Tag: Omni-channel

Mobile Wallets: the ability to send Notifications

Even that you have a great App, not all your target clients will want it. This is supported by a recent Forrester research that found out “60% of US consumers have two or fewer retailer apps on their phones, 21% do not have any and only 3% had more than 10”.

Having said this, your customers will probably fall in one of two categories:

  • Brand loyalists who want your App, or
  • Not interested in downloading another App.

With the customers who have your App installed, you can use push notifications to send relevant information at right moment and time driving customer engagement and conversion. But as previously seen, only a part of your customers will have your App.

These facts impact your mobile marketing strategy and automatically brings questions that the marketers need to answer. How are you going to reach your customers? How are you going to create an active mobile engagement? How can I send push notifications to my customers?

The answer is Mobile Wallets Marketing.

With Mobile Wallet Marketing brands can create mobile wallet passes that can be downloaded in Apple Wallet or Android Pay (native Apps). This a great opportunity for brands and a brilliant solution for those customers who like your brand, but for some reason don´t want to install your App.

By using mobile wallets, brands can be on their consumer´s smartphone and engage with them in real time. One of the best things about mobile wallet is the possibility to send notifications that can appear on the smartphone lock-screen, similar to push notifications coming from apps. And since mobile wallets do not require any opt-in, they can act as a “small App”, allowing you to message your customer without them need to install your own App.

Basically, mobile wallet gives you the opportunity to communicate and engage directly with your customers without requiring a heavy commitment from them.

Mobile Wallets move forward when looking back at 2015

As we prepare to embrace 2016, is always good to look back
and see what happened in 2015, specially within the mobile wallets industry.

Back in January, Marketing Land defined some major mobile trends considering mobile-as-a-channel:

“Mobile will also play an increasingly important role in the evolution and user behaviour of social networks both new and existing”.

And within those trends, we saw Mobile Wallets becoming a reality. One of the most relevant facts of mobile wallets, was that on top of the high usage for payments the growth of mobile wallet marketing, specially in the retail, travel and accommodation industries, alongside with the integration of location-based marketing tools such as beacons technology.

Business 2 Community reported in July that “44% of consumers would like brands to deliver deals and coupons to their mobile devices“ building an even more momentum for the mobile wallet marketing. Also in July, and after the successful launch in the US, we saw the Apple Pay debuted in the UK, making its presence at 250,000 locations all over the country and supported by major apps like Five Guys, Zara, YPlan and MyCheck in the restaurant industry.

In the second half of the year, on September 10th, Google “fought back” and released Android Pay in the US, already accepting American Express, Discover, MasterCard and Visa, their second mobile wallet attempt. Despite not being yet a native App brought several relevant functionalities and also allows storing gift cards, loyalty card and special offers. According to PYMNTS, “Android Pay is compatible with roughly 70% of the Android phones currently in the U.S. “ and, with Android occupying 51.6% of the US smartphone market, you never know how will this mobile wallet battle turn out to be.

It wasn’t long before Apple came back to the spotlight. A few weeks later, on October 1st, Apple launched its new operating system iOS 9. Among new devices such iPhone 6S and a new Surface Pro competitor (iPad Pro), this new update brought a makeover from Passbook App to Apple Wallet, a new loyalty program and EAN 128 codes for digital passes. Dunkin´ Donuts, Walgreens Balance Rewards, MyPanera, among others brands are already supporting these new iOS 9 features.

Right after the launch of Apple’s new iOS, Android Pay pushed a new ‪loyalty program which allows its users to buy cheaper Cokes after the purchase of full price Cokes at vending machines. According to PYMNTS, “the move has been widely applauded by mobile watchers, who note that Google is going the extra mile to help users build habits around phone use but giving them an easy and literally rewarding way to build the habit.”.

