As you seek to optimize your end users’ purchasing experience, understanding their payment preferences is crucial. For a rapidly increasing number of us, that preference is for digital payments. The total transaction value in the digital payments market is projected to grow to nearly $17 trillion USD by 2028—up from just over $11 trillion in 2024.
But the umbrella term “digital payments” covers a remarkable number of options—and because there are so many digital payment channels available, consumers have unprecedented opportunities to prioritize the characteristics that are most important to them, whether that’s speed, convenience, security, or habit. Understanding these preferences can help organizations avoid expectation mismatches that can result in communication breakdowns and missed payment opportunities.
Generational Patterns and Expectations
To discern which payment options are likely to be most attractive—and thus most likely to result in successfully completed transactions—contact center leaders need to be aware of consumer trends, behavior patterns and the motivations that drive them.
Even for older generations, who tend to place more trust in face-to-face and written communications, the convenience of digital payments is alluring, perhaps because older people also tend to value clarity and immediate feedback. Younger generations share this preference for immediate responses because they perceive that delayed responses indicate a problem.
However, when it comes to the type of digital payment, generational differences start to emerge. Younger generations tend to intuit electronic communications more readily and experience fewer misunderstandings. Older cohorts often prefer to speak in real time with an agent, which can symbolize a personal connection—or can simply be an easier way to overcome the effects of again such as vision, hearing, or dexterity challenges.
What do consumers consider to be a successful interaction? For some, an asynchronous or self-service payment is preferable, allowing them to work at their own pace and preserve records for future reference. For other consumers, a successful interaction is a voice call that offers immediacy, rapport, and clarity. Customers for whom convenience—aka first contact resolution and short call wait times—is a priority are more and more likely to opt for chatbots.
For all consumers, trust is paramount in their choices around digital payments, regardless of the channel.
Securing Live Agent and Agentless Payments
Our white paper “Whitepaper: Patterns and Trends in Live Agent and Agentless Payment Preferences” explores these and other consumer communication and payment preferences based on the factors above as well as others such as household income, comfort level with technology, social norms, and more.
Consumers’ digital payment preferences will continue to evolve quickly, with different options gaining traction as behaviors shift and new channels arise. Understanding your organization’s clientele will be key to deciding what payment methods to offer and where to invest your resources to ensure successful, safe, rapid transactions.
As a payment security partner, Sycurio can support whatever decisions your organization makes by managing digital payments directly through our PCI DSS Level 1 service provider infrastructure. We complete more than 3 million transactions per day in more than 25 countries, ensuring that customers’ information is never exposed to an organization’s agents, systems, or networks. Every customer interaction in every channel is safeguarded.
To learn more, download the white paper and contact us to schedule a demo.
