (Received):
- MAC address (unique ID for each beacon – only available on Android)
- RSS (received signal strength)
- Eddystone UUID
- Eddystone URL (a URL, if desired)
- Eddystone TLM (current status of the beacon)
The RSS provides a rough measurement of how far away the device is. Intuitively, a strong RSS would indicate that the user is close to that Wi-Fi router and a weak RSS would indicate that the user is far from the Wi-Fi router.
BLE beacons can be used for positioning via several methods:
- BLE proximity beacons
- BLE trilateration
- BLE fingerprinting
Proximity beacons identify a rougher user position based on which BLE is visible at the time. BLE trilateration infers the distances between the user and each visible Wi-Fi router and calculates its position based on those distances.
Bluetooth beacon fingerprinting does not need to know the locations of the Wi-Fi routers. Instead, it creates a large fingerprint map of the RSS of each beacon at various locations and then in real time compares the measured RSS to the fingerprint map to determine the user’s position. However, constructing the Wi-Fi fingerprint map can be time-consuming and requires a site survey.
The Pros and Cons of Beacon Technology
In theory, beacons should allow for smart and highly detailed data collection.
Apple’s unveiling of iBeacon technology in 2013 was a watershed moment in the history of wireless technology. It was considered revolutionary because it was the perfect catalyst that led to the rampant growth of smartphone markets. iBeacon was so well received that it gained continuous coverage from Wired, TechCrunch, Forbes, and The Verge.
The Washington Post even wrote an article praising the technology, entitled “How iBeacons Could Change the World Forever.”
Let’s now fast forward 8 years to the present. Today, Beacons still exist, and companies like Google are beginning to create their own beacon technology. But it seems beacons are marginalized as a technology thriving in the shadows of its glorious past.
So, what happened to Bluetooth beacon apps being touted as the location technology of the future? Why haven’t they had a bigger effect on society today?
Let’s find out.
Why Were iBeacons Unpopular?
Let’s imagine that the year is 2013 and you’re a local business owner with franchises at different locations. While you run a popular business you can’t help but wonder why your business is seeing a revenue slump.
In 2013, Mobile commerce is still a nascent idea, but there is no dearth of opportunity to reach, monetize, and build relationships with customers. When you consider this, you realize there are competitors to go after many of whom will soon be mobile-first companies. Eventually, the windfall profits from e-commerce led to a surge in demand for personalized campaigns that drive customer loyalty and higher revenue, decreasing your brick-and-mortar revenue even more. With the bubble waiting to rupture, you sense that the end is near for old-fashioned store shopping.
Then beacon technology becomes available. And suddenly, it seems that there is a way to bring back the lost spark in brick and mortar shopping experience.
According to PC Magazine, “This technology could provide retailers the long-desired solutions and insight needed to incorporate mobile commerce and improve your shopping experience.”
Sounds amazing right? But how will beacons do this?
1. Bluetooth Proximity Beacons Support More Responsive Messaging
According to Wired, Bluetooth proximity beacons were supposed to have a strong influence over the world of retail. The article said responsive messaging could allow retailers to “make specialized offers to customers depending on where they are in the store”.
For example, when a customer is shopping online and has items in their cart, you can use push notifications to urge completion of the purchase. Eventually, this approach increases the odds of them actually buying.
In retail stores, when a customer is contemplating whether or not to buy an item, all the sales representative can do is talk to them about that item. If persuasion isn’t working, there is no reasonable way to get that shopper’s information or make a follow-up – a sales associate can’t ask the shopper for their phone number so they can follow up with them later.
But with proximity beacons, if a customer stops to browse a display, you can automatically send a message to their smartphone offering them a discount if they buy the item today. And if they still leave the store without buying, your brand could reach out to them later via mobile.
2. Beacons Improve the Collection of Customer Data
Forbes wrote that beacons would be “especially useful in places (like inside a shopping mall) where GPS location data may not be reliably available” and also said that, “BLE [Bluetooth Low Energy] allows for interactions as far away as 160 feet” with greater sensitivity than GPS or Wi-Fi tracking methods. In a nutshell, it means owners get the same detailed insights into their in-store activity as they do on their app or website.
A good beacon network should allow you to track how customers move throughout each store. Ideally, you should be able to measure the BLE beacon range and visualize their patterns in detail, aisle by aisle. Then with these insights, you should be able to optimize the layout of every store, understand what is working about your in-store experience, and take the small information gathered to make big improvements to your customer personalization and targeting.
What are the use cases for Bluetooth Beacons?
The use cases for Bluetooth Beacon are mentioned below.
- Bluetooth beacon localization – A popular use case that allows beacons to listen for BLE tag IDs is asset tracking. These tags can transmit data such as light, sound, motion, and temperature to determine where an asset is in an ecosystem.
- Proximity marketing – Enough of shoppers receiving irrelevant messages. The BLE assists marketers in retaining loyal customers and serving new ones based on their biases. More sales, more targeted traffic
- Retargeting – Sending advertisem*nts to store visitors long after their visit allows them to recall the brand while shopping or browsing online.