Apple continued expanding Apple Pay with the launch in Canada and Australia in November. Jennifer Bailey, Apple’s vice-president for Apple Pay mention to CBC “the company is starting with American Express in Canada and Australia because it’s both the card issuer and the payment-network operator so co-ordination is easier“, meaning that Visa and Mastercard users still have to wait for compatibility. However, back to 2014 and according to the Nilson Report, Amex users accounted only for just 5% of Canadian spending and 17% in Australia, so the outcome is still being figured out.

For Apple next countries will be Spain, Hong Kong and Singapore during 2016, while for Google the next target is Australia.

 

With all these launches and features upgrades, Passworks have been evolving as well. Using Passworks platform it is now possible to create passes with EAN 128 code with an alternative code for iOS 8 users and also to deliver mobile passes through CSV file, Email and SMS, which makes it possible for brands with different types of CRM to create mobile content. Another obstacle that usually stands in the way of brands’ campaigns is the POS implementation and technology compatibility issue, due to the fact that most of scanners only read a certain type of code, which made it impossible to create marketing campaigns that couldn’t be redeem. Henceforth, Passworks team developed an App called Passworks Scanner, available for both Android and iOS that enables Passworks’ users to use this app to redeem the passes and monitoring the campaign. Also, Passworks developed its own wallet app, which enables Android users to experience the same Apple’s Wallet usability. Finally (wow, it was a full year!), Passworks is having a work-in-progress makeover, which means that during these next few months, there is going to be a lot of improvements, as seen by the new already implemented design.

 

With the emergence of this new mobile wallet ecosystem, leaded by Apple Pay, Google Wallet, Android Pay, Samsung Pay and PayPal Wallet, this means a great opportunity for brands to invest because not only it is increasing exponentially the visibility among users but because it is starting to change other markets, such as banking, and become mainstream.

According to Business Insider, “Apple announced a number of forthcoming changes to Apple Pay, including synchronization with rewards cards”, which means that marketing is even more embedded on these interactions and that these digital channels provide a relevant experience for consumers and opportunity for brands.

There is a great concentration on the mobile business, whether in payments, marketing or advertising. 2015 is not yet over and the numbers showed by EConsultancy are already showing a “10% increase in paid search advertising spend compared with last year, with all growth coming from ads on mobile devices”. Nevertheless, the outcome is always dependent from brands’ marketing strategies, context and how well do they really know their consumers’ behaviors and engage with them. More and more there is no way to escape the premise that “mobile can no longer be viewed as a separate channel”.

 

The bottom line is that brands must put the consumer at the center of their digital strategy because location-based mobile marketing drives multi-channel conversions, offline actions and consumer engagement, as can see on the Warehouse’s case study: “Since moving our coupons to wallet, we’ve seen significantly increased top-of-mind visibility among consumers, and we expect to achieve seven-figure sales results from our investment in 2015”.

Chillibeans new collection – The Beatles

A Chillibeans Portugal tem uma nova coleção limitada: The Beatles!

 strip the beatles@2x

Faça download do passe no seu telemóvel para saber mais. 🙂

How are you communicating your offers this Christmas?

Passworks-Christmas-Newsletter

With Passworks, you can easily communicate into your customers’ smartphones.
Create a digital coupon with your offer and distribute it by Email, SMS, Facebook or printed ads.

Passworks-Christmas-Newsletter-2

Your customer can click on a link or scan a QR code to download the coupon into the smartphone.
This opens a new communication channel for your brand.

Passworks-Christmas-Newsletter-3

Remind your customers about the offer when they are near your store due to the location-based notifications.

And remember, you can send push notifications at any moment and even update the content in real-time after Christmas to communicate Winter Sales!

Passworks-Christmas-Newsletter-4   Passworks-Christmas-Newsletter-5

3 Tips to have in mind when defining a mobile strategy

In October 2014, the newspaper The Independent stated: “for the first time ever there are more gadgets in the world than there are people”. There are more than 7.2 billions of mobile devices in the world, which means that “mobile penetration has now risen above 100% in most developed markets, because many people have more than one live connection”. The acquisition of mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets are rapidly increasing per user, creating a bigger opportunity for brands to engage with their consumers.

