Big fan of Whole Foods, but this Foursquare thing is the wrong direction
I love Whole Foods. Who doesn’t, really. I’m a fan of them on Facebook (or I like them, whatever). And typically they’ve done some really great stuff when it comes to embracing and using social media. Actually (and somewhat ironically), a few months back I blogged about how well I thought Whole Foods was doing with location-based marketing.
In an article yesterday on Mashable, however, I learned that Whole Foods is putting up Foursquare window clings at their stores. At 30 of their stores actually, as a test. That’s the part of this I like. The “test” part. I can get behind that. Companies that frequently test innovative marketing get a big A+ in my book.
But this use of Foursquare is the wrong tact. So here we have Whole Foods spending a little money/time/effort to promote Foursquare. A service that has under 2,000,000 users and must make up a small fraction of their customers. Oh, and their customers that DO use Foursquare, guess what, they’re already checking in at Whole Foods. They don’t need a reminder.
So these window clings are only meant for their customers who are not using Foursquare, in order to let them know that if they want, they can download the app, learn to use it, and then check-in at Whole Foods the next time they come in.
Is this really where we’ve landed? That brands have to promote new social tools to try and get their customers to engage with them? If Gowalla takes the lead next month, will Whole Foods suddenly swap out the window clings and hope no one notices?
So am I totally off on this?
I’m a little disappointed that Whole Foods is doing this. While I agree with you that companies get an A+ for testing innovative marketing, I don’t think this example meets that criteria.
Whole Foods has done such a great job using social media in a way that builds community and stronger relationships with their customers. And these customers are loyal and passionate about the brand. So to throw a Foursquare decal up on a few store windows and see how many people check in is a weak attempt to figure out how to get into the location space. These decals only make sense if Whole Foods actually USED the one benefit Foursquare offers — rewards for those who check in. It really surprises me that they didn’t think this “test” through.
What would make more sense is if they put up Facebook decals on the windows. At least there is a solid reasoning behind that — directing customers to a great page with lots of valuable information and opportunities to connect with the brand. Increasing the number of customers who check in via Foursquare really has no point.
Totally off? Not at all. However, the point of the window clings — and I saw more of them in New York back in April — isn't so much about reminding the FourSquare faithful to feed their check-in addiction, but instead about ensuring that this particular location is worthy of a check-in.
In the last few months, I've been checking-in not only to FourSquare, but also to GoWalla and occasionally Yelp. This has been an experiment mostly, as I am fascinated by where these location-based services are going. But as much as I'm enjoying the experiment, I find that there are days where I just don't bother to check-in to all three, or even to just one. Or if I do check-in, I'll do it inconsistently. Coffee house? Yes. Drug store? Maybe not. If there isn't a phrase for this selectivity, then I propose a new one here: “FourSquare Fatigue.”
But if I spot a FourSquare window cling as I'm arriving, I'm more likely to take the time to check-in. Because chances are, if the location has bothered to request a window cling, then they've probably come up with a deal for FourSquare participants. I've a friend who runs a brunch/lunch spot, and he's placed clings on his door because the Mayor* of his establishment gets a pretty decent discount.
* – Who just happens to be me.
Totally off? Not at all. However, the point of the window clings — and I saw more of them in New York back in April — isn't so much about reminding the FourSquare faithful to feed their check-in addiction, but instead about ensuring that this particular location is worthy of a check-in.
In the last few months, I've been checking-in not only to FourSquare, but also to GoWalla and occasionally Yelp. This has been an experiment mostly, as I am fascinated by where these location-based services are going. But as much as I'm enjoying the experiment, I find that there are days where I just don't bother to check-in to all three, or even to just one. Or if I do check-in, I'll do it inconsistently. Coffee house? Yes. Drug store? Maybe not. If there isn't a phrase for this selectivity, then I propose a new one here: “FourSquare Fatigue.”
But if I spot a FourSquare window cling as I'm arriving, I'm more likely to take the time to check-in. Because chances are, if the location has bothered to request a window cling, then they've probably come up with a deal for FourSquare participants. I've a friend who runs a brunch/lunch spot, and he's placed clings on his door because the Mayor* of his establishment gets a pretty decent discount.
* – Who just happens to be me.
Totally off? Not at all. However, the point of the window clings — and I saw more of them in New York back in April — isn't so much about reminding the FourSquare faithful to feed their check-in addiction, but instead about ensuring that this particular location is worthy of a check-in.
In the last few months, I've been checking-in not only to FourSquare, but also to GoWalla and occasionally Yelp. This has been an experiment mostly, as I am fascinated by where these location-based services are going. But as much as I'm enjoying the experiment, I find that there are days where I just don't bother to check-in to all three, or even to just one. Or if I do check-in, I'll do it inconsistently. Coffee house? Yes. Drug store? Maybe not. If there isn't a phrase for this selectivity, then I propose a new one here: “FourSquare Fatigue.”
But if I spot a FourSquare window cling as I'm arriving, I'm more likely to take the time to check-in. Because chances are, if the location has bothered to request a window cling, then they've probably come up with a deal for FourSquare participants. I've a friend who runs a brunch/lunch spot, and he's placed clings on his door because the Mayor* of his establishment gets a pretty decent discount.
* – Who just happens to be me.
