When we talk about mobile wallet cards, for most of us, boarding passes, coupons or membership cards will come to mind. But the iOS Wallet app powerful features can also be used for several other use cases.
Starting from the premise that cards can be downloaded and added to a user's Wallet with minimum effort, that they can generate alerts when fields are updated and that they can be conveniently displayed and opened directly from the device's lock-screen, digital cards in theory can become mini-applications. In fact, with Notificare, digital cards can be created in minutes and easily updated thanks to our powerful pass designer and creation capabilities.
With this post, we want to inspire you to think beyond the obvious and let your imagination run free. We also want to trigger product teams to work with this platform's constraints, knowing very well that its shortcomings can help them focus on what's important.
Design
iOS Wallet compatible passes can be created using a simple format. There are a couple of different styles you can pick, which will dictate how your passes look. In most cases, a pass will require an icon, a logo and an image. You can pick the colors your card uses and add information on both the front and back of the pass.
These cards can also contain relevance information, which will make it possible to prompt them in the lock-screen. Depending on the style you pick, you can harness the user's location, proximity to BTLE beacons and/or a date to trigger this functionality.
Cards can also be automatically expired on a certain date or be voided whenever you see fit. This is extremely useful if you want to run a campaign with certain time constraints or render passes useless after being redeemed.
Distribution
Passes can be distributed via a push notification, email, or text message. Customers can install the same pass by simply clicking a link from a website, or you can distribute highly personalized passes using one of the channels as mentioned beforehand. This makes it ideal for those cases where you are looking for a solution that does not involve lengthy development sprints or approval from the App Store.
Management
Passes can also be updated at any moment. All the imagery, colors, data, including relevance information, can be updated whenever you need, making it ideal for campaigns where timing is everything. Using our powerful pass designer wizards or data import capabilities, you can manage all your cards effortlessly.
Users will also see these updates instantaneously. As soon as passes are added to a user's Wallet, any change to the pass will trigger updates and notifications automatically. When it comes to all the data you are including in your card, you can even make generate lock-screen notifications just like a native mobile app.
To let your imagination run wild, we've created a digital card that breaks the rules of a conventional mobile wallet pass. To be relevant (and because we love Football), we've chosen the European Football Championship, currently being played in 11 countries all over Europe, and created a digital card that is capable of displaying live scores of all games until the end of the tournament. To see it in action, go ahead and click the following button on an iOS device with the Wallet app installed:
Basically, if you add this digital card to your Wallet, it will be prompted in your lock-screen by the time each game is about to start and it will generate notifications whenever a team scores. All this without installing an app. Of course, you are always in control, whenever you don't want to see these updates anymore, you can simply mute them or delete the card from your Wallet.
Feeling creative?
This idea is also not new. In the past, brands like Politico or BodyShop attempted unconventional ways of using Wallet cards to engage with users. Our motivation with this post is not to promote the use of digital passes for unorthodox purposes. Instead, we want to fuel your creativity and inspire you to step out of the comfort zone and possibly trigger ideas for your next loyalty, reward or marketing campaign.
As always, we are available via our Support Channel for any questions you might have. If you are interested in seeing this in action, please do not hesitate to request a demo here.