It is important to have in mind that mobile isn’t only smartphones, so here are some important tips topics when creating a mobile strategy:

3 technologies you should use when creating a mobile strategy-02

  1. Social media 

Smartphones allow people to stay connected to the world and social media has been the fundamental driver of this connectivity. That is why social Apps are among the most installed, in the UK. According to App Annie’s: 4 out of 5 free downloaded Apps for iPhone users in the UK are social.

Social influence is also a gamification technique. Being part of a social community and the act of “shareability” allows driving engagement with other users using psychological influences, such as, acceptance, competitiveness, companionship or even desire.

There are many social Apps and tools that brands can use to interact with users. Since social is a personal contact, consumers feel more involved and are driven to a stronger relationship with brands, which increases the engagement and ultimately increases sales.

3 technologies you should use when creating a mobile strategy-03

  1. Mobile Wallets

Mobile wallets are apps that allow to store cards, coupons, boarding passes, credit cards and much more in one single space. The most known mobile wallets are Apple’s Passbook and Google Wallet.

Passbook is a pre-installed app, which means that every person with an iPhone has automatically access to Passbook. Since 2013, Apple has already sold more than 200 million iPhones, this means that more than 200 million of consumers has direct access to Passbook (which will be rebranded as Wallet).

Google Wallet, on the other hand, is an App that has to be downloaded on the Google Play Store and is only available for the US market. Nevertheless, it has around 20 million users. Google Wallet is on the process of being rebranded as Android Pay and will be available globally which will allow to grow faster.

3 technologies you should use when creating a mobile strategy-04

  1. Beacons

Beacons are small Bluetooth devices that act as a dynamic geo-mapping tool by emitting signals, and are currently a trend that keeps growing across industries.

Beacons empowers the brand’s App, because it allows to makes the content more dynamic and relevant since it is delivered according to the consumers’ location, without being to much intrusive for the consumers. This means, that a brand or retailer can send web links, discount promotions and notifications to the consumer, depending on its in-store location.

The hype around beacons is because they allow brands to create a richer, contextualized and personalized in-store consumer experience while getting to know better their customers.

For retailers or brands without Apps, Facebook just released their own beacons for retailers to use that integrates with Facebook App. This is an interesting solution for brands or small retailers without their own App because it takes advantage of Facebook and their social engagement since most users already allow Facebook App to send push notifications. In addition to this, Facebook links its own geo-located ads to the brand’s content, which minimizes the risk for brands.

Individually, each of the above tips explores mobile marketing as a channel to increase engagement with the consumer and to drive store traffic. Combined, the results are exponential, resulting in a much stronger mobile strategy to acquire, engage and retain customers.

The Benefits of Digital Event Tickets

In a world where we can download and add into our smartphone all sort of things, such as music, books, etc., doesn’t it makes sense to have that same with event tickets?

The waiting for a post delivery of the paper ticket, having to print a ticket beforehand or to go somewhere to pick them up can be a hindrance in an age where time is increasingly important.

The promise of digital wallets can change all that, and with Passworks you can create a pass for an event, turning a paper ticket in to a digital ticket, allowing the user to safely and easily keep it on his smartphone.

Once a pass is created it’s easy to distribute it to customers via email or SMS, with a straightforward link to open and add the digital ticket into their phone in Passbook, to be kept until it’s needed on the day of the event, be it a movie, concert, museum, sporting event etc.

The convenience of not having to carry around a physical ticket makes the whole process of buying and attending an event that much easier for the customer. There’s no longer the worry of losing the ticket or the hassle of having to find it in your wallet, not to mention the printing costs saved by all the new process.

