Trust, customer support key for banking digital payment apps

DigiPay CuES (Customer Experience Score) 2022, a syndicated study of Hansa Research, ranks Digital payment brands (UPI/Wallets) based on their Net Promoter Score (NPS). NPS is an outcome of brand perceptions as well as customer experience based on interactions with the brand and is frequently regarded as a predictive metric for business growth.

The brand rankings based on Net Promoter Score (NPS) show Pockets by ICICI Bank has topped the leaderboard at #1, followed by HDFC Bank PayZapp at #2 and Google Pay at #3. The study also reflects shifts in positioning, with some pioneer brands reflecting a dip over 2021. NPS for the industry, however, remains unchanged at 34 compared to 2021.

The study is reflecting, digital payment apps provided by leading banks like Pockets by ICICI Bank and HDFC Bank PayZapp have higher advocacy on account of better perceptions. It further highlights that a more positive customer experience depends on aspects such as data privacy, trust, ease of dealing with, and resolution times. Customers using bank apps such as Pockets and PayZapp are different demographically from those using non-banking digital payment service providers, i.e. older, better socioeconomic profile, etc. Increased incidents of digital payment fraud have led to data privacy, trust, and customer support becoming priorities among customers. Among people who do not use digital apps or have used them infrequently, security and fraud risk was the most frequently cited reason (22%) for the non-usage of digital payment apps.

Commenting on the significance of the syndicated study, Piyali Chatterjee, National Head – Customer Experience (CX), Hansa Research, says, "Brand awareness, perceptions, and experiences are all central to business growth, and organisations that are effective in creating brand awareness are at an advantage in a fiercely competitive landscape. However, both the consumer's perceptions and tangible experiences are important in determining the Net Promoter Score 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."

When it comes to brand awareness, Paytm, Google Pay, PhonePe are leading, however, they rank lower on consumer sentiment in terms of perceptions and first-hand experiences from end-to-end interactions.

The study also finds Gen Z and Millennials, less loyal compared to their older counterparts. Their switching barriers are lower, with 76% claiming that they have stopped using a digital payment brand due to a poor experience, as compared to 65% of Gen X customers. They also have higher expectations on aspects such as ‘speed’ while transacting, and receiving transaction notifications, to name a few.