Purple launches Engage to help venues automate CRM and email marketing
Purple’s Engage platform helps venues turn WiFi data into automated CRM and email marketing for customer loyalty.
Purple, a global player in digital connectivity and guest experiences, has launched Engage—a new CRM and email marketing platform aimed at helping physical venues turn visitors into regulars. The platform is designed for businesses of all sizes, from single-location coffee shops to multi-site restaurant chains, and leverages guest WiFi data to simplify customer engagement and drive repeat visits.
With Engage, Purple is targeting the needs of small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) as well as larger venues, offering a streamlined, hardware-agnostic solution that focuses on compliance, ease of use, and measurable value. The company claims its wider platform already delivers a 24% increase in return visits for clients, and Engage is positioned as an accessible entry point for venues looking to automate their marketing without the complexity or cost of enterprise tools.
Short on time?
Here’s a quick look at what’s inside:
- Who is Purple, and what’s the story behind Engage?
- How Engage works for venues and marketers
- What marketers should know about Purple’s approach
- CRM and email for venues: What’s next?
Who is Purple, and what’s the story behind Engage?
Purple is best known for building one of the world’s largest public WiFi networks, serving nearly 500 million users across 80,000 venues in 89 countries. The company’s core mission is to make WiFi a secure, seamless utility for everyone, everywhere. With Engage, Purple is extending its reach into CRM and email marketing, aiming to help physical venues—often overlooked by digital-first martech—turn anonymous foot traffic into loyal, repeat customers.
The launch of Engage is positioned as a response to the pressures facing local businesses, including rising costs and the need to compete with larger chains. By focusing on simplicity and compliance, Purple is targeting venues that may lack the resources or expertise to manage complex marketing systems.
Valery Moniaga
How Engage works for venues and marketers
Engage is built around three main pillars:
- Data collection and compliance: The platform uses guest WiFi as a data source, allowing venues to build and segment their customer database from scratch. Every contact is fully opted-in, helping businesses stay compliant with regulations like GDPR.
- Simplicity: The interface is designed for everyday use, avoiding the complexity of enterprise-level tools. Businesses can manage CRM and email marketing in one place, regardless of their existing hardware.
- Value: Engage is priced to be accessible for SMBs, with the goal of driving measurable increases in repeat visits through personalized email campaigns.
For marketers, Engage offers a way to automate customer engagement, segment audiences, and trigger targeted communications based on real-world behavior—all without needing a large team or advanced technical skills.
What marketers should know about Purple’s approach
- Physical-to-digital connection: Engage helps venues turn in-person visits into actionable marketing data, bridging the gap between offline and online engagement.
- Compliance built-in: By ensuring all data is collected with proper consent, Engage reduces the compliance burden for marketers, especially in regulated markets.
- Accessible automation: The platform is designed for ease of use, making marketing automation available to businesses that might otherwise be left behind by more complex solutions.
- Focus on repeat business: Engage is built to help venues drive loyalty and repeat visits, a key metric for growth in hospitality, retail, and service industries.
CRM and email for venues: What’s next?
Purple’s launch of Engage highlights a growing trend: martech solutions tailored for physical venues and SMBs, not just digital-native brands. As more businesses look to automate engagement and make better use of their customer data, platforms that combine simplicity, compliance, and measurable results are likely to see increased adoption.
For marketers, the key takeaway is that tools like Engage can help bridge the gap between in-person experiences and digital marketing, making it easier to turn visitors into regulars—even in a challenging market.
