Two years ago in September I recommended to take seriously smart phones as a tool and a communication channel. Since then the the global smartphone audience surpassed the 1 billion mark in 2012 and will total 1.75 billion in 2014 according to eMarketer. By end of 2013, 63% of US consumers had smart phones.
As smart phones became affordable mobile retail and mobile commerce is exploding. So it is not so surprising that online coupons' performance is really good (many people are keen on to redeem online coupons). Similar success we can see among loyalty programs that moved from offline to mobile (e.g. Starbucks' Passbook app).
The following chart shows US mobile commerce activities in December 2012 (source: comScore). The blue bar is the smartphone, the yellow is the tablet:
This why I was happy to read about Golfantage mobile reward platform. The developers say they can combine real time rewards, exclusive offers, online coupons and digital punch cards into one mobile platform. They create individual mobile application for each every golf club operator. Golfantage is using geo-location technology, so the golfer must be at the golf course to redeem offers.
As a customer we will have to scan a QR code or tap NFC sticker or text SMS code to the provided number. This will drive to a landing page where you will have to register yourself. After that, you just have to use online coupons and ePunches by clicking on "Use Now".
From merchant, golf club operator point of view the process is quite similar and also very simple. Golf club operators will get also analytics about the performance of their loyalty program's peformance.
The most expensive package is 99 USD/month that includes 7 reward offers, 3 mobile keywords, 3 QR codes, offer updates for 10 USD/each.
This is a pretty new solution and service so at this moment I cannot tell more about it, but definitely a promising platform and solution to drive loyalty to our golf clubs.