How to name your guest WiFi?
If some companies or stores are not very keen on having a lot of people using their WiFi (because they may not have the good WiFi solution #privatejoke). At the opposite, you should want to get more users on yours (see all marketing benefits you can get from phygital retargeting).
Depending on your goals, some tips are very useful to choose the best name for your SSID and then get more visitors on your WiFi.
1. Choose a name which is clear for your user
There is no rule to choose the name for your Hotspot WiFi but regarding our experience you can set some basic standards to encourage connections:
- Prefer « WiFi » instead of « Hotspot » which is more understood by your users
- Highlight that it’s a « Free » WiFi
- The last but not least, put your Company name (after all, YOU offer the service not your neighbour!).
2. Position the name of your SSID in the list of available WiFi
Some crowded places (stations, touristic places, shopping malls…) may have many WiFi listed and there is a preference for networks presented first. Also it may be interesting to use special characters like « _ » to appear first in the list without changing the integrity of the name chosen.
This is true for Apple devices. For the other brands, most of them show SSID depending on the intensity of the network.
3. Use the name of your SSID as a marketing weapon
Some companies are very creative and know that the name of their SSID and therefore their WiFi is a new communication channel with their customers. They allow to offer a special user experience and to promote some marketing operations like « _Win the new smartphone » or « Drive a car for $159 »…
We also see more and more SSIDs that have special characters thanks to unicode support (smileys and others). You should check that your access point support unicode. You should also use a single word and a name to avoid compatibility issues on some terminals.
4. Hide (as far as possible) private/technical networks to no pollute visible WiFis for your visitors
It is better to limit available WiFis to not discourage the act of connexion. Moreover, if your WiFi is protected by a key (which is not the case with Cloudi-Fi), it may be dissuasive for your visitor who will may think that he will need a password to get access to Internet. If your WiFi is not protected by a key, it is already a first differentiating element in a mass of available WiFis to the visitor (there is no padlock).
In conclusion: be clear and creative!
