Yes, I happen to be one of those Apple fans that watch the live stream when new products are announced. No, I don’t stand in line for hours. But if it’s news and it’s Apple, I’ve probably heard about it. I certainly don’t believe that Apple can do no wrong but I also don’t think that iOS is one of the fastest-growing operating systems for no reason! When I see browser share growing month after month, as a marketer, I take note. Litmus reported for the month of September 2012 that the iPhone accounted for 21% of all email opens. Take a look at the graph below – this percentage has been growing steadily for years, having increased from only 11% in September 2011. At 21%, this now represents the greatest market share across all browsers / clients.
How can we target these subscribers effectively?
This tells us that as email marketers, we need to make sure that we are catering to this group to provide a positive user experience when it comes to mobile. You may not be ready for a fully-optimized mobile website or even mobile-optimized email messages. But you can provide value for iPhone users specifically via a new app that was just released with iOS 6. And guess what? It doesn’t even require that you have your own app or put any development resources into integrating with this new functionality!
What is this new app you ask?
It’s called Passbook and it’s designed to keep all of your coupons, gift cards, tickets, loyalty cards, passes and more organized and at your fingertips on your iPhone. Passbook is the hottest new functionality that all marketers should have on their radar. There are a number of great resources on this topic, such as a post by Alex Williams from Trendline Interactive. Passbook is a native app (Currently not available on the iPad.) Passbook is a native app that is automatically installed on your iPhone when you upgrade to iOS 6 or purchase a new iPhone 5. It’s a great organizational tool that makes life easier for the user. But how can it benefit businesses from a marketing standpoint? Just wait…
The Top 3 Reasons You’ll Love Passbook
- You can start using it today! With Passbook, you don’t have to develop your own app to use the functionality. That’s because you can deliver a pass via email by linking to a pass file. This allows the subscriber to add the pass to Passbook with one click. You can create a pass file using one of a few providers that have already popped up, such asPassk.it, Passdock or PassFu. Once you’ve created your file, simply link to it and add a strong CTA to “add to Passbook.”
- It’s great for driving business to your brick and mortar store. If that’s your goal, you’ll see that Passbook is a perfect fit! Driving customers to your store through email can be a challenge. But with Passbook, you can email an offer to a subscriber and they can add that offer to Passbook with one click. You can also set the offer up such that Passbook reminds them of the offer via a push notification when they visit your store. How cool is that?
- iPhone users can’t delete the app. This means that you will always be able to target iPhone users with Passbook CTA’s! Because Passbook is a native app, it will always be on the users iPhone, even if they don’t use it. And if they do use it, those offers that they add will be accompanied by other items that they will most likely refer to often, such as gift cards, boarding passes and loyalty cards. So your offer will most likely be there to stay. And with a location-based reminder, it will hopefully be redeemed as well.
Are you ready to jump in?
With the release of Passbook, there were already retailers in place ready to offer up passes at launch. I’ve even seen examples of those companies promoting Passbook in email – take a look at the example below from Sephora (one of the first Passbook apps to launch)
So is your business ready to harness the power of Passbook? What interesting ways have you thought of to use this app? Let us know by commenting below!
Anna Pfeiffer
Marketing Strategist at Bronto