4 Reasons Businesses Should Rethink Digital Receipts

Paper receipts are still very much the norm for a lot of in-person shopping, but we all know the drill – paper receipts get crumpled up and lost in the back of our wallets or junk drawers. Digital receipts, on the other hand, are growing in popularity and evolving in new ways to engage and connect with customers.  

And while 70% of large retailers already offer their customers the option of receiving digital receipts, they typically rely on being texted or emailed to customers and often face the same fate: lost to the back of our inboxes or message history. Recent surveys by Ethoca and Aite-Novarica explore the reasons customers sign up for digital receipts and also what the future of digital receipts looks like.

What is a digital receipt?

Most of us are familiar with digital receipts that are sent electronically via email or text message. Today, however, digital bank channels—or wherever you review your payment history online—can provide digital receipts with detailed descriptions of your purchases. Providing digital receipts through bank channels, as opposed to emailing or texting them, makes it easier for customers to view their purchase history in one convenient location, and also opens the door to further engagement options for both issuers and merchants. 

Here, then, are four reasons issuers and merchants should rethink what the future of digital receipts looks like: 

1. Convenience and an overall better customer experience

Many customers appreciate having their receipts organised in one easy-to-find location—such as the digital banking app on their smartphone—and not having to store paper receipts or search their email inbox or smartphone’s text messages to find them.
 
The Aite-Novarica survey found that 32% of consumers who’ve provided their information to receive a digital receipt prefer receiving them through their online or mobile banking app versus getting them via email or text, while another 41% either prefer to receive digital receipts in both ways or don’t have a preference. And the top three reasons for wanting their digital receipts in online or mobile banking apps were all due to convenience: having receipts all in one place, finding the receipts quicker and faster store checkout times because they don’t have to provide their email address or phone number at checkout.

New collaboration-based technology that can share key details between merchants and issuers in near-real-time is also making this method of digital receipt delivery a possibility.  

2. More engaged customers

Breaking through the “digital clutter” is critical for businesses looking to forge stronger connections with customers. For context, customers across the globe today receive more than 300 billion emails and 6 billion texts daily. That means digital receipts sent via those methods often end up unopened or quickly buried in an inbox.
 
Customers who receive digital receipts through digital bank channels, on the other hand, are more likely to interact with them. For one thing, customers check their online payment history frequently. The survey found that 66% of customers use their digital banking app at least three times per week. Moreover, the ease of accessing these receipts mean customers are more likely to look favorably upon them.
 
Connecting with customers in the channels they’re already spending their time, and providing them with the information they’re looking for, is a sure-fire way to create a positive experience – helping extend merchant’s brand awareness and create deeper engagement for issuers in their digital channels.
 

3. Ability to cross-market and provide highly relevant offers

When customers sign up for digital receipts, they generally provide their email address, mobile number or other contact information. This is a big marketing opportunity because that information can be used to further engage those customers by providing them with highly relevant offers—such as another product that might be a good fit for their needs.

In fact, some customers sign up for digital receipts due to the additional perks it can provide. The Aite survey found that 21% of customers said one of the reasons they signed up for digital receipts was because they received a discount or other benefit.

But similar to engaging customers, breaking through the digital clutter is increasingly difficult. By leveraging digital receipts in bank channels to share relevant offers helps deliver them at the right time, and in the places customers are already looking. Additionally, providing it through these channels instead of asking customers to provide contact information at the checkout line also creates a more seamless experience with less chance for customers to ‘opt-out.’ 
 

4. Less transaction confusion

Digital receipts provided through digital banking apps can also help reduce cases of friendly fraud caused by transaction confusion. This is when customers claim legitimate purchases as fraud simply because they don’t recognise them. 

An itemised digital receipt that clearly outlines what was purchased, applicable taxes or discounts, as well as a clear merchant name and logo, make it easier for customers to make sense of their purchases at the point they are reviewing them. More transaction transparency means fewer purchase disputes and ultimately a reduction in costly chargebacks.
 
These are just some of the advantages of providing digital receipts to your customers through their digital banking applications. As the features and functionality continues to evolve there are more and more reasons for merchants and issuers to embrace them, starting with delivering a better customer experience.