There's long been much handwringing among retail marketers over plummeting email open rates and click rates. The retail industry has now dipped to an average 17.1% email open rate and an anemic 0.7% click-through rate, and this lack of success has helped to fuel various moves into engaging shoppers via SMS and MMS, and via mobile app – and now, via mobile wallet marketing that fits exceptionally well with both the SMS and mobile app approaches.
What’s been made abundantly clear . It’s why so many brands are following the consumers who love them by flocking to high-reach, high-engagement SMS + Mobile Wallet that bridges the engagement gap and delivers on their revenue growth goals – and then some.
Here are 6 key reasons why it’s happening.
1. It Drives More Foot Traffic into Retail Stores.
SMS + Mobile Wallet marketing has allowed retail brands to dramatically unite their unique online digital offers and their offline physical locations. It has become a huge boost to marketers looking to create continuous customer engagement that unites these two worlds for better marketing, commerce, service and loyalty – and it does all this without the need for app downloads.
Start them with an SMS that talks about a hot sale, or an offer, or in-store savings event. This is then combined with a link to open their mobile wallet – or to add one, if they haven’t yet – and use a QR code to take part in the store’s sale or offer. Maybe update their redeemable loyalty points while you’re at it!
Just like a mobile app push notification, Vibes' mobile wallet platform can deliver a variety of messages to a user’s lock screen, including precisely timed notifications that can be set to automatically send when a user is 100 meters or less away from a physical retail location - and then prompt a visit to that nearby location.
SMS + Mobile Wallet also enables instant, low-friction enrollment into a brand’s loyalty program – which, as we know, is already a great way to traffic foot traffic into stores. Mobile Wallet onboards customers directly into an existing loyalty program via QR code, SMS or web form – the brand decides what works best. Retailers can even enroll them into SMS marketing via their initial interaction with their digital wallet card if they prefer, rather than the other way around.
2. Consumers Say That Mobile Wallet Helps Them Buy More.
This 2024 survey found that 54% of consumers say they have made a purchase based on a mobile wallet offer they received from a brand, and that nearly 60% have used a mobile wallet-stored loyalty card when making an offline or online purchase. Whereas mobile wallet was once reserved primarily to house digital versions of credit cards, an additional 52% of consumers now say they use mobile wallet for storing items other than credit cards, such as loyalty cards, offers, coupons, gift cards and event tickets.
This rapid consumer adoption of SMS and Mobile Wallet is exciting for retailers, given phenomenal 98% open rates for SMS vs. the email open rates we bemoaned earlier. 1 in 4 consumers even said that they now use their mobile wallet passes more than once a week, with mobile wallet users 40% more likely to also currently be signed up to receive text messages from brands – demonstrating the pronounced growth and proven durability of what’s still a relatively new marketing channel.
3. There’s Much More Revenue to be Had.
Vibes’ comprehensive research has shown that marketers see 19x more revenue per message from their campaigns that use both SMS + Mobile Wallet, vs. just sending SMS messages by themselves.
Consider Hibbett. Even before they had an e-commerce presence or app, Hibbett had been partnering with Vibes to activate Mobile Wallet and SMS to attract new customers and engage with current ones. “It was imperative for us to connect to that consumer where they are,” said Sarah Sharp-Wangaard, VP of Marketing at Hibbett. “Initially, that was mostly just texts. We knew that it didn’t need to stop there.”
That early groundwork paid off. When Hibbett built their e-commerce site, they already had a solid base of mobile subscribers and were able to utilize more sophisticated mobile marketing strategies. They turned to Vibes to help them take their mobile marketing program to the next level, and together we developed a more mobile-unified channel strategy that included SMS, MMS and Mobile Wallet all working together.
Sharp-Wangaard said Hibbett was particularly interested in instant coupons, scratch-offs and fun options delivered through Mobile Wallet, like having customers use their phones’ microphones to “blow the snow” to reveal a deal. They focused on increasing high-value loyalty subscribers, creating a best-in-class mobile experience through targeting and personalization, and continuing to drive acquisitions through evergreen SMS and Wallet campaigns.
Since then, Hibbett has grown its SMS subscriber list an average 22% YoY, and have maintained a 99% monthly SMS subscriber retention rate, which also seeing an average 27% YoY increase in SMS-attributed revenue.
4. Unlike Apps, Mobile Wallet Passes Can Be Updated in Seconds.
Who wants to wait for an app developer so that a retail marketing plan can be executed quickly and as needed? Mobile Wallet passes are dynamic, which means that all real estate on the pass can be updated at any time, as often as a brand desires, in real-time.
By having the ability to update the content on saved mobile wallet passes with new information at any time, retailers have a versatile, persistent, visual way to engage with your customers. So instead of static marketing collateral, Mobile Wallet is used as an ongoing channel to continuously keep customers updated and drive them to act.
Since most retailers have a loyalty program, this doesn’t have to necessarily sequestered away in the mobile app any longer. Mobile Wallet allows retailers to create a rewards pass where members are kept up to date on their earned points or rewards, status level, and member-exclusive offers and benefits, all triggered by personalized SMS once they reach thresholds. Retailers can also easily extend the duration of a promotion by instantly updating the expiration date so that customers know they have more time to take part in the offer. SMS + Mobile Wallet is easy for marketers to manage and creates a seamless customer experience that accelerates revenue growth and increases customer loyalty.
5. Mobile Wallet Increases the Usage of Existing Retail Mobile Apps.
Vibes has seen from experience with our own customers that SMS, Mobile Wallet and an existing Mobile App can all work beautifully together. Mobile Wallet doesn’t have to replace or even necessarily compete with the value of a retail brand’s mobile app. It instead complements mobile apps by making the customer experience more convenient and providing brands and businesses with an easily-accessible channel.
Even with the most sophisticated and widely used app, marketers are likely still missing customers that Mobile Wallet will otherwise help them reach and engage. According to Apple, 30% of users that installed a brand or business’ wallet pass also downloaded their mobile app. Some just want the app, some just want the wallet, but clearly there’s a highly engaged, extremely valuable group that loves using both.
6. Attributing Revenue – the Retail Marketer’s Holy Grail.
Mobile Wallet is fully compatible with all point of sale technology, and offers retailers a variety of barcode options to ensure passes can successfully be scanned. Since it’s easier these days for consumers to find and access a mobile wallet pass than digging through a pocket or searching in an app, the retail checkout process has become dramatically streamlined.
However, it’s not just about the checkout process being easier. Mobile wallet passes can be easily identified and tracked by providing unique pass attribution - in-store or online - paving the way for a better understanding of the business impact mobile wallet marketing has on a retail brand and offering a clear path to ROI analysis of that brand’s programs.
This level of attribution is made uniquely possible through Vibes' Secure SmartLink, a unique URL automatically generated for every mobile wallet pass that gets delivered to an individual customer. The Secure SmartLink tracks every action on that customer’s pass, from the initial viewing of the pass to the transaction where the offer is redeemed.
These are six of the most-cited reasons that Vibes customers like Hibbett, The Children’s Place and Chipotle have found success driving growth with SMS + Mobile Wallet. When retailers connect with customers on the channels they prefer, revenues follow.
Let’s talk if you’re interested in learning more about how SMS + Mobile Wallet will work for your retail brand!
