Mobile Wallet: ID Cards

If you’re familiar with Mobile Wallet, perhaps you’re thinking to yourself that this technology is only applicable to coupons and loyalty cards. Good news: offers and loyalty membership cards aren’t the only types of plastic shifting out of your physical wallet and on to your phone.

As more consumers say they don’t need nor want a physical wallet anymore, brands have an opportunity to take advantage of Mobile Wallet to also digitize certain forms of identification, such as insurance cards, gym cards, business cards, school IDs, and in some states even drivers’ licenses.

Think about how often everyone must show some form of ID every day. When paying bills, entering a secure building, going to the doctor, people need to quickly and easily find and show a wide variety of proof of who they are to go on with their day.

For example, let’s say you're driving and you get pulled over. The officer asks for your license and proof of insurance. Of course you're a mixture of anger and nerves. Maybe even confusion.

With shaky hands you begin the process of pulling out your license and digging through your glove box for your current insurance card, mixed in with all the expired cards, old registration tags and other bulky paper items you’ve been meaning to throw away.

Or if you’re more modern, you pull out your phone. Open the locked screen. Find your insurance provider’s app. Login. And then tap again at least once to get to the ID card.

These cumbersome and frustrating scenarios don’t have to be the only way for your customers. By giving them the ability to just quickly open Apple Wallet or Google Pay they can speed off to their destination.

What Is A Mobile Wallet ID Card?

Mobile Wallet ID cards are the digital version of a physical ID card that can securely house all of the same information while making it easier to access and show.

This is beneficial in many ways, but it can be particularly advantageous when a consumer needs to present proof-of-insurance details promptly. And when is that the case?

Like proof of auto insurance when a driver is stopped. Nobody wants to be digging through a glove compartment, bag, or wallet searching for the ID that could just as easily be at home.

How Do You Deliver Mobile Wallet ID Cards to Customers?

With mobile ID cards, delivery is immediate and can be distributed through any existing marketing channel that has or points to a URL where the customer can download it.

And once the ID is saved on a person’s phone the risk of misplacing it becomes almost nil. Unless tragedy strikes and you lose your phone.

No More Lost IDs

Another all-too-common problem we run into with physical ID cards is how easy they are to misplace. Unlike physical documents, logins and passwords, mobile devices aren’t easily forgotten or lost, which means a mobile wallet ID card is virtually impossible to lose. Once a mobile wallet pass is saved to a user’s device it remains in their mobile wallet unless they take action to remove the pass.

Which leads me to one of the biggest benefits of digital ID cards for brands. Once ID cards are saved to your customer’s mobile wallet, you have opened a door to an always-on presence in their most personal place where they're always connected – their mobile phones. In other words, once the mobile wallet ID card has been downloaded to the device, you have a huge opportunity to build the kind of relationship and customer engagement that breeds long-term loyalty.

Always Up-to-Date

Unlike static plastic cards that eventually expire, Mobile Wallet ID cards allow for immediate updates, so they're always current, while also providing links for direct access to the resources a customer needs.

This means no longer having to take the time and expense to mail new cards. Your customers will no longer be inconvenienced by having to wait for new cards and then managing to destroy the old one and remember to put the new one in their wallet or purse. Your customers therefore will always have their ID and membership cards on them because, with Mobile Wallet, you can continue to update the saved pass with the customer’s current information.

Improved User Experience While Lowering Risk of Fraud

Security is always a top concern for both brands and consumers, especially when it comes to the sharing of personal information. Everyone can rest easy with Mobile Wallet because it was built with security and protection in mind.

You can control the distribution of ID cards through a unique URL, preventing imposters from creating invalid ID cards.

Once distributed, Mobile Wallet encrypts information to keep it protected. Plus, privacy concerns from human error become obsolete because while any plastic card can easily be misplaced, a saved mobile wallet pass remains in a user’s mobile wallet and stays there.

Drive Customer Action With Mobile Wallet Notifications

Just like a push notification a user receives from an app, Mobile Wallet can also deliver notifications to a user’s lock screen, giving you the ability to nudge your customers to act when they might not have otherwise.

And unlike apps where push notifications can be turned off rather easily, the native mobile wallet app is unique in that push notifications sent through cannot be turned off.

There are many types of Mobile Wallet notifications to activate, though when it comes to ID cards behavior-based notifications are particularly impactful.

Behavior-based notifications can be set up to notify an individual customer or segment of customers about relevant information based on their previous activity.

Let’s say you are an insurance company and your customers have their insurance card saved to their mobile wallet. Now you can automatically deliver important alerts such as claims status notifications and payment reminders, without any additional opt-in required.

By delivering these types of notifications directly to a lock screen the alerts can’t be missed, giving your customers the confidence that you are always there when they need you to help manage their account.

Complementing Your Mobile App Experience

Mobile Wallet doesn’t replace or compete with your brand’s mobile app. Rather Mobile Wallet provides tremendous value in the ways it complements mobile apps by making the customer experience more convenient and providing you with an easily accessible, persistent communication channel. And even with the most sophisticated and widely used app, you could still be missing customers that Mobile Wallet can help you reach.

And among the many dynamic content capabilities Mobile Wallet has, it also includes an option to add a prompt for pass holders to download your mobile app with one click.

Mobile Wallet Passes are Easier to Find and Access

Two taps to reach a saved pass, versus six taps and two swipes to reach that same information in an app.

And this convenience factor is applicable to more than just customers finding their IDs more easily, it is just as valuable if you want to surface and summarize key messages you need your customer to see. No opening and searching through an app or email required.

No Wi-Fi? No Problem

If a consumer finds themselves somewhere where cell service is poor and there’s weak or no Wi-Fi, this raises a major problem if an ID card is only available in an app or an email.

With Mobile Wallet consumers can be worry-free. Once a pass is saved directly to their phone it can be accessed and scanned without any connectivity required.

Why This Matters

Not only does Mobile Wallet offer a new level of convenience to your customers, but also it provides you the opportunity to manage and service your customers more efficiently with more targeted content. By collecting profile and behavioral data, you can use it to message them about the proper information and services you deliver to each individual customer at the right journey stage and at the right time.

Mobile Wallet makes it simpler and more convenient for your customers to access their information as well as links to your website for frequently used services. By being more knowledgeable of what’s available to them, members are more likely to engage and realize the value of an offering.

Convenience, speed and ease of use are what consumers want. And since they're never away from their phone, Mobile Wallet is the convenient way for us to ditch the leather one.

Want to learn more? Get in touch with us today.