Mobile payments and health care: How COVID-19 has quelled cash and accelerated mobile payments
COVID-19’s impact on the economy and movement of cash money further accelerated the adoption of mobile payments.
Pandemic life is a harder experience than before COVID-19. More worries. More planning. More time spent doing what used to be simple daily tasks. Friction is now an unfortunate part of our daily routine. As we continue to grapple with the more pressing aspects of the pandemic, finding any way to make life easier, can make a big difference.
Mobile payments have arrived
How consumers think about paying for products or services may seem limited to the point-of-sale. But the simple interaction can leave a lasting impression, no matter who the service provider is. Mobile payments make this process faster and more secure. Even before COVID-19 related lifestyle changes, 38% of all online payments were already made with mobile devices. That accounted for more than 1 billion transactions in 2020.
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The change in usage was swift and dramatic. Consumers quickly realized that mobile payments removed friction they were used to dealing with in their daily lives. COVID-19’s impact on the economy and movement of cash money further accelerated the adoption of mobile payments, resulting in mobile wallet transactions (aka Card-not-present (CNP)) experiencing an increase of more than 40% year over year. This isn’t a fluke, it’s a total recalibration in consumer behavior, and expectations have already begun to ripple into the health care payments experience.
A few things to note about the mobile payments experience: It’s convenient, cashless, contactless, secure and no physical card is required.
It’s quite nice to carry as many cards as you want in one secure location. I can take my phone and leave my George Costanza wallet at home. Plus, mobile wallets are actually more secure than physical cards.
A consumer-centric approach
Most health care providers, regardless of their area of focus, offer a mobile experience of some kind. There is nothing new here, but what does need to change is a more holistic approach that meets the consumer where they’re at. This has been driven by larger consumer habits shifts during COVID-19 related to mobile shopping and in-store retail payments, all of which have enforced a mobile-first payment experience. As a result, the mobile experience should be the first thought, before desktop.
This shift in approach isn’t limited to your product experience. It should carry over to your marketing content and communications. If your content is not easily accessible on a mobile device, its value is declining. If your blog takes a few seconds too long to load on a mobile device, it’s not going to be read – as mobile load times increase from 1 to 5 seconds, bounce rates increase by 90% If a customer can’t resolve an issue, or access support using only a mobile device, they may leave. A mobile-centric strategy needs to be applied across all departments and customer interactions.
Why is this so important now? It’s because consumer expectations have changed. On top of that, the general mental wellness has declined, as COVID-19 s has upended life for millions of Americans. Your customers have more anxiety in their lives and that will directly impact your interactions with them. They expect every level of services, across all industries, to deliver quality mobile experiences. This means legacy mobile products are no longer acceptable. Companies that can’t accommodate this shift will see their brands and public profiles riddled with 1-star reviews, negative comments and increased churn, along with more frustrated customer support calls.
Get integrated now
What’s clear is that this mobile experience is now required for health care providers. When implemented correctly, it dramatically reduces friction between partners, providers and consumers. Health providers that don’t react quickly will fall behind. So what should you do next?
The good news is that you don’t need to do it all on your own. You can find partners to help accelerate your mobile offering. These partnerships can help you achieve your mobile-centric strategy more quickly for less cost, and increase the exposure and usage of your core product offerings. An improved customer relationship drives your company value. Increasing quick and easy payments likely will drive your revenue. These are now fundamentally interconnected with your mobile payment offering.
The opportunity presented to health care providers and brands to further engrain themselves into a customer experience has expanded during these times of uncertainty. Partners that provide consumers with a trusted source of information that extends past their product realm will create a better customer experience and brand reputation. There is an opportunity to help consumers and grow your company at the same time.
Health care providers must meet this new mobile payments mandate to maintain their customer satisfaction. If not, decrease customer loyalty and ultimately customer loss can be expected. At 30,000 feet, this might seem like too much to take on at once. And it is. It takes time, but changing the strategy approach now is how you can get there. Even by showing incremental movement toward a mobile-centric approach—such as supporting mobile payments—will increase your customer satisfaction. You can build on that and keep going.
Shobin Uralil is chief operating officer and co-founder of Lively, a health savings account provider.
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