Apple Business Connect Update: Customize Your Branding and Reach 1 Billion Apple Users
The introduction of Apple Business Connect in early January 2023 helped businesses of all sizes to customize their location place cards across Apple Apps, potentially reaching over 1 billion Apple users.
But that’s not the only way brands can interact with their customers anymore — Apple Business Connect has added new features, making it seamless for businesses to become more visible and engaging.
Businesses can now customize their brand logo in ‘Tap to Pay’ function on iPhone and sign up to display their brand in Apple Mail and phone apps.
This is great news for companies of all sizes, regardless of their online presence, to increase their brand exposure and foster long-term customer relationships.
Read on to learn how Apple Business Connect can help you stand out in a sea of similar-looking brand communications.
What is Apple Business Connect?
Apple Business Connect is a free tool introduced by Apple that allows brands to launch their place cards and customize brand information across Apple Mail and other products. Business Connect can be used by two entities: owners of a company and third-party data providers or managers.
By branding the emails, businesses can become more recognizable and stand out in the Mail App.
The tool also has built-in features, such as directions, photos, contact information, and special promotions.
Additionally, businesses can now choose to include their brand logo in the ‘Tap to Pay’ on iPhone, helping customers know that they are making a payment to a trusted service. With Apple’s commitment to privacy and quality, businesses registered and listed through Business Connect can have more control over their digital presence.
Key Features of Apple Business Connect
Businesses can optimize critical brand information using the following features:
- Business profile management: Brands can manage business data, such as name, address, contact information, operating hours, and description.
- Photos and videos: Businesses can upload high-quality photos and videos to demonstrate their business offerings.
- Reservations and other actions: Salons and other service-based businesses can integrate with third-party applications to enable actions, such as booking appointments, making reservations, or ordering products directly from the business profile.
- Attributes and highlights: Brands can add specific business attributes, such as accessibility features or pet-friendliness, making it easier for customers to discover businesses according to their specific needs.
- Location-management: Apple Business Connect makes it easier for businesses to manage and update information across multiple locations, allowing efficient management of franchisees.
- Analytical insights: Learn how customers interact with your business, such as when and how customers discover your business and which days of the week they are the most active.
Companies can also employ third-party platforms on Business Connect to manage data on their behalf.
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How Does Apple Business Connect Help Businesses?
Getting your brands discovered on the Apple ecosystem becomes easier with Business Connect — in Maps, Apple Wallet, Siri, and more.
Business profiles created on Business Connect appear not only on Apple Mail but also in Siri, Spotlight, and other Apple applications. Brands can also appear on local search results, capturing the attention of nearby customers for specific products.
Additionally the interactive features such as ordering food, making reservations, and appointments can be made directly from your business profile. Including critical attributes and unique features like wheelchair accessibility and a pet-friendly environment can help customers find the right business.
Having an official presence on Apple Maps and other Apple apps can increase trust and credibility in your business. Apple Business Connect has regulations and eligibility criteria for setting up a profile, regardless of your business size.
How to Set Up Your Profile on Apple Business Connect
You can use your existing Apple account or create a new one to register for Business Connect from any digital device. The approval process can take up to 5 business days. Once your profile is active, you can add business information and customize branding for maximum visibility.
For businesses that operate in more than one location, Business Connect API helps manage their location preferences through third-party management agencies like DAC Group, Uberall, and Yext.
Apple designed Business Connect for small businesses to enjoy the same level of customization options and reach as global brands. According to Apple, a small business has fewer than 25 locations in the same country, and an enterprise is larger than that. The registration process is similar for smaller and larger businesses, with smaller businesses needing more documents to get started.
Below are the key information to help you register your company with Apple Business Connect:
- The legal name of the company,
- Physical address,
- Country or region,
- Phone number,
- Brand logo,
- Description of your business,
- Website (It must start with https://)
- A Facebook, TikTok, or Instagram page can also be used.
- High-quality photos,
- DUN number (Data universal numbering system).
