More popular than Facebook and Twitter, Pokémon Go could increase your business
There has been a lot of chatter about Pokémon Go in the business world—everything from stock implications for Niantic and Apple, to fast and dirty tactics for business owners to attract players.
However, the one thing missing from the conversation is an evidence-based look at how Pokémon Go players actually interact with businesses. How often do they visit businesses while playing? What kind of businesses do they visit? How long do they stay? Do they buy anything?
Slant Marketing surveyed Pokémon Go users to try to understand just how they engage with businesses while playing the game.
The survey found that players are most likely to be active on weekday evenings and weekend afternoons. A majority of players play one to three hours per day, but as many as 14% report playing three or more hours per day. In addition, there seems to be an even split between people who typically play alone and those who typically play as part of a group.
One of the best things about the exposure Pokémon Go provides businesses is that the largest demographic it hits is millennials. Flush with disposable income, millennials are a notoriously hard target for advertisers due to their jaded views of typical marketing techniques. Pokémon Go gets around this by attracting potential customers without them even knowing they are being marketed to.
Capturing the hearts of people everywhere and getting them to go places they otherwise would not visit is the secret sauce in Pokémon Go. While we found 82% of players have visited a business while playing the game, the most enticing data point for business owners is that more than half of those people visited the business for the first time, as a result of playing the game.
As to whether or not players are aware of being lured to businesses, the jury’s still out: 36% think they have been intentionally lured by businesses, 17% think they have not been intentionally lured, and 47% are not sure. A full 68%, however, admit they have visited a business specifically because there were lures in that location. Of the regular players we surveyed, more than a third said they believe they are lured by businesses as frequently as “a couple times per week.”
Perhaps one of the most surprising and illuminating statistics we uncovered: nearly half of all Pokémon Go players who have visited businesses because of lures report staying at those business for an average of 30 minutes or more.
Part of the beauty of this game is that it will run on practically any smartphone and it is free to play. With little barrier to entry and the backing of a cherished brand such as Nintendo, it is almost certain the game will be around for a long time, with its user base increasing by the minute. The question is, will business owners take advantage of this opportunity?
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