How Sixpoint is Changing the Experience of a Beer Release

Beerfinder apps are great. Sixpoint wanted to take it one step further.

Released in late September, the Brooklyn brewery launched a new experience for consumers to connect with Sixpoint with its new beer release functions on its app. It also takes the regional aspect of the brewery and translates it back into the locality it has for fans in New York.

“We think there’s a lot of room to improve the experience for customers at can releases and technology can facilitate this change,” said Chris Sterbank, Tech Guru at Sixpoint, who has managed the development of Sixpoint’s mobile app in partnership with Posse, a NYC-based digital product design and development studio, over the last several years. “The way the industry operates is archaic.”

Customers can now reserve beer that Sixpoint releases at the brewery through the app and then come pick it up at the brewery on the day of the release, effectively re-purposing time that would be spent waiting, to instead socialize and enjoy beer.

“The app gives us the flexibility to totally curate the experience of ordering, provide content about the beers and formulation process, and help identify and reward the most loyal fans,” Sterbank said. “We have a whole pipeline of features lined up for releases over the next year.”

Max Nevins, the Vice President of Marketing at Sixpoint said competition is driving breweries to innovate with beer styles, adjuncts, and new recipes to stand out, but very few are finding ways to change the experience.

“There’s so much potential out there …,” he said. “We’re just starting to scratch the surface.”

The App is a new gateway into the Sixpoint ecosystem and begins a customer experience with the brewery. It also helps Sixpoint develop a relationship and track user frequency and tastes.

By making an account, they can start to tailor the experience to what the consumer cares about.

“Instead of a long wait time followed by a herding process due to time and demand, fans are hanging out and sampling beers with our team,” Sterbank explained. “The whole thing is more personal. We also know who’s come to prior releases and are building out a loyalty program. The transaction, and all the difficult parts have already happened — on the day of release we’re just having fun. We can really connect with our fans on a level that we had not been able to before. By avoiding the lines, we are able to interact with our fans in a very positive way and talk about the beer, not the wait. We don’t have to herd people through because of time and demand. It makes it more personal. We also get a better idea of who our regulars are and can make sure they’re all taken care of.”

Services like Brown Paper Tickets or Shopify still puts a barrier between a brewery and the consumer as a middleman,” they explained, and it has fees for every sale.

“Ultimately we saw a need for a direct native experience on mobile rather than mobile web based on how consumers feel comfortable and what feels natural when handling transactions on a phone,” Sterbank said. “The app has way, way more possibilities that we’ll be rolling out as time goes on. First we had to test that it works. And it does … the early releases have been awesome.”

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