Research completed in conjunction with Engage People highlights key data points of new trend
It doesn’t get more personal than payments. How customers choose to make purchases and pay for them reflects their behaviors, beliefs, and identities.
“Pay with Points” (PwP) is a format that, over the past few years, has marked a significant shift in the way customers interact with loyalty programs and payment options. PwP represents a convergence of reward systems and transactional processes, offering customers a novel and potentially appealing way to utilize their accumulated loyalty points directly at the point of sale.
Wise Marketer Group™ (WMG) wanted to find out the true customer perceptions toward PwP and how different demographics, audiences, and user segments plan to integrate this payment model into their loyalty engagement routines. The result is this new research study released today titled “Paying with Points – “Tomorrow” Is Too Late.” The robust quantitative survey canvassed the insights of 1,000 U.S. consumers — each an active user of a rewards credit or debit card within the last year. Fielded from October 17-20, 2023, the research captures a snapshot of current perceptions of Pay with Points (PwP), meticulously balanced across geographic, demographic, and socio-economic lines.
In the official press release for the research, Len Covello, CTO, Engage People Inc. commented “This Wise Marketer study created in conjunction with Engage People stands as a testament to the evolving landscape of payment options, providing a critical lens into the burgeoning influence of Pay with Points systems in this landscape.”
The research found that users are drawn to PwP primarily for cost saving and flexibility, an important insight given the current inflationary conditions. Convenience was cited by both users AND non-users as a reason for their interest in Pay with Points.
Summary findings are group in these categories:
- Demand for Pay with Points – measuring its strength and sources
- Usage – who’s using this as a redemption option and why?
- Demographics – How do the highest user groups break down in terms of age and profile?
- Potential – what is the potential for growth in this category?
- Challenges to adoption – what should brands think about to smoothly manage adoption?
- Opportunities – what vertical categories present the greatest opportunity for growth?
- Retail Impact – reporting on the experience observed by retailers to date
You can read more details about the report in the press release here and can download the report for a full review here.
The research was led by Mike Capizzi, Dean of The Loyalty Academy™, a Wise Marketer Group business unit. Mike described the importance of the study findings for all practitioners in the customer loyalty business, saying "Pay with Points (PwP) is a format that over the past few years has marked a significant shift in the way customers interact with loyalty programs and payment options. PwP represents a convergence of reward systems and transactional processes of maximum benefit to retailers while offering customers a novel and potentially appealing way to utilize their accumulated loyalty points directly at the point of sale, especially during challenging economic times.”
Engage People was our partner in this research as they bring tremendous experience in bringing this new capability to market. Engage is the only loyalty network that enables program members to pay with points directly at checkout and today connects loyalty programs with global payment systems and online retailers in 100% of the top purchase categories in North America. Engage is headquartered in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, and has offices in the U.S., Canada, and Italy.
