People tracking is exactly what it sounds like. The company that you hire will use technological solutions in order to track how many people enter your business. Retail traffic counters are one of the best ways for businesses to track their customer’s patterns and learn when to have the most staff as well as track the effectiveness of advertising campaigns, but how does it actually work? Different companies will use different solutions, but here are a couple of different methods that may be used.
Thermal
The first and one of the most common methods is thermal tracking. This simply uses the heat signatures from people entering your business to track them. These systems advertise that they are able to distinguish between human and non-human heat signatures, so you are unlikely to get a false reading, says the owner of Pro Floors of Utah.
Shape Recognition
By using a basic human shape as a template, these systems are able to detect when a person enters your business by tracking their shape. These systems simply use cameras to record the area being tracked and then analyze the images to determine of someone entered your business. These systems are also very popular like thermal tracking is.
WiFi Counting
This method actually tracks your customer’s phones, not them. It uses the customer’s phone to detect if it is searching nearby WiFi networks. If it is, then it counts towards your count. This method is not perfect since not everyone carries a smartphone, but a large enough percentage of the American population does that it can provide significant results.
This method is not likely to be in use for much longer since new changes to both iOS and Android are changing the way phones handle their MAC address. This means that WiFi tracking may soon result in a lot of false positives, according to Tyson Downs of Titan Web Agency.
These are just three of the methods used to people count. New methods are being developed, and like any industry, it is constantly evolving, so be sure to check with your people counting company to determine the best solution for you. For more information visit CountWise.
