Millennials, Mobile Payments And Debit: A Recipe For Consumer Engagement

Millennial consumers are ready to be brand ambassadors — especially when engaging in mobile commerce with private-label debit programs.

That’s the message of a new, in-depth PYMNTS story about how to win the loyalty of those younger consumers. Kristen Bailey, chief marketing officer for payments and loyalty provider ZipLine, recently discussed with PYMNTS the prospects for not only reaching those young/not-so-young shoppers, but holding onto them as well.

“Millennials are the real drivers of adoption when it comes to mobile payments and rewards programs in general,” she said, “and more and more of our merchant partners are looking to us” to make those connections with consumers.

The interview with Bailey comes amid increasing focus on how millennials might change gas and convenience store payments. Forty-three percent of high-income millennials said they would be more likely to visit a gas station if its app offered them convenience, loyalty and savings, according to recent PYMNTS research.

According to “Paying At The Pump Report: What Drives Mobile Adoption” from PYMNTS in collaboration with GasBuddy, a survey of 10,000 consumers showed that only 5.9 percent of respondents consider having the ability to pay for gas to be “very” or “extremely” important. Part of the reason is worry about the security of using mobile apps for gas purchases.

But what about apps that offer more? Or targeting apps at a particular group of consumers who are on the rise?

The PYMNTS study found that 65 percent of high-income millennials — consumers born between 1978 and 1995, and with annual incomes ranging from $75,000 to $150,000 — made at least one gas purchase per week. That compares to 58 percent of other respondents who said the same. And half of those high-income millennials said that about 74 percent of their gas purchases were made via mobile apps that encourage them to keep using apps to buy gas.

Millennials are ready to be engaged.