Even though mobile payment systems Apple Pay, Android Pay, and Samsung Pay have been around for awhile now, many people still haven’t given them a try. But this could soon change. Mobile payment providers are turning to promotions to get peoples attention and these promotions don’t disappoint. If you still haven’t made the jump to mobile payments, now it the time.
How many people are actually using mobile payments?
According to an Accenture survey, while 52% of North Americans are “extremely aware” of mobile payments, only 18% use them on a regular basis. The number of smartphone owners who have not yet tried mobile payments sits somewhere around 60% according to a number of different statistics. So clearly there is plenty of room to grow.
The main issue right now is that people aren’t giving mobile payments a chance, so they see no difference between using a credit card or paying with their phone. Companies like Samsung and Android believe that if a person is to just give mobile payments a try, they are much more likely to continue using them. This brings us to the current mobile payment environment.
Are promotions the best way to grow mobile payment adoption?
Currently, we are seeing the major mobile payment platforms offer incentives to new users in order to get them to try out mobile payments. Here are some of the promotions going on right now.
Use Android Pay three times and receive 2GB worth of data for two months
This promotion is running from now until mid-June and it is absolutely worth trying out Android Pay for free data. If you tap and pay once, you receive 1GB, if you tap and pay two more times you will receive the full 2GB worth of free data for the next two billing cycles. However, you are going to want to jump on this one fast because the data must be used by July 13th. Regardless I still think it’s a good deal.
Samsung Pay offers $30 gift card after three Samsung Pay purchases
If you have a Samsung phone you can also jump in on the fun with Samsung’s most recent promotion. After using Samsung Pay just three times, you can receive a $30 gift card from one of these four retailers — Best Buy, eBay, GameStop, and Regal Entertainment. However, there is a catch to this promotion. In order to be eligible you must have enabled the Samsung Pay app before this promotion but not have made any purchases yet. So I’m not sure how many users will actually be eligible to receive this promotion. If you are one of the lucky few, you should definitely take advantage of it between April 15th and May 10th.
We have also seen other promotions much like these in the past. Google and Android did the Android Pay Tap 10, where users could use Android Pay and earn free music and even a free Google Chromecast dongle. Apple Pay had a promotion with the London Tube where commuters could ride for free when paying with Apple Pay. Since these types of promotions keep coming back, my guess is that they are somewhat successful at bringing new users on to the platform. The real question lies on whether or not these users are staying and using mobile payments more frequently. Perhaps one of these days Samsung or Android will release how many users they have using their platforms. Until then, we can only speculate.
Regardless as to whether or not these promotions raise mobile payment adoption rates, if you are eligible for either one of these offers I highly suggest you take advantage of them. There is nothing bad about 2GB of free data or a $30 gift card. So go out and take advantage while you still can.
Know of any other offers? Let me know in the comments below!