How to Register Your Business on Apple Business Connect
Before adding any of your brands, you must agree to Apple Business Connect’s terms and conditions and submit your organization or company information.
Completing the below steps will help you register your business with Business Connect:
- Sign in with your Apple account,
- Review the terms and conditions for using Apple Business Connect,
- Select “I agree to the terms and conditions”,
- Select “Let’s go,”
- Submit your organization details,
- Select Done.
It’s important to claim and verify your business after the registration process. In addition, regularly updating your business information can keep customers informed of the latest changes and increase your visibility.
Supported Browsers for Apple Business Connect
Apple Business Connect can operate more efficiently under the following browsers:
- macOS 10.13 or later — Safari (16 or later), Chrome (87 or later), Microsoft Edge (87 or later).
- iPadOS 14.1 or later — Safari, Chrome (87 or later).
- iOS 14 or later — Safari, Chrome (87 or later).
- Windows — Chrome (87 or later), Microsoft Edge (87 or later).
But What Do People Really Think About Apple Business Connect?
Apple Business Connect has garnered positive reviews, specifically for its user interface, with some saying it’s easier to use than Google Business. However, the rebranding from Apple Maps to Apple Business Connect has gained mixed reviews from brands.
According to a study by Brightlocal, 59% are unaware of Apple Business Connect’s features and only 16% make use of all the features.
While Apple’s IOS is heavily preferred in the U.S. (it takes 55-57% of the market share), do all Apple users side with Apple Maps? Not necessarily.
Apple Maps is exclusive to iOS devices, but Google Maps can be downloaded by all. According to a poll on social communities in the UK, Canada, the US, and Australia, 88% of consumers use Google Maps.
However, many businesses still succeed using Apple Business Connect. Since Apple has established that there are millions of users worldwide, optimizing your Apple Maps and business profile is vital to finding the right customers and engaging them.
How to Use Insight for Location on Apple Business Connect
Alongside claiming your business listing on Apple Business Connect, there are several KPIs and attributes to track. This allows you to understand the performance of your branding and customer interaction.
Check How Customers Found Your Location
The views on Apple Maps are the first indication of how many people find your listing or search for a business similar to yours. Keeping your business profile updated and using Showcases (Apple’s version of promoted events) can help you stay relevant to users nearby.
Apple allots a dedicated space in your Place Card to display deals, and promotions, or add a call-to-action button called the ‘Showcase.’ Showcases are dynamic and specific to a location and time period, and must be approved by Apple.
Businesses can also view critical data such as the customer’s location when they tap on your business profile and what they searched for before finding your business.
Check How Customers Interact With Your Location
Your location place card displays the number of views from customers tapping your location in search results, on the Map, or third-party referrals.
Businesses can then verify how many times customers performed certain actions, such as clicking on your website URL, requesting directions to your location, or swiping brand photos.
Beyond these critical metrics, businesses can access call clicks, customer reviews and ratings, photo and video engagement, and Showcase performance.
Apple Business Connect can work as a stand-alone marketing strategy to provide necessary business insights. However, integrating Apple Business Connect with other digital marketing mediums, such as email marketing and social media marketing, can significantly boost your brand visibility and conversions.
Campaign Refinery and Apple Business Connect: A Powerful Duo for Your Marketing Strategy
At Campaign Refinery, we embrace advancements that help businesses and email marketers seamlessly integrate different marketing mediums to boost their visibility and revenue. Apple Business Connect’s unique features can help you engage Apple’s massive user base.
We have set up our Apple Business Connect profile — for example, all calls made from our company to iPhones will be branded hereon.
By combining the power of our reliable platform and Apple Business Connect, businesses can enhance brand visibility, enhance user experience, and improve traffic.
As always, we will continue to maintain a transparent business model with clean-sending policies and focus on providing the best email deliverability rates in the industry.
If you’d like to create engaging email campaigns to complement Apple Business Connect, apply to become a Campaign Refinery sender today!
