In today's competitive market, businesses are constantly seeking ways to differentiate themselves and build lasting relationships with their customers and to improve loyalty. How can retailers leverage payments to drive higher engagement and why is that so important?

Higher Engagement Leads to More Purchases

A report by Adobe found that engaged customers are 4.5 times more likely to pay a premium price for products and services. This indicates that the more time consumers spend with a brand, the more likely they are to make repeated purchases and even pay more for the brand's offerings.

Brand Loyalty and Advocacy

Research by Nielsen shows that 88% of consumers trust recommendations from friends and family over any other type of advertising. When consumers spend more time with a brand, they are more likely to become loyal advocates who recommend the brand to others, thereby driving new customer acquisition.

Impact on Sales

McKinsey reports that companies with strong customer engagement can achieve up to 50% higher revenue growth than their peers, directly linking engagement to financial performance

Building Customer Loyalty with Smart Payment Solutions

A smart payment setup can do way more than just processing transactions—it can actually help merchants build stronger customer loyalty. Here's how:

From Checkout to post purchase

It all starts with a smart Checkout built specifically to fit the retailer brand. By leveraging customized payment options, the retailer can already in the Checkout engage the customer with their brand, build trust and start the complete customer journey from initial sale to repetitive purchases.

Increasing Brand Engagement

By directing customers back to the merchant’s website or app to settle payments, the payment provider increases the time they spend with the brand. This increased engagement is crucial for every successful business, as more time spent with the brand means a higher chance of repeat purchases.

Transforming Payment Communications into Marketing Moments

Payment emails and customer follow ups aren’t just about getting customers to pay—they can also include personalized product recommendations or special offers. These messages become highly relevant marketing moments that keep the customer connected to the brand.

Growing Membership Programs

Payments can play a big role in growing membership programs. A payment provider can make it super easy for merchants to nudge customers toward signing up—whether it’s right at Checkout or later when they’re settling the payment. If someone isn’t a member yet, the system can recognize that and offer them a seamless way to join, increasing the chances of turning them into a loyal, returning customer. This is a simple but powerful way to boost retention, build brand love, and make every payment interaction count.

Why memberships matter?

As all retailers have painfully witnessed, the new privacy era is adding an extra cost to acquiring and retaining the customer. This is why the focus has largely shifted to membership programs across the entire retail section, as ePrivacy regulation is making its way to our lives.

Memberships matter the most, as they are the primary source of 1st party data, the data you apply to your promotions, marketing and retention activities towards your customer.

The time has gone by when the customer could be tracked through the abyss of the internet, followed by relevant affiliate promotions with comprehensive digital footprint when the customer enters your site.

Membership doesn’t only enable loyalty and far better engagement, but accuracy and relevancy, which saves a lot of cost. Membership terms and conditions allow you to personalize your advertising, promote relevant offers, discounts, campaigns, as it allows you to know your customer thoroughly through the given data consent. Otherwise, the data consent statistics for 1st party data look grim when it comes to online retail, according to a study from Lund University, as many as 58% of respondents say they do not want to share their data in exchange for personalized offers. Other sources state that 60-80% of customers will say no to marketing and behavioral analytics consent when landing on your site.

In short: Smart payment solutions + membership = stronger customer loyalty and higher revenues!