What Marketers Need to Know About Mobile Payments

We hear a lot about the customer-facing side of mobile payments, but one thing that’s gone surprisingly unheralded is what mobile payments systems mean for marketers. This is a technology that potentially can streamline the payment process and make it easier than ever for shoppers to buy things. So how should marketers be approaching this concept? Simply put, with a combination of enthusiasm and mild caution.

Naturally, those who aren’t already using mobile payments platforms as a means to advance loyalty and rewards programs should be doing so soonest; many other firms already are, and no one wants to lose business because the guys down the street were willing to give more points and make these more accessible to the end user.

One place to look for inspiration on how to deliver such options, according to a recent Forrester report, is to look at WeChat Pay and Alipay from China. Using location-based tools, these two are offering up mobile order ahead options, ride-share ordering, public and local services access, movie ticket buying and more all from the same interface.

In many other places like the United States, several separate apps make up the infrastructure to serve these functions. Combining some of these could be a good move toward improving access for users and convincing users to use one platform over another. PayPal has made some strides on this front, reports note, as it’s brought both local store finding and mobile order ahead tools.

Meanwhile, marketers can advance further by working on localized, relevant strategy for how firms can use mobile payments, and even do some work themselves in terms of testing out new technologies, offering up the complete package; this is how you do it, here’s what you need to do it. Better coordination of coupons and special offers are also important. Addressing issues of place, product and pricing can all readily fall under mobile payments; imagine the concept of incorporating mobile checkout technology with coupons and special offers, essentially paying users in discounts to run their own checkout systems over a smartphone.

Mobile payments aren’t going away. Taking full advantage of this technology will be vital going forward to get the most out of shoppers’ interest.