The study found that better security, data privacy, and customer support give banking digital payment apps higher customer loyalty compared to non-banking digital payment apps.
ICICI Bank’s e-wallet, Pockets, topped the list of digital payment brands in India, followed by HDFC Bank’s PayZapp, and Google Pay, based on their Net Promoter Score (NPS), which measures brand perception and customer experience and is considered a predictive metric for business growth.
DigiPay CuES (Customer Experience Score) 2022, a syndicated study by Indian consumer data provider Hansa Research observed significant changes in brand positioning in recent times, with some pioneering “brands reflecting a dip over 2021”, it said in a press release on Monday.
The study found that better security, data privacy, and customer support give banking digital payment apps higher customer loyalty than non-banking digital payment apps.
Although Gen Z and millennials are more frequent users of digital payment apps, they are less loyal. And 74 per cent of customers, who use digital payment services, said they stopped using a brand because of poor customer experience.
However, the NPS score for the overall industry remained unchanged at 34 compared to 2021.
Pockets and PayZapp have higher advocacy due to better perceptions.
Key Findings
For instance, positive customer experience, the survey showed, is guided by aspects such as data privacy, trust, ease of dealing with, and resolution times.
In addition, customers using bank apps, such as Pockets and PayZapp, are different demographically from those using non-banking digital payment service providers.
Data privacy, trust, and customer support are customers’ top priorities amid increased incidents of digital payment fraud.
Commenting on the study, Piyali Chatterjee, national head of customer experience at Hansa Research, says, "Brand awareness, perceptions, and experiences are central to business growth, and organisations that are effective in creating brand awareness are at an advantage in a fiercely competitive landscape.”
Both consumer perception and experience are critical in determining NPS and long-term loyalty. “With 74% of digital payment service users in our study claiming that they have stopped using a digital mobile wallet/ UPI app in the past due to poor experiences, such as server issues, transaction failures, fraud, and so on, it is critical that these brands prioritize closing these customer experience gaps. Seamless customer support will be vital since 10% of the customers who reached out for a problem claim their problems remain unresolved."
Paytm, Google Pay, and PhonePe lead in brand awareness; however, “they rank lower on consumer sentiment in terms of perceptions and first-hand experiences from end-to-end interactions,” the survey said.
The study also finds that Gen Z and millennials are less loyal than their older counterparts, with 76 per cent claiming they have stopped using a digital payment brand due to a poor experience, compared to 65 per cent of Gen X customers. It said they also have higher expectations on aspects such as 'speed' while transacting and receiving transaction notifications.
The Survey
The survey covered more than 3000 digital payment users across more than 10 digital payments brands in 20 cities. The respondents were in the age group of 18-35 years (83 per cent) and 35 years 17 per cent). Gender-wise, 70 per cent were males, and 30 per cent were females).
Brands that participated in the study included Amazon Pay, BHIM, Axis Bank’s Freecharge, Google Pay, Jio Wallet, MobiKwik, Paytm, HDFC Bank’s PayZapp, PhonePe, ICICI Bank’s Pockets, and WhatsApp Payments.