Forrester Research, Inc. on the promising future of the mobile wallet features Vibes, a mobile marketing leader. The February 2015 report, “The Future of Mobile Wallets Lies Beyond Payments,” points to mobile wallets becoming rich marketing platforms that complement merchants’ own integrated apps. In addition, the report states that mobile wallets will become powerful marketing platforms because early examples and best practices show that marketers can benefit from:
- Ability to drive foot traffic and increase sales. U.S. automotive aftermarket service and retail chain Pep Boys (who Vibes counts as one of their clients) states that it is driving higher than expected sales results by allowing customers to save coupons to their phones. Thirty percent of Pep Boys’ mobile wallet offers added to mobile wallets were redeemed in-store, which Vibes believes underscores the ability of mobile wallet marketing to increase traffic and sales in physical stores.
- Higher conversion rates versus mobile web coupons. Brands see higher redemption rates via Passbook or Google Wallet than when using offline coupons or even mobile web coupons. The report cites that Vibes sees an average redemption rate of 21%, having run more than 400 mobile wallet campaigns for more than 20 retailers or brands since September 2012.
“We believe that this report validates what we’ve already been seeing in our campaigns: Consumers want to use their mobile wallets as more than just a payment service,” said Jack Philbin, co-founder and CEO of Vibes. “We see 2015 as the year marketers capitalize on the many marketing opportunities afforded by mobile wallet, going beyond payments to improve conversion rates, drive traffic and sales, mobilize loyalty programs and much more.”
As an official Apple developer and one of only a handful of official Google Wallet partners, Vibes is the leading mobile wallet technology provider and sends more branded content (coupons, loyalty cards, etc.) to Apple’s Passbook and Google Wallet than any other company.
Vibes will hold a webinar to explore the opportunities that mobile wallets are increasingly opening up for marketers. The webinar, “Mobile Wallets Will Become Marketing Platforms,” will take place on Tuesday, February 24, at 11:00 a.m. CST and will feature Philbin accompanied by guest speaker Thomas Husson, vice president, principal analyst at Forrester Research, Inc. and author of the report.
