Customer engagement via mobile wallets has been a hot topic in recent years as marketers attempt to cash in on consumer expectations and deliver easy and convenient customer experiences.
Is the mobile wallet a burgeoning form of customer engagement and customer experience that is here to stay?
PunchTab wanted to find out the answer and recently released a fascinating report that examines customer experience with mobile wallets thus far, and consumer perceptions and expectations regarding this new payment option. PunchTab surveyed more than 1,000 U.S. consumers and gleaned a few interesting insights.
Among all customers surveyed, 24% of smartphone owners have used one or more mobile payment apps to make a purchase. Of these users, the two most popular mobile payment apps were the Starbucks App (29%) and Google Wallet (25%), with Visa Checkout (10%), PayPal Wallet (9%), Square Wallet (6%), Apple Pay (4%), SoftCard (2%) and others (15%) trailing the leaders.
“Pre-ApplePay, nearly a quarter of smart phone users had already used a mobile payment app at some point,” Robyn Hannah, VP, PR and Communications, PunchTab told Loyalty360. “And we know that if anyone can drive new technology adoption, it's Apple. The reality is 
consumer expectations are higher than ever and they know there's technology available to make their lives more convenient. With more and more brands like Walgreens, Macy’s, Whole Foods, and every major banking institution putting their trust in Apple and promoting their Apple Pay integrations, there’s no way it won’t become a norm.”
The PunchTab report revealed that the Starbucks App has set the bar for mobile payment apps. With 29% of the market share amongst mobile wallet users, 66% of Starbucks App users were concerned with the speed of checkout, 65% wanted automatic points earned in store’s loyalty programs and 59% wanted to receive special coupons or offers within the app. Non-Starbucks App users were most concerned with the speed of checkout when using a mobile payment app (50%). The second greatest concern of non-Starbucks App users was eliminating the need to carry cash or credit cards (54%), but only 38% of Starbucks App users thought this was a priority.
Consumers prefer to have a unified mobile payment app that can be used in multiple stores while integrating individual store coupons and loyalty programs among millennials (55%) and users 35 years and up (46%) alike, the report says. But, 34% of consumers weren’t even aware if their favorite stores offered mobile payments or not.
Some of the top reasons consumers don’t use mobile payment apps include:
- Consumers are fine with traditional payment methods and don’t see a reason to use mobile payment apps
- Similarly, consumers anticipate difficulty downloading or using mobile payment apps and would rather not deal with it
- Users are also concerned with data security when using mobile payment apps
Although Apple Pay was just introduced in October, its ease-of-use and making secure transactions with the touch of a finger will make it a strong contender in the mobile payment space. More companies are adding support for Apple Pay in their own existing payments systems; making it the ubiquitous solution consumers are looking for.
“The biggest barrier as I see it is communication,” Hannah explained. “67% of consumers reported not knowing if their favorite stores even offered mobile payments. That’s a problem. Retailers need to prioritize spreading the news if they want to attract busy shopping looking for faster, more convenient experiences.”