Increase Convenience and Improve Speed-to-Payment
The current payment experience is riddled with a few challenges for consumers. With the average U.S. household paying at least 10 bills per month, consumers have multiple payment reminders and bills to manage. With 29% of U.S. consumers living on a variable income each month, at least 16% of households delay at least one bill each month.
The most commonly delayed bill during the pandemic was the utility bill with at least 68% of consumers delaying payments and 57% using credit cards more often to pay bills during the pandemic than they did prior.
With so many challenges in consumer payment experiences, consumers are quick to point to a few solutions. Nearly ⅓ of consumers say the ability to change how they pay each month would make the payment experience easier. In fact, 40% of digital wallet users who have multiple cards loaded into their digital wallets already practice changing their default card every couple of weeks.
Consumers want a digital, mobile payment experience
Consumers are ready for a digital payment experience. More than 80% of U.S. consumers are already using digital payments on a website, in an app, at an in-store checkout with a mobile phone, or a QR code. And digital wallet users are getting more comfortable leaving home without their physical wallets—at least 15% of digital wallet users already do.
To make your digital, mobile payment experience fast and convenient, consider the following best practices:
Use the power of a mobile payment strategy to increase convenience for consumers
Convenience is still king. At least 70% of consumers say they would pay more if their experience could be more convenient and 75% of consumers say they would switch companies if they found a competitor that offered more convenience.
Using a mobile device—something most consumers already carry with them—to make a payment is the ultimate form of convenience. In fact, more than 80% of consumers already do!
>> How a mobile payment strategy can help:
Send payment requests, reminders, and even text-to-pay message links. Texting is how consumers want to interact with businesses in today’s increasingly real-time access world.
Use the power of a mobile strategy to improve speed-to-payment
Sending payment reminders via text message, payment links embedded in text conversations, and even the option to pay-via-text can improve your speed-to-payment. Consumers are most likely to make a payment between 10:00 a.m. and 12:00 p.m. with Monday and Friday as the most popular days of the week to make payments (with Saturday and Sunday as the least popular days).
Plus, with text reminders or text payment links, consumer engagement is likely to be high. Open rates for text messages are consistently in the 98% range while emails sit around 20%. To improve speed-to-payment, switch from email invoices to text links and reminders.
>> How a mobile payment strategy can help:
Send your payment reminder, link to make a payment, or text-to-pay message during a weekday and between the hours of 10:00 a.m. and 12:00 p.m.
Use the power of a mobile strategy to expand payment options at checkout
Adding a mobile payment option at checkout not only accelerates the process, it also focuses on offering options consumers want. Mobile checkout can move customers who need a faster payment experience through an in-person line quickly while customers who need to speak to an employee or prefer to checkout with a physical card can remain in line. Mobile payment options also offer customers that are ready to make a payment via text or QR code link to transition from paper invoice or text reminder to a checkout experience.
>> How a mobile payment strategy can help:
Allow consumers to checkout faster with a mobile payment option. Whether consumers are using a digital wallet in an in-person checkout line, using a mobile app to make a payment, or simply paying on the go with a mobile link to a checkout page or a text-to-pay option, a mobile experience moves consumers through the checkout process faster.
