Untappd: the app to discover your favourite beer

This week’s article is about one of my favourite apps that I have on my phone – Untappd. What is it about? Well, beer. More specifically, it’s an app for beer lovers, that lets you discover beers, breweries and much more. It helps you to keep track of what you’ve tried and what you thought of it by checking in a beer and rating it.

When I first downloaded it in 2019, I did not know much about beer and wanted to inform myself better about this wide world. When at a bar or restaurant with friends, I used to always drink the same beers because of the overwhelming quantity of information and different kinds of beer kept me in my comfort zone. Untappd was a game changer in helping me further my knowledge and taste about beers - now, most of the time, I try to taste the ones I have never had before.

Founded in 2010, Untappd has more than 9 million users, 20,000 retailers worldwide and offers plenty of functions to its users - but how does it work?  

You can start by searching for a beer: you will find tons of information about it and the brewery, such as where you can find that specific beer in nearby locations (bars, restaurants, breweries etc.); add it to a list; check-in and rate it according to your preferences; find a detailed description about it and see other people’s recent ratings, including your friends'!  

But that’s not all: you can search locations, breweries and people as well. By following local venues, you get to discover new beers you might like, get access to the venue’s updated menus and stay up-to-date with venue and brewery events alerts.

When you expand your palate and try something new, you get rewarded and win badges to show-off on your profile and challenge your friends to beat you.

Untappd is not only a B2C platform, but it also offers its service to businesses: both venues and breweries can partner with the app. Untappd helps businesses increase their user base and user awareness and provides analytics on their users. What I find amazing among the many functions it offers, is that when I check in to a location or brewery, it might happen that the business interacts with me by leaving a like (which on Untappd is called a toast) or a comment on my rating. This is an incredible way to engage directly with customers and potentially create a loyal customer base.

What’s more, is that it has launched Untappd Marketplace, a platform where retailers can make orders using one convenient location, where they can browse products and place orders. Distributors can increase efficiencies with a selection of tools for managing orders, sales reps, and products.

At MadeFor, we deeply care about this matter and developed 8 Customer Way principles to help you achieve customer centricity. As mentioned in our previous article, in Principle 5 - “Experience is more than product” - we focus on how important it is in a connected world for firms to differentiate on more than product feature, since every service offered by a brand is an opportunity to stand out.

Clearly, this app is about beer, but not only beer. It helps users discover new things and keep track of their habits, creates a social platform where users with common interests can interact with each other, as well as it lets businesses get to know their customers and interact with them. On its store, Untappd enthusiast can even purchase official merchandise. I find it incredible how a simple app about beer managed to create a platform that serves people and services with different needs, especially when - as a user myself - it was a need I would have never thought I’d have before downloading the app.

Hence, my question for you today is: which brand satisfied the need you would never thought you’d have?

By Rosa.