Technology is continuously evolving, and we at Consult PR AKA The Digital WOW, always like to keep our clients abreast of the latest developments. The revamp of Apple Maps to Apple Business Connect has changed the digital landscape and this article talks about the benefits that businesses can reap from this change. 

With the increasing use of mobile devices for driving, purchasing, social engagements and a host of other things, the need for your business to be showcased effectively on mobile searches has become all the more important. The revamped Apple Business Connect lets you showcase your business with a host of new engaging features, giving you a larger outreach from the resultant increase in visitors/ traffic from iPhones.

More than 50% of mobile phone users in the U.S. use iPhones, and about 75% of these iPhone users use Apple Maps. As Google has the lion's share of the online market, most businesses have a marked presence on Google Business Profile (GBP) which allows them to engage with present and prospective clients. This predicated the recent revamp of Apple Maps and the advent of Apple Business Connect. If properly optimized, businesses stand to reach a huge, previously untapped market of iPhone users. 

For businesses that already have a presence on Apple Maps, further optimization will be required to gain maximum benefits from this changeover.


Apple Business Connect 

Up until Jan. 2023, Apple Maps offered businesses a limited amount of detail that they could add to their business profiles, important details like images, reviews ratings and business information was sourced from third parties like Yelp. Yelp is notoriously business-unfriendly, and the process amounted to chewing up valuable time and effort for businesses and their marketing teams just to mark their presence on Apple Maps. With the launch of Apple Business Connect, Apple removed its dependability on third-party sources and now has its own dashboard and a whole list of new features that offer directions, photos, contact information, and special promotions for a business.  

While, it may seem easy to just create an Apple ID and claim your business profile, optimizing it so that your business gets better visibility in searches is a whole different ball game. See the chart below for some of the factors that impact optimization.

New Features of Apple Business Connect include:

Better Customer Engagement 

The new Apple Maps listings allow businesses to directly add and manage their information in the interactive Apple Maps Place Card like adding and updating photos, logos and other relevant information. As a result, customers/users can view detailed information about a business, make a reservation, schedule appointments, view photos of a location and much more…. with just a tap.

Note: Information in the Maps Place Card appears to Apple users across Wallet, Siri, Messages and other apps.

Showcases

Showcases is a feature in Place Card where businesses can post/present special offers, discounts, menus, seasonal items and a lot more. The posts expire after a month (they still stay in your profile, but are no longer visible to customers and will need to be reposted if required). This feature allows businesses to leverage against competition and gain better visibility.

Insights 

The older version of Apple Maps did not offer businesses a dashboard with stats.  The new version offers insights on:

• Analyze how a user found a particular business’ listing
• Monitor the number of clicks on their listing
• Measure incoming traffic
• And more… including cool stuff like businesses being able to see exactly which buttons a user has been clicking on a listing and the follow-up actions that a user undertook like sharing the listing, requesting directions, clicking to reach the website, reach the Showcases area to look for promotions or call the business directly from the Apple Maps listing!

Other benefits 

Apple Business Connect also connects with other Apple services like Tap to Pay on iPhone, which allows businesses to securely accept Apple Pay, contactless credit and debit cards, and other digital wallets through a simple tap to their iPhone. It also gives businesses access to Business Essentials subscription that brings together device management, cloud storage and 24/7 support.

The user-friendly changes have borne fruit in the form of increased user traffic on Apple Maps, making it all the more important for businesses to get their Apple Business Profiles optimized. This can lead them to a bigger audience, better SEO rankings and eventually better ROI.  At Consult PR AKA The Digital WOW, we recommend Google Business Profile AND Apple Business Connect optimization to our clients as part of our online reputation management services in order to help them achieve their business goals.