Author: Rebecca

Mobile payments from MasterCard to use QR codes and span multiple gadgets

| October 9, 2013

Ed McLaughlin was at Money2020 and explained the future of NFC across smartphones and other devices.

At the Las Vegas 2013 Money2020 event, Ed McLaughlin, the chief emerging payments officer at MasterCard addressed the fact that in mobile payments, “a smartphone is a device, not the only device.”

He explained that transactions may be headed toward the use of smartphones, but not exclusively.

MasterCard mobile payments qr codes money2020McLaughlin stated that although mobile payments are important in terms of the use of smartphones, the true focus is about building a digital network. Within the demonstrations that were made of the MasterCard technology, a smartphone was used, but so was a watch and a credit card, for example. In fact, it was mentioned that the service has already been effectively tested with Google Glass augmented reality glasses, though they did not have any specific announcement about plans for that device.

When a customer has used mobile payments two or three times, tapping the device to pay will be a habit.

MasterCard feels that by the time the customer experiences the convenience of NFC technology for mobile payments, and taps the device or card 2 or 3 times to make a purchase, he or she won’t return to using traditional credit cards. McLaughlin referred to a report that he had just received from Australia, where Kohls has experienced a growth in contactless payments of 60 percent.

MasterCard money2020 mobile payments qr codesThe MasterCard platform uses both NFC technology and QR codes, and it offers a number of app functions and choices to provide a safe and customized experience for the user at the point of sale. This includes additional benefits such as loyalty cards and coupons. The app also provides an interesting feature that allows for a shipping option after an item has been purchased in store. This means that, for instance, if a large TV has been bought, the consumer can opt to have it shipped to their home, instead of having to transport it, themselves.

This has all been worked into the popular existing PayPass platform from MasterCard, with its tap and go NFC technology feature. It is now being combined with QR codes for added security and to allow the process to remain convenient for consumers who are becoming quite familiar with the barcode scans.

PayPal made a similar mobile payments announcement at Money2020 in which they state that they would also be integrating QR codes into their transaction process to keep security high and yet still convenient.

Mobile marketing SMS campaign drives traffic to Dairy Queen

| October 7, 2013

The campaign for “National Cheeseburger Day” was more successful than the company had anticipated.

A number of Dairy Queen franchises experienced a massive mobile marketing win through an SMS campaign that they ran to help to boost participation in “National Cheeseburger Day”, which occurred on September 18.

The participating locations used smartphone and loyalty based campaigns that were wildly popular.

In fact, the successes of the mobile marketing effort were great enough that two of the locations ran out of product due to the sudden unexpected rush of customers. One of the participating locations’ owners had to run the restaurant’s grill as the massive influx in demand caused the store to be suddenly understaffed.

There were three participating locations in total that used the mobile marketing technique.

Mobile Marketing - Dairy QueenIn order to implement this mobile marketing technique, the locations used the Loyalty Rewards Kiosk from VIPTextDeals.com so that they would be able to send a text message to their database of customers. This campaign broadcasted the word about National Cheeseburger Day to all of the subscribed cell phone owners.

This meant that the mobile marketing message was sent to 1,482 subscribed customers who were opted in at the time that the broadcast was issued. The text read “It’s National Cheeseburger Day! Sink Your Teeth into .99 Cent Cheeseburgers @ Dairy Queen {STORE LOCATION} until 8pm Tonight/No Limit/Show Text – FWD-2-Friends!”.

This offer was deemed to be “highly targeted” and “aggressive” and it brought about a result that certainly matched those descriptions. The mobile marketing brought about a dramatic increase in the normal business at each of the three locations that participated in the campaign.

Within the initial 24 hour period that followed the mobile marketing broadcast, one of the three locations saw an increase in traffic that was estimated to be 483 percent greater than the normal volume. This brought an additional 106 customers through the door of the location. This achievement was a considerable one considering that this was the number of people who responded out of a total of 590 subscribers from that specific restaurant. This type of response to an ad is virtually unheard of over other channels.