Mobile messaging company Outspoken has expanded its marketing platform to support Apple’s Passbook application. With the new feature, Outspoken clients will be able to send passes — including coupons, gift cards and boarding passes — and directly communicate with customers via text message.
The Passbook application is built into iPhones, enabling consumers to store boarding passes, coupons, movie tickets, loyalty cards and gift cards directly on their mobile devices. Because the app is customized by location, passes open in real time when a consumer is in close proximity to a specific location.
With the integration, retailers have access to “an all-in-one solution to send rich, multimedia content, and have a clickable option for their customers to download that content as a pass in Passbook,” said James Citron, President of Outspoken, in an interview with Retail TouchPoints. “This is a powerful combination of meeting consumer demand for rich media and leveraging the growth of Apple’s Passbook application.”
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Typically, consumers only had access if they downloaded a merchant’s mobile app or received a pass via email. Now, passes can be delivered via text message, which is more immediate and accessible for mobile consumers.
“The beauty of this combination is that text message marketing is entirely opt-in based, so retailers already know the people in their mobile subscriber database want to get coupons and gift cards for their products,” Citron explained. “With Outspoken’s offering, customers can conveniently receive a coupon that is specific to them and stored in a central location on their phone for later use.”
