Payment Methods: What Do Consumers Want?
When it comes to electronic payments, consumers are the main driving force in everything that’s changing. There have been more payment start-ups to rise and fall in the last five years than ever before in our industry. With so many failures, one is led to wonder what are consumers really looking for when it comes to ePayments? The key to success in ePayments lies in three main categories:
- Convenience: Zelle and Venmo are two prime examples of consumer demand for convenience. Both of these apps make it incredibly easy to instantly send money electronically to virtually anyone. Consumers embrace this, as is evident by the rapid increase in both the number of users they’ve attracted, and their exploding processing volumes.
- Value: Though cliché, providing real value for consumers is always a cornerstone of success. Here, value means they have discovered a service that helps them save time, money, or has otherwise enhanced their life. Consumers will continue to gravitate toward and become loyal to those products and services. Amazon Prime is a perfect example of how the value of convenience is a driving force for consumer adoption.
- Rewards: Whether it’s through coupons, rewards, or another type of loyalty program, solutions that find sustainable ways to give something back to consumers enjoy the highest levels of success. Look no further than the credit cards in your own wallet for proof. Cards with rewards typically gets used more than those that do not deliver benefits. Rewards are a cautionary tale though, for when organizations stop running these programs, usage may drop precipitously.
At the end of the day, consumers are simply looking for ePayment tools that enhance their life in some way. Consumers want tools, technologies, and solutions that make it more convenient to conduct transactions regardless of their location, device, or the services sought.
