On the heels of WWDC, where Apple detailed new pass-sharing controls coming to Apple Wallet passes with iOS 11, digital growth company Urban Airship revealed results of the industry’s first data study on mobile wallet pass sharing behaviour. Analysis of more than one million Apple Wallet coupons and loyalty cards of major retail brands shows that for every mobile wallet pass a customer installs, it is shared and added to 3.3 other mobile devices on average—a 4.3X share rate. More than three-quarters of retailers’ installed passes were the result of sharing versus being created and distributed through their marketing channels.

“This data shows Apple Wallet passes unlock network effects for business growth, lowering the cost of customer acquisition by offering an incredibly simple path for customer referrals and repeat business,” said Brett Caine, CEO and president, Urban Airship. “Best of all, any size business can implement mobile wallet passes, which are 10-25X less expensive than traditional plastic cards and offer dynamic updates and lockscreen notifications for expiration alerts, location-aware reminders, new loyalty levels achieved, and much more.”

Mobile wallet coupons see a higher rate of sharing than loyalty cards at 5.3X versus 3.9X on average. The percent of passes shared varied across brands, with the top-half of retailers seeing 46.4 percent of passes being shared on average, while the bottom-half saw 17.4 percent of passes shared on average. Regardless of the brand, shared mobile wallet passes multiplied the total number of passes installed on consumers’ devices. Furthermore, the data shows that sharing is occurring at a peer-to-peer level rather than sharing facilitated by brands or digital aggregators, as 95 percent of shares were to seven or fewer devices. Every Apple Wallet pass includes a built-in Share link on the back, facilitating easy sharing among family and friends, and it’s a feature consumers are using in droves.

Methodology

Urban Airship analysed aggregate data from major multi-channel retail brands’ Apple Wallet loyalty cards and coupons currently installed on mobile devices. Analysis included more than one million mobile wallet passes, of which 60 percent were loyalty cards and 40 percent were coupons.