Editorial Articles

Check-ins are hot (why?)
The hottest start-ups in the (Silicon) Valley right now are in the geo-location space. They all work on a variant of ‘checking-in’ to a location to show to others that you are ‘in the house’. Anyone linked to your account will know where you are at any given moment – or at least where you checked-in last.

Start-ups such as Gowalla, Foursquare, Shopkick, Placepop and Booyah all use the check-in as the initial engagement activity for users interacting with their mobile apps. And Twitter and Facebook are moving rapidly to add this check-in feature to their mobile apps. In fact, Facebook has just announced a roll out of this feature for the iphone only in the US.

And the check-in start-ups make it fun to use their app. You can check-in and get a virtual badge – for example, I got the “Founder” badge from Shopkick, because apparently I was one of the first to use the app (I am wondering how many Founders there will be: 10 or 10,000?). You can be “the mayor” of your favourite bar so long as you check in more than everyone else. The gaming elements entice you to check-in often to get more points, win more rewards and top your friends on the leader boards.

Why?
It’s all about consumer loyalty. More correctly, it is about tracking and rewarding consumer loyalty.

Everyone has his or her favorite haunts. You frequent the same coffee shop, shop at the same stores and drink in the same bars. Until now the closest thing to rewarding you for your loyalty has been the coffee shop punch card (can you ever find that thing in your wallet when you are in the store?) or the pub manager buying you a free pint (when was the last time that happened?).

The check-in start-ups want to change that. By making it easy for people to tell others where they are - and, by the way, add reviews and take pictures - they are enabling businesses to reward you.

A number of businesses both large and small have begun to reward their loyal consumers using these mobile apps. Starbucks has offered a $1 discount to Foursquare users and my local wine bar offered free tastings to people who checked-in to their store.

The concept of check-ins is brilliant. It has reversed the loyalty equation. Until now, loyalty programmes were built (at considerable expense) by large companies – think airlines and credit cards. Consumers were then marketed to (also at great expense) to get them to sign up. These new start-ups have aggregated the loyal audience and then invited businesses to reward those consumers. A loyalty programme at very little cost to the business.

There is no doubt consumers feel good about being recognised and rewarded. As I write this though I am still waiting for my local coffee shop to recognize me as the ‘Mayor’ (Foursquare), #1 (Shopkick) and Bronze card holder (Placepop). Where’s my free coffee?

Cameron Yuill
Founder & CEO, AdGent 007