How Eddystone Beacons Work
Lakshmi Harikumar — March 20, 2017 Follow @mobstac— March 20, 2017
When it comes to cutting-edge marketing, one technology that remains top of the mind is beacons. Eddystone beacons, in particular, have gained a lot of traction because of their ability to do way with the need for a beacon-enabled app for brands to interact with consumers. According to the Proxbook Q4 2016 Report, the number of proximity companies supporting Eddystone has increased by 17%, from 38% in Q4 2015 to 56% in Q4 2016.
While all of this has resulted in a lot of excitement around Eddystone beacons, most marketers, even today, don’t have a clear picture about it. In fact, if you are a marketer looking to get started with Eddystone beacons, chances are that, one or more of these questions strike a chord with you:
- How does an Eddystone beacon work?
- Do beacons transmit messages?
- What does an Eddystone notification look like?
- How does an Eddystone beacon work with respect to the Chrome browser app on the user’s device?
In our efforts to help marketers find answers to these questions, we will first take you through how Eddystone notifications look on different devices.
On iOS devices:
When the user is near a Eddystone beacon, he/she will receive a notification in the Chrome Today widget mentioning that ‘Nearby objects are broadcasting webpages’ and if they would like Chrome to list them out. Accepting this, would then direct them to a on-demand list of URLs in the Notification Center. Further clicking on any of these links will direct him/her to the corresponding website on the Chrome browser app.
On Android devices:
When the user is near a Eddystone beacon, he/she will receive a notification saying there are ‘Physical Web pages nearby’. Once he/she clicks on that notification, he/she will be able to view the entire list of URLs that are being transmitted. Each of these URL are accompanied by some metadata that is attached to this URL (currently, the Meta: Title tag) just like it appears on Google search results. Clicking on any URL of his/her choice will direct him/her to the corresponding website on the Chrome browser app.
Now that you ahve a better idea about how Eddystone notifications look, lets take a look at the next thing that confuses marketers the most – how do Eddystone beacons work? Check out the infographic below to gain insights on a real-life example of how Eddystone beacons work in a retail scenario.
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