Push Notifications & Beacons for B2E Event App Help Bosch Engage Employees

Not all apps are consumer-facing. The rise of smartphone use within organizations has led to a growth in employee-specific apps as well. Bosch, the world’s leading supplier of automotive components (among other things), created an app specific to an employee sales training event using push notifications and beacon technology to keep employees informed and engaged. And the results are pretty impressive.

The Client

A division of the company, Bosch Automotive Aftermarket North America, partnered with Urban Airship and mobile app development agency, Exhilent, to build the E2 employee app for its internal sales and marketing conference. The app served as a daily guide for its 250 attendees as well as a tool for Bosch to better facilitate associates’ education throughout the event.

The Strategy

The team at Bosch wanted to enhance the sales associate conference experience via beacon-triggered push notifications to ensure that people were in the right place at the right time. To do this, the app used Urban Airship’s mobile engagement solution, Engage, to send targeted push notifications to Bosch associates based on their sessions as well as location. Each attendee had one of four department-specific session tracks, so Bosch sent segmented push notifications that shared a user’s daily schedule and session reminders.

They also wanted to use push notifications to facilitate surveys to assess session effectiveness as it happened vs. after-event when recollections were not as clear. To make this happen, the app employed Gimbal’s beacon technology, paired with beacons placed throughout the conference grounds.

With beacons stationed in the main area, individual conference rooms and outside at product tents and test cars, Bosch could trigger push notifications based on a user’s location —  a user attending a training in a specific conference room who recently completed a product session would receive a push notification with a deep-link to a quiz to gauge feedback and test learning.

The Bosch team could see in real-time what associates thought of each session. And beacon information gave insight into what areas of the show floor were visited most. Beacons could also aid in quickly locating a specific associate.

“Testing the beacon technology combined with targeted push notification services help us understand how we can implement such technology in future applications to better serve end-consumers and our direct customers,” said J.P. Perisco, Manager of Digital Innovation and Strategy, Bosch Automotive Aftermarket, North America.

The Results

The event app, using the push notification technology, was a resounding success. The E2 app was opened more than 8,300 times over the course of the 250-person event.

“Push notifications are unique because they work regardless of whether or not the app is active. Other methods, such as email, can’t share information while a user is in the app and have several barriers to quick access,” said Bosch’s Perisco.

“Our B2E app is a benefit to both Bosch and our associates. Push notifications that deep-link to product information, quizzes and event details help us encourage associates’ success at the event, while serving as an information hub associates carry with them anywhere and everywhere,” Perisco said. “Printed agendas are a thing of the past. With an app, changes are easy to share so nobody is thrown off. This will help us be more nimble at events and save costs as well.”

We Can Help

Are you wondering what a more engaged audience could do for your app, whether consumer-facing or internal? We can help. Contact us or start a free trial of Urban Airship Engage today.