Wallet Archives - Page 3 of 3

Why Passbook will be renamed Wallet

— Passbook —

Apple launched Passbook App in September 2012. Passbook is a pre-installed App with the purpose of dematerializing physical cards, tickets and coupons into mobile passes and storing them into one single place.

Since 2012, the passes have been gaining awareness among several industries, with a high focus on air travel and retail. Marketers caught the eye on a huge digital marketing potential by using Passbook to engage via mobile with their customers.

However, the commercial roll out and adherence, mainly from the brand´s side, of Passbook at the beginning was slow which let to a low usage and awareness. If Passbook was like a normal wallet why couldn’t it support payments? What was the point of it?

— Apple Pay —

In September 2014, Apple announced that it was partnering with Visa, MasterCard and American Express, which allowed consumers to store their credit and debit cards and to pay through their iPhones. In October 2014, with the official launch of Apple Pay at the United States for iPhones 6 and 6 Plus, all the messages and doubts were simplified as each Apps had their own roles. Just 6 months after the launch, Apple Pay acceptance and usage was growing fast, giving consumers access to contactless payments with Apple Pay in more than 700.000 locations.

On July 2015, and after a huge success on the US, Apple Pay was launched in the UK, supporting about 70 percent of all British credit and debit cards, and services such as Post Office and other popular stores and restaurants.

— Wallet —

A physical wallet contains all types of credit and debit cards, store cards, membership cards and papers, such as coupons or boarding passes. So, it´s natural that a mobile wallet, where all the above is also stored together uses the Wallet name to communicate the same purpose: commercial transactions and relationships between the consumer and the brand. Consequentially, in 2015 with the release of the new iOS 9, Apple merged both Passbook and Apple Pay Apps into one only brand named Wallet.

With the launch of IOS 9, there is a major change which is the possibility of having a new code: EAN 128. This will allow Apple Wallet to grow faster driven by both brands and POS acceptance. In addition to this add-on, thanks to the location-based features linked to Passbook and the new iOS Maps, Wallet now knows which card you need when you’re in a given store and presents the right option. Also, these passes can now be distributed through Safari or scanned using the built-in scanner inside the App.

Starting this fall, Apple Pay will support Walgreens Balance Rewards, Kohl’s, Coca-Cola, Dunkin’ Donuts, Panera Bread, and Wegmans.

Altogether, Apple Wallet presents itself as the main mobile wallet competitor. This statement translates in offering a stronger mobile marketing opportunity for brands, with a higher reach and effectiveness that no brand should refuse.

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:

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.

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.

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.

iBeacon technology provides a glance in to the near future

Very soon we will see more machine-to-machine (M2M) communications between connected devices, allowing technology to create more efficiency and further improving our lives. iBeacons provide an insight in to the near future of that interconnected world of the Internet of Things (IoT).

Retail stores, airports and sporting events to name a few have already demonstrated why there is so much hype about the potential of ibeacons and the innovative ways it’s enhancing our mobile experiences, including more relevant, personalised marketing efforts and more effective ways of communicating with the public at events.

Apple’s release of their iBeacon functionality paved the way for a new way of looking a Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) and unleashed the premise of using beacons in conjunction with smartphones, especially for digital wallets.

iBeacons are a great example of how IoT will function with cheap, low energy devices interacting with smartphones or tablets to bring ordinary objects or locations to life, intrinsically linking the digital and physical worlds together. Furthermore, the easy accessibility of obtaining information from a beacon makes them ideal for use alongside smartphones, with a simple but effective push-notification being the preferred current method of relaying info or sending coupons.

Large companies from Major League Baseball to Virgin Airlines have led the way in adopting beacons, but it’s in retail that many are predicting it to have the most influence, especially in customer spending with Juniper Research suggesting there will be over 1bn mobile coupon users by 2019, highlighting the importance of digital wallets such as Apple’s Passbook or Google Wallet in the mobile marketing sphere.

The current use cases of ibeacons is just the tip of the iceberg in its own future potential and that of the IoT which will create a world linked by internet-connected devices, which in turn will create more productivity for all.