A new study by Gallup seems to suggest that the likelihood of consumers using a digital wallet may depend substantially on their feelings of attachment regarding the brand associated with the wallet. Consumers, according to this study, fall in one of three buckets: fully engaged, indifferent, and actively disengaged. This how Gallup define these categories:
“FULLY ENGAGED customers are emotionally attached and rationally loyal. They’ll go out of their way to locate a favored product or service, and they won’t accept substitutes. True brand ambassadors, they are a company’s most valuable and profitable customers.
INDIFFERENT customers are emotionally and rationally neutral. They have a take-it-or-leave-it attitude toward a company’s product or service.
ACTIVELY DISENGAGED customers are emotionally detached from a company and its product or service. They will readily switch brands. If switching is difficult or impossible, they may become virulently antagonistic toward the company. Either way, they are always eager to tell others exactly how they feel.”
And the following was the conclusion of their consumer research:
“Customers who are more engaged with their digital wallet are more likely to use it everywhere — and every time — the option is available. Three in 10 fully engaged customers used their digital wallet every time or almost every time they could in the past 30 days, compared with 12% of indifferent customers and only 2% of actively disengaged customers. Across all types of stores studied, fully engaged customers also used their digital wallet at least six times more often in the past 30 days than actively disengaged customers.”
For wallet providers, getting more consumers reasons to become fully engaged will be crucial. For this to happen, wallet providers need to ensure that their solutions solve real problems that consumers are having—simply making a new way of paying available at the point of sale isn’t enough. The real value-add will come from the integration of loyalty and personal financial management tools to name a few.
Overview by Nikhil Joseph, Analyst, Emerging Technologies Advisory Service at Mercator Advisory Group
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