- Indoor navigation – While GPS is ideal for outdoor navigation, it falls short of ensuring consistent performance indoors. This is where technologies like Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) outperform all other alternatives. It positions and guides users through the key path using smartphone signals.
The Reality
More responsive messages and in-person data collection sound pretty good, right? However, it’s important to merge your brand’s mobile and in-person presence in ways that benefit both. But now it’s 2024, and the impact of beacons hasn’t caught up with the hype. A lot of brands have implemented a Bluetooth beacon app in their physical locations or announced trials of the technology: Macy’s, Walmart, CVS, and Barney’s to name a few.
So why is the reality of Bluetooth beacons for indoor positioning a far cry from the expectation?
1. Implementing Beacons is Difficult
Installing, managing and maintaining beacons across a large facility is a major task that requires major planning and testing. Even using them in smaller facilities is a monumental undertaking. In a blog on the Brooklyn Museum’s website, Shelley Bernstein, the museum’s vice-director of digital engagement & technology, delved into the issues that her staff dealt with while trying to implement beacons, adding that: “The practicalities have been difficult.”
In a blog on the Brooklyn Museum’s website, Shelley Bernstein, the museum’s vice director of digital engagement & technology, delved into the issues that her staff dealt with while trying to implement beacons, adding that: “The practicalities have been difficult.”
In Bernstein’s experience:
- Bluetooth proximity beacons come in limited colours.
- They are too heavy and adhesives cannot hold them in place.
- Beacons lack serial numbers on their cases, making it hard to tell one from another.
- They run on batteries, which need frequent replacing, adding to the expense.
- They work before installation is complete, which means you collect erroneous data.
While Bernstein does say that beacons have provided some positive value to the museum, she expects to replace the beacons with different location-based technology.
2. Physical Objects Reduce Bluetooth Beacon Range
When retailers were given a survey that asked why they were interested in beacon technology, 65% said that the ability to track their customers aisle by aisle was a major factor in making the choice to implement the technology. While the potential benefit of this technology is clear, the execution is poor.
Again, according to Bernstein and her team at the Brooklyn Museum, physical objects block BLE signals from Beacons.
“The problem is so bad that I can be standing directly beside a beacon on the wall, and will find a stronger signal coming from one across the room,” she said.
To improve the Bluetooth beacon range and accuracy of the information provided, the staff at the Brooklyn Museum had to do extra coding. No one wants or should have to do that.
3. The Benefits of Beacons Haven’t Been Sold to Customers
According to Tim Zimmerman, research vice president at Gartner, “ many [beacon] projects have failed because the architect was enamored with the mobile application capabilities and back-end application functionality without understanding whether the beacon components could broadcast the right information to the right constituency.” Essentially, beacons have failed because customers have to opt-in multiple times for brands to get the full value of their investment. Using beacons in a way that doesn’t add value for customers will negatively impact their perception and make it harder for them to buy in.
And yes, getting customers to use this Bluetooth beacon technology is a struggle. When asked, 30% of people said that they find it ‘annoying’ when Bluetooth beacons trigger push notifications. For Bluetooth beacons to become disruptive in the industry, brands must find a way to combat customer skepticism. That hasn’t happened yet.
Conclusion
With more doubts lingering over the use of beacons to fulfill shoppers’ expectations, clearly, there is a strong push for a technology that leaves beacons in the dust. That answer is now a reality thanks to Mapsted. As a brand having held several patents in one-of-a-kind hardware-free indoor mapping, positioning and analytics, it’s not a hard tough choice for business owners that are looking for ways to revive interest in physical shopping.
With Mapsted, the benefits are many. With beacon-like accuracy, range, compatibility and security, Mapsted is a winning choice because it is designed to work without network or hardware needs. That leaves more marketing dollars still left for marketers to spend on their campaigns and other activities to maximize sales and customer satisfaction.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q1. How can you get started with Bluetooth beacons?
Ans. Bluetooth beacons are simple on-premises devices. They run on batteries and broadcast identifiers. Nearby devices that read the identifier pick up BLE radio signals. After the successful configuration of the system, the proximity sensors cause the BLE to perform the functions.
Q2. How can beacon signal or range vary?
Ans. The performance of BLE depends on the battery pack and obstacles in an environment between the beacon and nearby devices. At peak performance, the beacon can broadcast at a distance ranging from 2 to 80m.
Q3. How long does a typical Bluetooth Beacon last?
Ans. Beacons are capable of a wide range of performance. They are classified into two types: short-range, low-power draw variants and long-range, high-power draw variants. The battery life of a typical Bluetooth Beacon is 18-24 months. Some, however, with energy-saving features, can last up to 5 years.
Q4. Are Beacons secure?
Ans. The majority of myths revolve around Beacons transmitting data. This, however, is not the case. Beacons do not send data that exposes the sender or receiver. Instead, Beacons send a 128-bit identifier to only notify nearby devices of their presence.
