Selyo goes sonic.
Working with everlink.co we are excited to announce that Selyo is the first retail app in the UK to offer sonic communication to its loyalty card users. What is sonic communication?
Sonic communication is where information is passed between devices by sound but at a frequency so high that it can't be heard. Loyalty or reward cards have always had to pass data. In the long past it was either by punching a hole in the card or applying an ink stamp, as technology improved we moved to magnetic strips on cards that passed an electromagnetic signal to a computer to pass the information. Next came QR codes which visually passed the data via a camera and now comes sonic allowing us to pass the data via speakers. How does the sonic work in Selyo?
Once a customer has opted in to sonic they simply use their Selyo digital loyalty card in the same way. Clicking on the icon to show the qr code will still show the qr code but also start transmitting the sonic signal from their speaker. Neither the customer or the retailer will hear anything. On the retailer's device the retailer taps the listen button instead of the scan button and their microphone will pick up the sonic signal. Once the device has detected the sonic signal a message the message screen will show “Got sonic code... Processing” and then the card will be processed in the normal fashion. Is sonic better than QR?
This really depends on the environment you are in. There are advantages to both. One of the big advantages of sonic is that the devices can be further apart. Depending on the environment you are in, sonic can reliably work up to around 1.5 metres away. This has some big hygiene advantages in environments where hygiene is important. It will also allow us to add some new and exciting features in future which we could not do with QR codes alone, however we are keeping those quiet for now! Is there any downside to sonic?
Not really. In some cases in testing it can be a little slower to pick up the signal but 99% of the time the speed difference was not noticeable. If a user's speaker, or retailer's microphone is damaged then sonic won't work just like QR codes won't work if the retailer's camera is broken. QR codes in Selyo are not going away so if you choose to use sonic you can always fall back to the QR code. Support
Sonic communication is a new technology which everlink.co have been perfecting for a long time which is why Selyo have chosen them to partner with. However Selyo retailers come from a wide range of environments from shops, coffee bars and salons to gyms and home workers so we have not been able to test sonic in every environment. For now Selyo sonic communication is in beta test stage which means our support teams won't be dealing with sionc issues but rather passing them on to the development team. If you do find any issues then please let us know but understanding that a resolution may take a week or more. If you have any general feedback on sonic then please email sonic@selyo.app 