Stand out or miss out: How payments deliver impact with added value

In time we may recall 2023 as the year payments peaked for shoppers. Convenience, choice, accessibility, speed, security. This is what people expect on a basic level from a payment experience and what most businesses are now broadly able to deliver. So the game has changed.

The payment used to be the moment a sale closed. Now payments are how businesses are opening possibilities. From offering rewards like targeted discounts and promotional offers, to building loyalty programs and subscription services, payments are the perfect jumping off point for building loyalty.

Solutions like tokenization mean you can collect and then easily recall more of your customers’ data, building up a picture of their preferences and habits, meaning businesses can make payments work harder for them to deliver more for their customers.

And why wouldn’t they? In a 2022 study by Bond Brand Loyalty, 78% of respondents said that a loyalty program made them more likely to do business with a brand, while 74% said they were more likely to recommend brands with good loyalty programs.²

While card on file (COF), and tokenization mean customers don’t have to enter their payment details each time they make a purchase, these solutions create a positive, seamless, and secure checkout experience. Subscription services are another way you can lock in repeat revenue for your business, while effectively building rock solid loyalty.

Woolworth’s Australia proved this emphatically with their Everyday Extra subscription scheme, now numbering more than 250,000 subscribers and counting. The innovation that made it absolutely genius? Offering recurring benefits to in-store as well as online shoppers. It doesn’t take much to work out that the payment moment is key to enabling loyalty schemes like this. When your preferences are remembered, your offers are tailored, and your loyalty is recognised you’re more likely to repay that with even more loyalty.

Eagle Eye’s recently released Grocery’s Great Loyalty Opportunity revealed that 61% consumers say they use various money-saving techniques when grocery shopping.³ APAC consumers see grocery loyalty programs as a mean to unlock tangible value, prioritising it over status, perks or earn rewards. This means now is the perfect time for retailers to invest in technology that enables them to help showcase the value of their loyalty programs to current and potential customers.

To help restaurants and hotels create impactful guest experiences, we are integrated with SevenRooms, an all-in-one guest experience platform that offers services like reservations, waitlist and table management, and mobile ordering and pay. With our partnership with SevenRooms, customers can choose their preferred payment methods and currencies to make purchasing as convenient as possible. Watch this video to find out more.

So make sure your business isn’t missing out. Use the payment moment to pay attention to your customers and deliver an experience that makes your business stand out, and you’ll reap the rewards.