Can NFC Technology Improve the Experience of Boat Ownership?
Since their prehistoric origins, boats have played a role in travel and commerce. Through military commissions, they have even helped shape the world as we know it. While still vital for shipping, fishing, and industry, boats also stoke our sense of adventure and draw us on a more visceral level. It’s hard to beat the feeling of being out on the water.
Recreational boating is all about experience. Whether it’s relaxing on the deck, island hopping with friends, or the thrill of catching air on a wakeboard, these experiences lure us to invest in watercraft. However, it’s not always clear skies and wind in your hair. Skippers know that boat ownership has the same trials as home or vehicle ownership, with a few extra twists to boot.
There’s a reason we’re all familiar with the old joke that the two best days of a boat owner’s life are the day they buy the boat and the day they sell the boat. But that doesn’t have to be true. And the truth is that the boat ownership experience can be made much easier – so owners spend less time on some of the fundamentals of maintaining a vessel.
The Convenience of Convenience
Even the most reliable boats require routine maintenance. Parts wear out; components break. Sometimes you just want to upgrade equipment. But boats aren’t necessarily designed to make these tasks easy. And, in fact, many of these tasks are not easy.
You might find yourself trying to work top side in weather, or perhaps down below in a cramped engine room. Chances are, you won’t find yourself in a situation conducive to looking through manuals or carrying around catalogs. Sometimes just knowing or locating the specific information you need about a part can be challenging, if not impossible.
But imagine if a DIY owner (or even a hired mechanic who can’t be an expert with every boat ever built) could access technical information and installation guidance instantly on a phone, without having to do a single search or access a single app? What if the hassle of even routine chores could be minimized?
Removing the Friction That Causes Bad Experiences
Most parts and components manufacturers haven’t traditionally thought beyond the sales aspects of their products. But this antiquated perspective has no place in the new “experience economy.” The upside is that technology affords brands and manufacturers plenty of opportunities to deliver good experiences. One way is by making otherwise bad or mundane experiences, such as preventative maintenance, timely replacement, and warranty claims, as simple and frictionless as possible.
An effective way to remove that friction is equipping products with NFC technology. By safely embedding NFC tags directly into the products, they become digital interfaces that provide users instant access to information, instructions, paths to purchase – whatever content can be envisioned to make the experience as simple as possible. It’s a stroke of long-term vision, given we know that almost three-quarters of consumers said a good experience is key in influencing their brand loyalties.
Providing Additional Value to Customers
Owners love their boats but hate the challenges that come with maintaining them. Brands and manufacturers that can ease the stress and burdens of these challenges will be those that rise to the top.
NFC technology like WaveOn’s RelationTech makes it easy for brands to develop connections with customers through valuable, positive experiences. Buyers can easily register their purchases and lay the groundwork for direct engagement, while the brand can intelligently serve users an array of different and customized content experiences.