It's no surprise that everything is going mobile, and payment methods are no exception. While some people still prefer to pay the old fashioned way, payment apps have become increasingly popular in the last year. According to Statista, worldwide mobile payment revenue in 2015 was $450 billion and is expected to surpass $1 trillion in 2019. These numbers are too big to ignore, however some people consider mobile payments to be a rigmarole or unsafe. Mobile payment companies are finding that in order to capture the most users, they should make the payment process as seamless as possible.
Apps for mobile payments have a unique advantage over credit card services, in that they can be aware of a user’s location over time. This contextual datapoint can help solve some of mobile payments' biggest problems. How?
Create More Convenient Payment Experiences
For some, adding their credit card and payment information into their phone and paying with it can be troublesome and time-consuming. However, utilizing a user’s location with geofencing enables a more efficient payment process and better user experience. Payment apps can automatically “wake up” when a user enters a retail location that accepts a certain payment method, saving valuable time at checkout. This makes paying with your phone as easy as paying with a credit card. Notifications of discounts and offers can also pop up according to a user’s location within the app, making your payment method more worthwhile and engaging.
Provide New Features That Increase Efficiency and Revenue
Features such as geofencing can solve a variety of problems for both users and retailers. For example in a quick-service restaurant setting, customers can use mobile payments to order their food and pay for it ahead of time. With location-enabled features, app users can automatically send their location updates to the restaurant. Employees can then start cooking the order once users are say, 1,000 meters away, so that food is fresh when users arrive. This system creates a more efficient production process and excellent customer experience, leading to increased customer loyalty.
Assist in User Acquisition
Location features go beyond giving brands an opportunity to engage users. The data gathered from historical locations creates rich audience insights that can help mobile payment brands understand their most valuable customers. Skyhook Personas help apps see device behavior over time which can then be used with other user data points. These Personas can then guide mobile acquisition campaigns, allowing apps to tailor messaging to interested audiences. By having unique insight into where your existing users go, you can best tailor your message to gather audiences that don’t know about your app yet. The result: you can build a targeted mobile campaign that reaches users who will remain engaged.
Bottom Line
Mobile payments will continue to be on people’s radar. There is no doubt that digital payments are more convenient and offer a kind of experience that can’t be found anywhere else. Coupling mobile payment apps with location adds engagement, user acquisition, and an even better experience that users can’t ignore.