The most impressive aspect of a digital pass over a paper ticket is that fact that it’s dynamic, meaning it can be updated with new information in the lead up to the event or to send a reminder the day before. That pass is also fraud-protected being each digitally signed.

The fumble around in your pocket in the queue is also eliminated via location-based technology implemented in the pass to appear on the users’ lock screen when they are in the proximity, further aiding an easy, stress-free way to store event tickets.

Digital event tickets make it even easier for event organisers to manage their customers as you can easily track their demographics as information is sent back to them from the pass, increasing understanding of their actions and behaviour.

Why is mobile at the center of the new commerce and how can we help

“Digital is becoming at the center of nearly everything we do”, said Joe Megibow, Chief Digital Officer at American Eagle to Open Mobile Media.

Nowadays most of consumers are digital enabled and, with it, their attention is much shorter and divided across multiple brands at the same time. The shift to the digital world put the highlight back onto the consumer, pushing brands to go further in order to not become obsolete.

Brick & Mortar stores provide a physical experience that communicates with the emotional side of the brain of the consumer. People feel and touch the product. That feeling creates the identification between the product and the person necessary to a purchase and in the digital world it’s not so easy to create that emotional bondage. Brands need to think how much are consumers willing to wait and pay for the comfort of access to a certain product and, also, how further are brands willing to go to retain consumers? With digital technology it’s not a question of brands crossing to online stores, it’s about how to make sure that brands leverage the digital in the right way in order to really engage with the consumers.

“More and more brands want to communicate with their customers at the moment and place when they are ready to make a purchase. Hence, the most efficient way to communicate is through mobile however the most appropriate tools weren’t available until now which changed with rise of the Digital Wallet.” said Francisco Belo, Passworks’ founder and CEO to Energy of Portugal. So how to scale 1:1 marketing? How to promote and, above all, how to reward consumer loyalty? That is where the concept of omni-channel kicks in.

Omni-channel is how brands explore the different aspects of the business and of the brand personality, bringing all different available media together, in a seamless way in order to engage more effectively with the consumer. That is why lately the center of commerce is mobile. Mobile is the closest way to reach a consumer because mobile marketing allows brands to empower consumer mobility and to communicate at the most relevant time. With the launch of Passbook, an iOS native app that gathers digital consumer-interested content, from mobile coupons, membership or stores cards and tickets, product marketing went mobile. But it was only with the launch of Apple Pay, with the introduction of the payment capability, that the whole commerce interaction and business changed both retail and consumer experiences.

In practice, everyone can create content for Passbook. However, this is a market that is still rising and already raises many questions from the consumer side and, regarding the brands, it takes awareness, knowledge and practice to work with the platform.  This is where we come in. Passworks acts as an intermediary between brands and the targeted audience, without retaining the brands consumer information. But why should brands use Passworks? We allow brands to create, distribute and manage mobile content through all the major mobile wallets platforms, such as Apple Passbook, Google Wallet or Windows Phone Wallet campaigns (all three major available OS), which means that basically every person that has a smartphone can be reached and impacted with content created by our platform. Furthermore, in just one platform, a brand can not only design and create content, but also specify a targeted audience and share it through different distribution channels and manage each campaign results.

For brands that previously developed their own apps or want direct integration with their systems, Passworks has an API solution. The API can serve as a link between the online platform, either web or app and the mobile campaigns creation SaaS, which allows the brand to keep control of everything they already do, integrate with their existing solution and let us empower the brand in a more vertical audience-based way.

In addition to opening the path to mobile for brands, Passworks platform also allows brands to integrate with iBeacons technology. Due to its low but more precise range, Beacons outweigh GPS by improving consumer experience with very accurate 1:1 communication. iBeacons can be used as a strategy to drive consumers into the store which, as a consequence, increases the chances of purchases and sales because they act as a communication channel between the brand and the end consumer through relevant push notifications. Nevertheless, since the consumer needs to identify with what’s at stake, the crucial piece of the puzzle is the mobile content itself and the brand’s strategy to guide the customer into the store plus the in-store consumer experience.

