The WIFI User Experience – An Easy Way To Start Improving Your Customer’s Journey

I think you’d agree that access to the Internet has become second nature these days. When you check in at the hotel, receptionists know to indicate the wifi login even before telling where the gym or lifts are located or when breakfast is served. When a friend comes to stay with you, you will as readily send the wifi code along with instructions for entering the premises. In cities around the world, wifi is becoming available on the street, and is almost de rigueur at airports, in stores and cafés. In ‘normal’ offices, guests now typically have some specific log in options. So, we are all becoming increasingly familiar with, if not demanding about the wifi connection. Yet, some networks are much easier and friendlier than others to get onto. Whether because of technical limitations, security fears, cost or ignorance, some organizations see fit to make logging in something of a titanic struggle. And, I’m not even talking about the other problem of speed of connection.

Wifi – a harbinger of customer experience

I have no statistical evidence to base this on, but I have to believe there is a relationship between the wifi experience and the customer experience (CX) abilities of the company. My supposition is that the more convenient you make it for your customer, the more likely you have the right mindset to create a good customer experience.

Here are some ways that you can get access to wifi:

Click on the open network (without need to log in). The device then auto-connects thereafter whenever the network is detected. (e.g. at a hotel out in the boondocks). NB Some open networks require a re-confirmation/opt in (despite using the same device).
Select the network, then log in once (in the browser or popup) with varying degrees of personal data. The device then auto-connects thereafter. (e.g. password protected access at home). NB Some companies will use this to capture a client’s details. Will the subscriptions be opt in or opt out?
Select the network and log in. Then you need to confirm the pre-saved log in every time you visit (eg. at Heathrow).
Log in with limited long-term duration (e.g. for the duration of your hotel reservation).
Log in with new credentials each day (e.g. some security conscious corporations). NB In this option, companies love to provide long strings of complicated and painful codes to type in on the small iPhone screen…