Why Financial Services Companies Aren’t the Only Ones Who Need to Look at Digital Payments and Currencies
While the buzz of cryptocurrencies has faded into the background, the fact that the consumer financial landscape is changing rapidly has not. The whirlwind of interest and commotion that surrounded the cryptocurrency-craze peaked our data interest. We collaborated with some of our clients, across a variety of sectors, to develop our Digital Payments and Currencies Study1 to dig into the nuances of these various emerging trends. The study’s findings are highlighted in our recent whitepaper, “The State of Consumer Financial Services: How Cryptocurrencies and Digital Payments are Driving Innovation”.
What is clear is that the changes happening in consumer financial services have an impact region that encompasses far more than just the industry itself. Advertisers of all types need to pay close attention to the changes unfolding and the Millennial consumers driving these changes. There are some incredible missed opportunities for brands to directly engage with valuable target segments. Our study shows that the cryptocurrency trend lies at the surface of much deeper industry trends. We specifically look at:
- What cryptocurrencies tell us about the new financial service consumer
- How the mobile payment spectrum pans out
- Why in-app purchasers are so important to advertisers
Understanding cryptocurrency owners serves as a gateway to understanding the changing financial services consumer. We looked at the crypto-owner profile across two of our studies and found that the trend continues to be driven by Millennials, although the base is now skewed more toward higher-income, male Millennials.
These early adopters are influencing other areas of change too. In fact, 80% of crypto owners are also using mobile payments of some sort. We looked across 4 key types of mobile payments:
- Person-to-Person
- In-Person
- Remote
- Mobile Carrier Payments
Over one-half of respondents indicated they use mobile payments, a trend also heavily driven by Millennials. Frequent mobile payment users are a key target that brands should be paying attention to. These high-income Millennials are setting the bar for how younger consumers will expect to engage with brands on mobile. Smart brands will capitalize on Millennials’ willingness to provide feedback and master their mobile payment strategy now so they are ready for the Gen Zers nipping at their heels.
Of all the mobile payment types, in-app purchasers stood out as an extremely interesting segment. This captive audience is primed not only to engage with brands, but to spend money if the experience is made easy. In our paper we look at which brands they’re spending money with and, more importantly, which brands should be ramping up their in-app payment capabilities to maximize their engagement with this segment..
It’s become clear the consumer financial services industry is transforming rapidly and now what’s also clear is that other sectors should also be paying close attention to the impacts from this change. Brands that understand the opportunity mobile and digital payments bring will be the first to cash in and build stronger loyalty with key consumer segments.
To learn about the broader opportunities nestled beneath the surface of the crypto-craze, download our State of Consumer Financial Services Report.
1Due to the nature of the survey topic (digital currencies and payments) the base for respondents who completed the survey (which ran from April 9-19, 2018) was US adults 18+ who have used a smartphone in the last 30 days and shopped online in the last three months or shopped in a department, discount, children’s toy, clothing, footwear, or other retail store, home furnishing or houseware store, home electronics store, home improvement store, or office supply/computer store in the last 4 weeks or went to a supermarket or food store, convenience store, or drugstore in the last 4 weeks. The total sample size was 2,000, and respondents were modeled back to Simmons’ Fall 2017 NHCS study.