In the end, Passworks acts as a powerful mobile marketing tool, creating a new distribution channel for brands but also aims to empower consumer experience and mobility. From developers, to retail marketers or communication agents it is possible to create mobile content to promote a specific brand, no matter the business market, directly to the consumers.

12 Readings to start 2015 up to date!

2014 is gone and what a year, it was! To start the year fresh, we selected 12 articles for those who are interested in hot topics as mobile wallets, the mobile marketing revolution or mobile payments and mobile coupons!

  1. #GoogleWallet : Make your phone your wallet
    In May 26, 2011, Google launched the first mobile wallet. Google Wallet is an native app for Android users to store cards, coupons and tickets into their smartphones whilst a mobile payment system. It works with NFC – Near Field Communication that allows users to interact with their stores only using their smartphones. From seeing an offer to using a coupon and adding points to its store card it can be a great tool and strategy for retailers.
  1. #Passbook : Apple’s Passbook
    In September 19, 2012 Apple introduced Apple Passbook: a native app for iOS that serves as a mobile wallet to substitute all cards and paper coupons. However, while Google allowed payments —which raised the first wuestions about mobile security and privacy issues — Passbook wasn’t related to payments and opted for a different strategy: create a better product integrated with Siri and Maps while improving a service that could end consumers’ doubts.
  1. #ApplePay : Apple Announces Mobile Payment Solution
    In September 9, 2014 Apple launched its first mobile payment service for the United States. A system that connects with Apple Passbook and, instead of using safety pin codes, it using touch ID to bullet proof payment security and it doesn’t collect any payment history, in order to ensure its consumers. With over 800 million registered users and a good partnership based network, Apple moved to the top list of competitors in the banking businesses.
  1. #Mobile Wallets : A Recap in the World of Wallets
    With the emancipation of the mobile wallets as Google Wallet and Apple Pay, the payments market raised and developed a mobile payment ecosystem, all of them fighting to be part of this innovative channel. Samsung created its own wallet for Samsung devices. Paypal and Visa started a race for partnerships. Third party apps emerged to act as easy-in distribution channels such as Loop Pay and CurrentC.
  1. #ConsumerEngagement via Mobile Wallets: There’s No Way It Won’t Become a Norm
    “Consumers prefer to have a unified mobile payment app that can be used in multiple stores while integrating individual store coupons and loyalty programs among millennials (55%) and users 35 years and up (46%) alike, the report says. But, 34% of consumers weren’t even aware if their favorite stores offered mobile payments or not.”
  1. #Omnicommerce : The Best of Omnichannel in 2014
    “    The news aboutApple Pay in September generated an unusual amount of mainstream media attention. Since it was announced, it has already changed the way we talk about mobile payments and has unlocked (and will continue to unlock) new sources of value for consumers and merchants. Apple also has a unique ability to mobilize an entire ecosystem – and that prompted Karen Webster to ask: Can Apple Pay shape the future of omnicommerce?”Now, omnichannel is no longer a trendy word but a requirement for all sort of businesses. Now it’s not just about what you do. It’s about how you communicate, how you reach the end consumer and, most importantly, when and where you reach them.
  1. #iBeacons : 15 Companies from Airports to Retail Already using iBeacon Technology
    With the introduction of iBeacons — One end, Low Energy Bluetooth devices — to the mobile payments world, a new form of marketing was born: Mobile marketing. The concept of mobile marketing allows brands to empower consumer mobility and communicate with them at the most relevant time opportunity, with the most relevant content considering timing. Displaying only the information that particular consumer wants at the most convenient time is one of the best way to drive store traffic and increase consumer engagement.
  1. Google Wallet won’t let you buy digital goods on the web past March 2015
    With the rise of mobile wallets and the crushing power of Apple Pay, Google Wallet announced in November 2014 that in March 2015 it would no longer allow the payment for digital goods. However, it can still be used for physical goods since last month Google Wallet announced a partnership with Disneyland in Orlando.
  1. Do people really use Apple Passbook?
    Mobile wallets bring a lot of innovative thoughts and interactions. However, it is normal to stop for a bit and ask ourselves: Do people really use this? Yes, technology is fast and the market goes 360º everyday. Nevertheless, when playing with consumer — people — interaction, it’s a totally different thing. We’re talking about mass movement and mass cultures and it takes time for people to adapt and adjust, to learn new concepts (that are in constant change) even if they’re here to help.
  1. Apple Pay Might come to the UK in early 2015
    Finally, Apple Pay is coming to Europe! UK is already aware and prepare to take in Apple Pay and, like every Western Country in Europe, it can’t wait to put the hands on it to see how much it will change the economy, specially because now Mesh Beacons are on the table.
  1. #MeshBeacons: Move over iBeacons, here come Mesh Beacons
    Instead of receiving and sharing information from one end to another, mesh beacons allow to track information once shared with the end consumer. So when entering a store, a mesh beacon can guide you within the store until you reach the specific product that you wanted to buy because it can receive the GPS signal of your smartphone and use it to give directions to point X.
  1. #Passworks: Passworks raises 1M for Passbook Campaigns
    We were born.
    Passworks is, like Passk.it or Passwallet, a third party platform that allows brand to create, communicate and distribute mobile marketing campaigns using Passbook of Google Wallet.Since the beginning of 2014 we are here to be part of this mobile ecosystem. To make it easier for users to connect better with their favorite brands and to allow brands to become relevant for consumers, to penetrate in a new channel and explore mobility as it’s only being discovered to achieve the best of omnicommerce.

