Mobile Wallets Can Help Build Relationships with Customers

While mobile wallet growth has been slow, they are destined to be a big part of the mobile landscape moving forward.

In a recent report from Forrester, they forecast that 15-20% of smart phone owners will be using mobile wallets by 2018.

In many ways this growth is driven by the technology behind mobile wallets and growth within the industry as various players are settling on standards like NFC.

One of the driving factors by many customers switching to using Apple Pay has been the security issues at Target and other retailers. Apple Pay does not save the transaction information and doesn’t require customers to show their credit card when making a purchase. Accepting mobile payments can help build shopper confidence.

The release of Apple Pay has pushed mobile wallet growth. Major credit card companies support Apple Pay and it has been adopted by major brands such as Whole Foods (who reports reports $4 million in weekly sales using Apple Pay). Seeing the success of Apple Pay companies like Samsung are working to rapidly improve their mobile wallet. We are seeing a great deal of interest in this mobile application development space right now. iPhone application developers and Android application developers are working with their clients to integrate loyalty programs with mobile payments.

Mobile wallets offer great opportunities for businesses. Retail and restaurants can use mobile wallets to help generate interest with offers.

To get the most out of creating offers you will want to make sure you leverage location and other variables such as time of day. Sending out an offer of a lunch special at 11am will obviously be much more effective that sending one out at 7pm.

Remember that  mobile wallets are more than payment tools. Your customers can use them to redeem loyalty points, use gift cards, and more.

Mobile payments present a great opportunity for businesses to engage their customers and deliver value. Rather than just choosing to accepting mobile payments because it’s trendy, businesses should push forward with mobile payments and mobile wallets because they can can enhance their relationships with customers. Offering a new level of convenience to your customers. Don’t forget that mobile wallets will give you an opportunity to attract new customers as well since many customers will choose to do business with brands that accept mobile payments over brands that do not.

Photo: Vodafone Germany (Flikr) http://bit.ly/1RlWTzJ