Totally off? Not at all. However, the point of the window clings — and I saw more of them in New York back in April — isn't so much about reminding the FourSquare faithful to feed their check-in addiction, but instead about ensuring that this particular location is worthy of a check-in.
In the last few months, I've been checking-in not only to FourSquare, but also to GoWalla and occasionally Yelp. This has been an experiment mostly, as I am fascinated by where these location-based services are going. But as much as I'm enjoying the experiment, I find that there are days where I just don't bother to check-in to all three, or even to just one. Or if I do check-in, I'll do it inconsistently. Coffee house? Yes. Drug store? Maybe not. If there isn't a phrase for this selectivity, then I propose a new one here: “FourSquare Fatigue.”
But if I spot a FourSquare window cling as I'm arriving, I'm more likely to take the time to check-in. Because chances are, if the location has bothered to request a window cling, then they've probably come up with a deal for FourSquare participants. I've a friend who runs a brunch/lunch spot, and he's placed clings on his door because the Mayor* of his establishment gets a pretty decent discount.
* – Who just happens to be me.
well, two things. first, i feel like i need to blurt the emergency broadcast system into your voice mail to remind you of what you just wrote. “THIS IS A TEST OF THE SOCIAL MEDIA BROADCASTING SYSTEM. THIS IS ONLY A TEST”. so, i would not hold much weight to this as a tactic, but just a test. (and to give you some real $ to think about, putting my print production hat on, those clings cost about $1.50/piece when amortized over a couple of hundred pieces across a few stores).
But are they promoting Foursquare?, or are they promoting whole foods on Facebook, etc when everyone that sees them checks in and i see Whole foods in my friends feed and I'm not there? I think/hope that's where it's leaning. getting more people to check in by whatever means needed, and transferring it to another medium.
I like the tactic, partly because I'm a fan of cross media like that, (and a print guy at heart as well, so i like to see the in-store POP guys make a coin of social ;))
I'm also going to steal some quick math from some dude name Jeff Hilimire who had some presentation on this…
The average Facebook user has 130 fans. So, every-time someone checks in on foursquare as a result of looking at those clings, wholefoods has just shown themselves to 130 people that are not in the store. that's pretty nice in my book.
But, i'm approaching this not from the “user-reward” perspective, which is how alot of folks value Foursquare, but more from a market-reach. I agree that to come full circle, w-foods should make full use of the app (like a delicious cookie for everyone that checks in) but from a cost/benefit POV, that's some nice cheap exposure.
I now await someone to pull apart my math. :)
I'm a little disappointed that Whole Foods is doing this. While I agree with you that companies get an A+ for testing innovative marketing, I don't think this example meets that criteria.
Whole Foods has done such a great job using social media in a way that builds community and stronger relationships with their customers. And these customers are loyal and passionate about the brand. So to throw a Foursquare decal up on a few store windows and see how many people check in is a weak attempt to figure out how to get into the location space. These decals only make sense if Whole Foods actually USED the one benefit Foursquare offers — rewards for those who check in. It really surprises me that they didn't think this “test” through.
What would make more sense is if they put up Facebook decals on the windows. At least there is a solid reasoning behind that — directing customers to a great page with lots of valuable information and opportunities to connect with the brand. Increasing the number of customers who check in via Foursquare really has no point.
When I first heard about it, I thought it was peculiar to say the least.
However, I agree more with David Burke's sentiments of this being an extremely cost effective tool.
Whole Foods recognizes the popularity of location based services and is taking advantage of my Foursquare check-in reaching my networks on Foursquare, Twitter and Google. Maybe they think of it as a *free* pay-per-click or pay-per-impression.
Now they just need to work on integrating their mobile apps into their social media outreach.
First, love “Foursquare Fatigue”. You should do something with that…
Second, perhaps there's a tiny sliver of people like you and I that are trying many check-in apps and maybe we'd go to Whole Foods, see the decal and then use Foursquare instead of Gowalla. I can buy that as a use case, but only for a tiny, tiny percentage of their customers.
Guess I'll have to go to a Whole Foods where they have the decal and see if there's some kind of offer when you check-in…
Ok, so your math works but only because you stroked my ego while presenting it ;)
Most of what you're saying though to me still seems like good reasons for Whole Foods to be a part of Foursquare, but not great reasons for them to put up decals. So let's play this out, where does it stop? If I go in order of magnitude of the number of users they have on networks/lists, they should have the following clings up on their wall BEFORE they put up the Foursquare one:
– SIGN UP FOR OUR MAILING LIST!
– GO TO WHOLEFOODS.COM AND REGISTER WITH US!
– SIGN UP FOR EMAIL LIST!
– SIGN UP FOR OUR BIRTHDAY PROMOTION!
– SIGN UP FOR OUR TEXT/SMS CAMPAIGN!
– LIKE OUR FACEBOOK PAGE!
– FOLLOW US ON TWITTER!
I would argue every one of those are more valuable to Whole Foods than people using Foursquare. But what will their windows become, a Nascar-type promotion where they just bombard you with all the ways you can “join” them?
At the risk of sounding like Clinton… it depends on how valuable what is?
If it's the 1 to 1 relationship, then yes, absolutely.
But are they going to get that instant shotgun shout to 130ish people every time people perform those actions? It's the modern day equivalent of the guy dressed as a clown on the street outside the store.