Alain Falys, VR jump-scares, and Apple’s show of courage – VB Engage

This episode of VB Engage is revolutionary. The most advanced podcast in the history of podcasts. In fact, this week Mr. Rogers and Mr. Wright record the news segment of this show from their respective home cities. That almost never happens.

It’s as if someone removed the travel adaptor from our lives.

And we have an excellent conversation with Alain Falys, CEO of Yoyo Wallet, in which we discuss mobile payments. But first, the news.

We dissect Apple’s announcements, including how we feel about the new iPhone 7. There has been a lot of hubbub around the launch. Apparently, headphone jacks are a thing of the past, people, so it is time to throw away all your old wired ear-speakers.

Of course, there is a lot to like about the new iPhone, but it seems that Apple’s penchant for innovation over the years has waned, and we are doomed to receive slight iterations. Apple’s iOS is behind Android in a lot of areas, and many of the advancements on iPhone devices trap people into the Apple ecosystem. Sony learned, a long time ago, that proprietary connections can be the death of your business. Will Apple learn the same lesson?

Enough about Apple. There are plenty of pundits weighing in on the controversy, so Stewart and Travis will let them have their say.

Also in the news, a new Blair Witch trailer came out as a completely immersive VR experience — a first of its kind for movie advertising. Like one of those old DVD trailers that you can’t pass, the Blair Witch VR teaser has to be played ahead of getting into a jump-scare heavy VR experience called Sisters.

And the trailer is not only a great experience itself, it also marks an impressive milestone in VR’s ability to power immersive advertising experiences on mobile devices without alienating the audience.

As noted earlier, this week’s interview is with Alain Falys, founder and CEO of Yoyo Wallet.

Stewart starts out by asking Alain what it is going to take to get us to drop our wallets and start using our mobile devices for payments.

When mobile payments offer much more than payment — offer the full consumer engagement personalized payment platform. Not just payments, but loyalty and rewards. – Alain Falys

In a recent study, 67 percent of US respondents and 58 percent of UK respondents say they’d visit a store if they received a coupon reminder when they were within proximity of that store. Personalized relevant messages can be very useful in converting mobile users into in-store sales.

If you pay with a tool like Yoyo Wallet, your personal preferences are readily known. The mobile payment system enables the extraction of the most valuable data — the transaction data tied to the person making the purchase.

Once you know what someone has bought in the past, for example, you can customize future offers to that user. It’s all about customer experience. People like that idea of gaining rewards, checking points in an app, and viewing offers.

We know people like seamless transactions. However, not many people are using mobile payment solutions yet. Less than five percent of iPhone 6 users are using Apple Pay whenever they can.

Turns out retailers are the ones that have to innovate. Apple Pay, Android Pay, and Samsung Pay don’t give you much in the way of any additional information or reward opportunities.

Bottom line: The standard payment solutions don’t enable retailers to sell more — they just offer users an alternate way to pay. Retailers need to have an actual loyalty plan and the right mobile payment solution, according to Falys.

This is a fascinating interview. Alain is a brilliant mind in this mobile payments space, and in mobile engagement and communities, in general. You’ll be glad you took the time.

If you missed last week’s episode, be sure to check that out. We had a great conversation with Jonathan Abrams, former founder and CEO of Friendster and current CEO of content curation app Nuzzel.

Tune in next week for our interview with Mark Organ, the CEO of Influitive. We’ll be chatting about how to engage your employees and how to get the best advocates to help build and inform your community.

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