You can't get through on email / sms? Try this
Notifications as a channel, without app development.
if you run growth, you already know the pain. your acquisition costs are skyrocketing, retention is slipping, and the usual levers—email, sms, paid retargeting—aren’t hitting like they used to. welcome to 2025, where fractured audiences, spam filters, and algorithm volatility have turned your playbook into a relic.
i’ve spent years testing what actually moves the needle, and let’s be real—most brand loyalty tactics are just wishful thinking. but then i came across passport, and i’ll be honest, my first reaction was confusion - but after re-reading the homepage a few times i said “oh. this actually makes sense”. it’s novel.
the death of traditional retention
let’s get this out of the way: email is dying. open rates are a joke, inboxes are war zones, and gmail’s promotions tab is where good campaigns go to die. sms? expensive, intrusive, and increasingly regulated. retargeting? basically nil post ios 14.
but here’s the thing—customers still want to engage with brands. the problem isn’t that they don’t care. it’s that they don’t see you.
the lock screen advantage
the biggest shift happening right now isn’t in the ad platforms—it’s on the lock screen. passport lets brands own prime real estate on customers' phones, using apple and google wallet-based push notifications. no app needed. no inbox clutter. no algorithmic roulette.
how it works
customers opt in through a digital pass—this could be a loyalty program, a special offer, or even exclusive content.
you can send real-time push notifications—think flash sales, back-in-stock alerts, vip perks.
it’s default opt-in, not spammy—no worrying about deliverability issues.
it’s location-aware—hit them with a message when they’re near your store or event.
the best part? you don’t need to build an app (which, let’s be real, most brands don’t have the resources for anyway).
what this means for your growth strategy
if acquisition is getting harder, retention has to carry more weight. and the brands that win aren’t just the ones with the best product—they’re the ones who stay top-of-mind without being annoying.
if you’re tired of seeing your emails buried, your sms costs ballooning, and your retargeting budgets underperforming, it’s time to rethink how you keep customers engaged. passport might just be the retention lever you’ve been missing.
i’m pitching this across a few brands i work with. if you’re curious, shoot me a message!