So your AR Wayfinding solution has been deployed. If you want to achieve maximum impact, though, deployment alone is not enough. Businesses must actively refine and promote their system to ensure its full potential is realized.
This article outlines 5 strategies for maximizing the benefits of AR wayfinding, with a focus on ongoing optimization, user engagement, and operational alignment.
- Encouraging Adoption
- Establishing Update Procedures
- Leveraging Data
- Integrating with Broader Systems
- Showcase ROI
1. Encouraging Adoption
The success of an AR wayfinding system hinges on user adoption. Even the most advanced solution will fail to deliver value if users are unaware of its existence or hesitant to use it. Businesses must proactively promote and support the system to maximize usage.
Accessible Design
- Inclusive Features: Ensure the system caters to a diverse audience by including options like voice navigation, high-contrast visuals, large fonts, and step-free routes.
- Device Compatibility: Ensure the system works seamlessly across a variety of devices, including smartphones, tablets, and AR glasses.
User Education
- Onboarding Materials: Provide clear tutorials and instructions within the app or as standalone materials at key locations. These can include videos, interactive guides, or printed signage.
- Demonstrations: Host live demonstrations or training sessions to familiarize users with the system and its features.
Promotional Campaigns
- On-Site Signage: Use digital and physical signage to direct visitors to the wayfinding system. Highlight its convenience and unique features.
- Incentives: Offer rewards, discounts, or gamification elements to encourage users to try the system. For instance, users could receive a coupon for visiting a specific location guided by AR.
By reducing barriers to entry and actively promoting the benefits of AR wayfinding, businesses can accelerate adoption and enhance the return on their investment.
2. Establishing Update Procedures
Indoor environments are inherently dynamic, with layouts, operations, and traffic patterns constantly changing. To maintain the accuracy and relevance of AR wayfinding, businesses must invest in regular updates to both their maps and navigation algorithms.
Real-Time Updates
- Immediate Changes: Respond to temporary layout adjustments, such as event setups, construction zones, or maintenance closures. A real-time update capability ensures users are never misled.
- Dynamic Navigation: Enable navigation to reroute users based on live data, such as identifying blocked pathways or less congested routes.
Automated Systems
- IoT Integration: Incorporate sensors to provide automated updates. For example, room sensors can notify the system when a meeting room becomes available or a hallway becomes crowded.
- Self-Updating Maps: Use AI-driven mapping tools that learn and adjust as users navigate the space, minimizing the manual workload for facility managers.
Stakeholder Involvement
- Facility Coordination: Work closely with operations teams to ensure the AR system reflects operational changes. For instance, retail tenants in a mall should notify management of layout adjustments that could affect wayfinding.
By prioritizing accurate and timely updates, businesses can enhance the reliability and trustworthiness of their AR wayfinding systems.
3. Leveraging Data
AR wayfinding generates valuable insights about user behavior, navigation challenges, and overall space utilization. To fully capitalize on this data:
Analyze User Behavior
- Traffic Patterns: Identify areas where users frequently pause, take wrong turns, or disengage. This can highlight physical bottlenecks or areas where the interface may need refinement.
- Route Preferences: Understand which routes users favor or avoid, helping refine the system to align with user behavior.
Optimize Resource Allocation
- Facility Management: Use navigation data to deploy cleaning crews, security, or maintenance teams to high-traffic areas more efficiently.
- Event Planning: Analyze past usage patterns to better design layouts for events or high-traffic days.
Benchmarking Success
- Engagement Metrics: Monitor metrics like the percentage of users adopting the system, the duration of navigation sessions, and completion rates for selected routes.
- User Satisfaction: Combine quantitative data with qualitative insights from surveys and feedback forms to measure impact.
By continuously analyzing and responding to data, businesses can evolve their wayfinding system to better serve both users and operational goals.
4. Integrating with Broader Systems
For AR wayfinding to deliver maximum value, it should function as a seamless component of a larger digital strategy rather than a standalone feature. Businesses can unlock significant synergies by integrating the system with other digital tools and platforms.
Mobile App Integration
- One-Stop Access: Embedding wayfinding into an existing app consolidates services for users, offering navigation alongside features like promotions, schedules, and feedback forms.
- Personalization: Leverage app user profiles to tailor routes, highlight relevant promotions, or suggest nearby points of interest.
CRM and Marketing Integration
- User Insights: Feed navigation data into Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems to better understand visitor behavior and preferences.
- Targeted Messaging: Use location and behavior data to deliver context-sensitive promotions, such as offering discounts for stores near the user’s route.
IoT and Building Management
- Real-Time Updates: Integrate AR wayfinding with smart building systems to provide live updates about elevator wait times, room occupancy, or temperature conditions.
- Automation Opportunities: Use wayfinding data to trigger environmental changes, like turning on lights or adjusting HVAC settings in high-traffic areas.
By embedding AR wayfinding into a broader digital ecosystem, businesses can amplify its utility while driving operational efficiencies and deeper customer engagement.
5. Showcase ROI
After deployment, businesses need to track and demonstrate the return on investment (ROI) of their AR wayfinding system to stakeholders. This not only justifies the initial expenditure but also supports future enhancements and scaling efforts.
Quantify Operational Benefits
- Staff Efficiency: Measure reductions in staff time spent directing visitors, freeing them for other tasks.
- Traffic Management: Analyze improvements in foot traffic flow and reductions in congestion.
Measure User Satisfaction
- Survey Responses: Regularly solicit user feedback through in-app surveys, kiosks, or follow-up emails to gauge satisfaction and identify areas for improvement.
- Net Promoter Score (NPS): Track how likely users are to recommend the wayfinding system to others.
Highlight Revenue Gains
- Increased Sales: Monitor whether navigation to specific stores or promotions leads to measurable increases in sales or engagement.
- Monetization Opportunities: Showcase revenue from sponsored routes or in-app advertising.
Case Studies and Reports
- Stakeholder Communication: Create detailed reports and case studies to share successes internally and externally. These can be used to attract investors, partners, or additional tenants in commercial spaces.
By actively measuring and communicating the system’s impact, businesses can ensure continued support and funding for their AR wayfinding initiatives.
...The Action Plan
The many ways you can maximize the return on your AR Wayfinding investment might seem daunting, but not everything needs to be done immediately and simultaneously after deployment.
A strategic plan to maximize the benefits will look different from context to context, but most should follow these points:
- Early efforts to promote adoption and set up the tracking needed for monitoring the data you value.
- Mid-term efforts might focus more on refining or automating the practices of updating data and integrating with broader systems.
- Long-term efforts might include leveraging data insights to optimize wider operations and user experience.
- Lastly, demonstrating ROI to stakeholders will show what a great job you’ve done maximizing the benefits of your new AR wayfinding solution.
If you've chosen the right solution, then all of these steps will come more easily. If you're still unsure which AR Wayfinding solution is best for you, take our quiz.
