Non-Digital vs. Digital Delivery of Passes and Tickets

As the world of technology advances, more and more businesses are moving to digital platforms to reach their customers. To catch up with the current market needs, agencies and services are also looking into using digital passes and tickets, such as Yodel Pass, that can be purchased online.  The question is does the digital pass sales method work better than the traditional non-digital delivery methods?

What Is a non-digital delivery?
Any paper or plastic physical  pass, ticket or card is considered to be non-digital.  This includes hang tags, parking stickers, punch passes, beach tags and  cards.  

What Is digital delivery?
Passes, cards and tickets that are purchased online and delivered to a patron's mobile device or personal computer are considered to be digitally delivered. There are differences between digital delivery approaches:

• Delivery via email with pdf - in this case the patron has the burden of printing out the pdf, which is a barcode or a QR code. It is easy for these passes to be copied and used fraudulently.
• Delivery to an Apple or Google wallet - this is a QR or barcode that is delivered to the patrons's Apple or Google wallet. 
• Delivery to the Yodel Wallet - passes, cards and tickets are delivered to the Yodel Wallet on a patron's mobile device. This can be done via the Yodel app or via an email to patrons that has a link to their pass. These passes are fraud proof and cannot be copied. The digital Yodel Pass has two factor authentication (moving QR code and a color and code change) that can be used for visual validation to enable rapid entry.

Benefits of Digital Delivery vs. Non-Digital Delivery Methods 

• Speed of delivery:
  • Non-Digital: Physical passes need to either be mailed to patrons or picked up by patrons.  Cost is incurred for printing and shipping. Delivery by mail can take one or more weeks.
  • Digital: Passes are delivered to the patron's mobile device in minutes, not  weeks.  
• Cost reduction:
  • Non-Digital: Cost is incurred for printing and shipping of physical passes. There is also often a labor burden on staff to carry out the required tasks.
  • Digital: The cost of printing and shipping passes is not incurred for digitally delivered passes. The overall cost of passes is reduced and staff can focus on other activities.
• Contactless:
  • Non-Digital: Physical passes can require contact between patron and staff  when the passes are picked up.
  • Digital: Passes are digitally delivered, providing a contactless delivery. 
• No lost passes
  • Non-Digital: Patrons can, and ofter do, lose physical passes. Replacements are an inconvenience for patrons and staff. In some cases, the agency will provide a new pass at no additional charge but patrons may need to wait again for the delivery of their pass.
  • Digital: Digitally delivered passes cannot be lost. 
    
    

• Purchasing options - Many digital delivery methods available offer either website or app based purchases.  Instead of limiting the purchase channel to just the website or an app, Yodel Pass allows customers to buy their passes through the portal website or the Yodel App. In fact, after switching to the Yodel Platform, clients have seen annual pass sales increased by 25%.
  
• Validation options - Yodel Pass offers three different fraud proof methods that can be used to validate a pass. 
  • Two-factor authentication through visual confirmation without contact.
  • Staff can use the Yodel Ranger app to validate the patrons’ QR code by scanning with a mobile device.
  • Yodel Ranger app can validate a pass by scanning a license plate. If a patron has forgotten their mobile device, then purchased passes can be validated by their license plate.
    
• Fraud Proof - Digitally delivered passes with a QR code or a barcode that needs to be printed can be copied. Digital passes that do not have two factor authentication also can be used fraudulently during visual validation when there is no scanning. Yodel Pass has multiple methods to prevent fraud during entry: two factor authentication plus the date and time for visual validation and use of license plate is an additional option to prevent fraud. 
• Inability to use expired passes - For some digitally delivered passes, the QR or bar codes often remains visible in the Apple or Google wallet even after the pass has expired. With Yodel Pass the minute the pass has expired, the pass can no longer be used. The pass screen cannot be opened and the pass says "expired" in the Yodel Wallet. A scanned license plate will read as "invalid."