Why wallet passes

Why Wallet Pass Marketing Works

Wallet pass marketing asks your audience for a single tap, and in return gives you a way back to their phone whenever you've got something worth saying.

How much of the audience who saw you today can you reach tomorrow?

Wallet pass marketing in three steps, a QR code to scan or a link to tap, then Add to Apple Wallet or Add to Google Wallet, and the OAKLEN pass is saved, with its notifications on the iPhone lock screen

Wallet Pass Marketing, the Short Answer

Wallet pass marketing works because it asks almost nothing of your audience and gives you a way back to them that lasts. While they’re interested they follow your link or point a camera at your QR code, a single tap puts your pass on their phone, whether they use Google Wallet or Apple Wallet. After that, their lock screen is yours to reach. Here are the six reasons it works.

Reason 1

Saying Yes to a Wallet Pass Costs Almost Nothing

Every channel wants something from people before it lets you in. The more you ask for, the fewer say yes, and of all of them a wallet pass asks for the least. That single tap is where the benefits of wallet passes start.

Wallet pass marketing takes one tap on Add to Apple Wallet or Add to Google Wallet, while a mobile app takes four steps and email and SMS take two before you can reach someone
Reason 2

Wallet Pass Marketing Works Wherever They See You

On a phone, people tap a link. On a TV, a box or a poster, they scan a code. Either way they reach the same pass with the same single tap, so every place your brand appears grows one audience.

Tap a link

Wherever they can tap
Link in bio
Social posts
Emails and newsletters
Messages
Your website
Video descriptions

Scan a QR code

Wherever a tap is not possible
TV ads and videos on the TV
Packaging
Posters and billboards
Print and flyers
Shop counters and tills
Events and venues
The same pass, added with one tap
Wallet pass marketing keeps interest alive, a line that fades without a pass and rises again with each notification, a style tip, a VIP offer and a points update
Reason 3

Interest Is Highest the Moment They See You

Someone sees your post, your email, your ad or your packaging, and for a moment they care. Leave it there and that interest fades. A wallet pass catches it while it’s there, and every push notification after that brings some of it back. Our wallet engagement platform shows you who comes back, and how often.

Reason 4

A Wallet Pass Lives Where People Keep Things

Phones get tidied, apps get deleted and inboxes get cleared, but Apple Wallet and Google Wallet hold what people actually use, their bank cards and their supermarket loyalty cards. A pass that earns its place stays there, and our wallet pass platform lets you refresh its artwork whenever you like, so it never looks out of date.

Wallet pass marketing puts your pass where people keep things, in front of a bank card and a supermarket loyalty card, while apps, marketing emails and texts from strangers get cleared out
Wallet pass marketing costs less to reach someone again, ads charge every time while a pass is won once and its notifications carry no charge
Reason 5

Pay to Win Them Once, Not Every Time You Speak

Ads charge you each time you want someone’s attention, and texts charge you per message. Once someone has your wallet pass there’s no charge per notification, so speaking to them again costs you nothing extra. Every time you’ve got news to share, the sums get better.

Reason 6

Wallet Pass Notifications Come From a Name They Chose

A text from a number nobody recognises looks like a stranger, however good the offer. A notification from your pass carries your name and your logo, from a brand they chose to add. That’s why we built our push notification platform on the wallet.

Wallet pass marketing notifications on an iPhone lock screen, two from OAKLEN with its logo beside two texts from unknown numbers

See How Wallet Pass Marketing Would Work for You

Book 15 minutes and we’ll show you the platform, take you through how it all works, and answer the questions you’ve still got.

Wallet pass marketing FAQs

Because the ask is tiny and the result lasts. Someone taps once while they’re interested, your pass goes into the wallet they already use every day, and after that you can turn up on their lock screen as a name they recognise, with no charge per notification.

It asks for nothing they’d think twice about. There’s no app to find, no account to make and no phone number to hand over, just one tap on Add to Wallet.

Interest is at its peak the moment someone sees you and fades quickly after. If one tap right then is all it takes, you keep the connection instead of hoping they remember you later.

A website asks people to read, decide and act there and then, on a small screen. A pass asks for one tap and keeps the door open for later, when the timing suits them better.

Because your audience meets you in both kinds of place. Links reach them on their phone, in posts, bios, emails and messages, and QR codes reach them on screens, boxes and print. Both open the same pass, so every placement adds to one audience.

The wallet is where they keep things they use, like their bank cards and loyalty cards. A pass with a reason to be there, such as an offer, a level or something worth hearing about, sits alongside them.

With ads you pay for attention every time. With a wallet pass the work goes into winning them once, and after that each notification carries no charge, so every extra message improves the return on what you’ve already spent.

It shows your name and logo, and it comes from a pass they added themselves. There’s no unknown number to wonder about.

Ads are good at being seen, and they still have a job to do. A pass makes that job worth more, because the people an ad brings in stay reachable after the budget has gone.

Usually because the notifications stopped being worth reading. Send fewer and better ones, give your best people something they can’t get anywhere else, and keep the pass artwork fresh. Each pass has a ceiling of three in any 24 hours, and staying well under it keeps each one worth reading.

An influencer is a brand, and the same reasons apply. The ask is just as small for their audience, and with their own pass the people who follow them stay within reach.