Capital Teas is leveraging Passbook with a new loyalty mobile application designed to enhance consumers’ mobile experiences and streamline payments.

The specialty tea provider, which has locations in Virginia, Maryland and Washington, will integrate Passbook to keep it in sight for consumers. The streamlining is meant to reinforce a user-friendly mobile experience and loyalty rewards system.

“The folks at Capital Teas are enthusiastic about the launch of their app, and we expect customer adoption of the app to mirror that enthusiasm,” said Seth Priebatsch, CEO of LevelUp, Boston. “In our experience, the brands that succeed in quickly shifting their customers to their mobile payment and loyalty program are those that effectively communicate to their customers the ease and benefit of making the switch.

“Loyal customers love your brand, you love your app,” he said. “As a result, more and more customers are excited to love your app too.”

Easy payments

More brands are turning towards mobile payments to make purchase processes as easy as possible for customers and drive impulse buys. Research has shown that Apple’s Passbook digital wallet is used the most frequently, making it an obvious choice for brands and retailers to partner with (see story).

Capital Teas does not want consumers to have disjointed purchasing or loyalty experiences by having to open multiple applications. Its new loyalty app, set to launch in November, will enable users to see all payment options and rewards in one place.

For brands and vendors in the restaurant and food industry, owning the mobile payment experience allows them to learn about the consumer and reward them appropriately. According to LevelUp, Capital Teas’ mobile payment platform, payment experiences allow guests to be treated as individuals rather than just transactions.

The combined loyalty and mobile payment system also provides extensive customer data for the rewards program.

“We think that this innovation is only outpaced by the first mad-genius who chose to throw some loose leaves into hot water,” Mr. Priebatsch said.

“For Capital Teas, this actually delivers the elusive promise of mobile payments; the ability to control the payment experience and use it to better engage their customers,” he said.

Forthcoming app

The forthcoming Capital Teas app will be free for download on Android and iOS platforms. Consumers who use the app and integrated Pass will accumulate and unlock rewards when they reach a specific spending threshold at the tea brand.

To bolster its online retail presence and compete with other similar vendors, Capital Teas also plans to introduce in-app ordering in the application’s second release.

“We think that Capital Teas will see a high level of success of their one-touch mobile payment and loyalty app,” Mr. Priebatsch said. “Especially now that Apple has thrown its weight behind the value of mobile payments.

“That success should grow over time as more businesses understand the incredible value of taking back control of the payment, and use that control to make it an ever more rewarding experience for their customers,” he said.

Final Take
Alex Samuely is an editorial assistant on Mobile Commerce Daily, New York