    2014 was a great year that allowed us to learn more about this world, to develop with new achievements and to be prepared for what’s next. With a new year, new challenges are ahead. We are excited to be here for 2015 and we can’t wait to share our next projects we have stored for and with you.

 

Here is to 2015! Happy New Year!

Why Bricks-and-Mortar Stores Need to Embrace the Mobile

Bricks-and-mortar businesses have been losing ground on their online counterparts for years now as they are undercut by cheaper prices and more convenience for consumers. However, one advantage they can offer customers is the unique experience of having a physical location to display products and an opportunity to interact with staff.

The growing competition from online retailers means that the in-store experience and general customer service has never been more important for brick-and-mortar stores. Offering the consumer a seamless, interactive mobile experience is a vital way to do that.

In this digital age, where the smartphone is playing an increasingly significant role in influencing consumers’ spending habit, it’s essential that brands meet the high standards that their customers now expect of them. Digital wallets and close-proximity marketing are undoubtedly going to be part of the future of the customer-retailer in-store experience.

Making use of a dynamic mobile wallet pass has the potential to offer consumers a omni-channel retail experience that they desire. The many features of a digital wallet, including coupons and loyalty cards, allow the customer to incorporate their smartphone in to their shopping habits, whilst providing them value and creating brand loyalty.

The emergence of ibeacon technology which can be used in conjunction with mobile wallets, further underlines the potential to offer better, more relevant in-store experiences for customers and increases store traffic by enticing customers in to the store.

As a result of better access to a wider range of products and easy price comparison, the shift of power has switched to the consumer, as old-fashioned brand loyalty is disappearing, but for bricks-and-mortar stores embracing the changing nature of shopping habits is a must, with smartphone usage at the forefront.

 

First we had brick-and-mortar stores, then transactions moved online, and now Joe Pergola, vice president of sales and marketing at POS software and hardware provider AccuPOS, says location is even less important with the latest mobile payment options. “The museum gift shop eventually will have an event outside in the courtyard, and they want to bring some merchandise outside and sell it,” he offers as an example.

You can read more about Online Payments: Money Goes Mobile here.