Earlier this year, Google added compelling new features to Google Wallet to help consumers get more out of their mobile wallet passes. With this update, developers can send wallet notifications, letting consumers receive notifications about any updates to cards or passes stored in their mobile wallet. As Google shares, that might look like a notification from your favorite coffee shop on their new daily special or an update if your assigned seat on your boarding pass changes.
This is a game changer for retailers, which now have the ability to message customers with a mobile wallet pass across Android and iOS devices. It’s especially compelling as Google Wallet and Apple Wallet come pre-installed on all smartphones. In other words, there’s a new channel available to prospects wherever they go. Retailers have fewer barriers to gain unparalleled reach.
This ease of access is a huge advantage, but another boon mobile wallets bring is a unique ability to cut through the noise. Today’s consumers are increasingly skilled at tuning out marketing. Just look at email, where 79% of consumers ignore or delete marketing emails at least half the time. Wallet notifications offer a new way to reach customers on the device they never leave home without: their smartphone.
Undoubtedly, mobile is where consumers are spending the majority of their time. And while apps can be highly effective, brands without one can quickly start providing conveniences to every customer with a smartphone through mobile wallet passes.
Mobile wallets not only offer quick time to market, they have the advantage of widespread adoption that can help drive customers to engage on a brand’s app, website and other channels. Retailers can now fully capitalize on the untapped potential of mobile wallet marketing, as anyone with a wallet pass is now addressable through highly visible wallet notifications delivered to smartphone lock screens.
Consumer Adoption on the Rise
It’s no surprise that consumer demand for mobile wallets is growing due to their convenience and flexibility. A recent global survey of 11,000 consumers found that over the past two years, the #1 way they use smartphones while shopping in physical stores is mobile wallet loyalty cards and coupons. Among younger generations specifically, mobile wallet adoption is widespread: 73% of Gen Z and 77% of Millennials use mobile wallets. As the largest consumer groups, early adopters of this marketing channel have a competitive advantage.
The use cases for retailers to leverage mobile wallets are endless; most go well beyond their commonly considered use for payment. Mobile wallet passes can contain a variety of information that can be dynamically updated as loyalty reward or gift card balances change or expired coupons and tickets update to new ones. Customers can then easily access and use these passes whenever they need them, avoiding the need for physical cards or printouts. Google is even testing out a new type of digital ID in Google Wallet that works at select TSA checkpoints.
Mobile wallet adoption continues to grow year-after-year among airline travelers, concertgoers, diners, shoppers and just about any other out-and-about spending cohort imaginable. If you’re looking to incorporate mobile wallet passes into your marketing strategy, here are three particularly effective ways to use them.
Trigger more transactions
Daily deal campaigns for a confined period of time are another effective way retailers can leverage this channel to trigger more transactions. Retailers can introduce the campaign and solicit opt-ins so that only customers interested in daily deals will get them. From there, they can serve up daily notifications to showcase the deal and bring customers back every day of the campaign. Retailers can even provide unique promotional codes to track who redeems the offers or adds an item to their cart. Fortunately, mobile wallets let retailers configure a pass with fields that can be easily updated to reflect the next day’s deal or expire the current one once it’s been used. By pairing the pass with location, retailers can remind the customer to use the day’s offer when they are near a store.
Incentivize conversion with targeted mobile coupons
Mobile wallets also can be used to provide customers with personalized offers and discounts. For example, a general merchandise retailer might send a buy one, get one free deal on socks for a customer that previously purchased them at their store. Mobile passes can be updated regularly to offer new deals.
Level up loyalty programs
Mobile wallets are a game-changer for loyalty programs. They give your customers peace of mind when it comes to saving money and earning rewards at the point of sale. Gone are the days of worrying about paper coupons and remembering which phone number goes to which loyalty program. With notifications, retailers can let customers know when they’ve reached the next level and offer special rewards such as double loyalty points days.
These are just a few examples of how retailers can use mobile wallets to elevate the customer experience and provide the convenience and rewards that high-value, loyal customers crave. They can even be used to acquire new app users, by directing customers from the pass to an app store as a way to drive even greater engagement and loyalty across all channels, including websites. The utility mobile wallets offer is endless. Marketers now have another highly effective but low-barrier way to engage customers.
Thomas Butta is Chief Strategy and Marketing Officer at Airship, a mobile-first customer experience company. With over two decades of marketing leadership and strategic positioning expertise, he has established market leadership for several global enterprise SaaS companies, such as SignalFx, Sprinklr and AppNexus. He hosts the Masters of MAX podcast, is an advisor to early-stage companies and a director of nonprofit YSA.org.
