Future of Digital Receipts: 5 Value-Added Strategies
by Ethoca
Digital receipts are no longer just electronic versions of paper receipts that merchant’s email or text to their customers. Today, they are increasingly being integrated into the digital banking channels that consumers use to check their purchase history.
Offering receipts through digital banking channels offers consumers the convenience of having a one-stop place to access their purchase information. But it also presents a big opportunity for merchants to enhance their customer experience and engagement directly through bank channels that customers rely on most.
A recent report by Ethoca and the Aite-Novarica Group looks at five potential ways offering receipts through digital banking channels could add value to the customer experience—as well as how merchants in three markets—the U.S., UK and Germany—view those potential value-added strategies:
1. Increasing loyalty reward participation
Loyalty programs are an important way that merchants encourage customers to keep coming back. In the future, digital receipts could become a key tool for driving loyalty program enrollment and usage.
For example, a retailer could promote signing up for the loyalty program through the digital receipt, providing customers with a direct link to the enrollment form. The receipts could also show customers how many loyalty points they have and provide opportunities to redeem them—leading to greater customer engagement and future sales.
The majority of merchants (60%) surveyed said the potential to drive loyalty program enrollment and usage through digital receipts is attractive to them. Moreover, 41% expressed interest in having the digital receipt display the loyalty point balance, while 38% percent said they’d be interested in allowing customers to redeem their points through a digital receipt interface.
2. Upselling and offering discounts
Digital receipts could also be used as a valuable way to market other relevant products or services based on a customer’s purchase history. For example, if someone recently purchased a dog bed through a pet products supplier, that company could use the digital receipt to recommend other items such as dog toys or grooming tools. Sixty-six percent of merchants said they would be interested in using the receipt to suggest similar products that customers might be interested in, while an equal percentage would use digital receipts to provide offers for future purchases.
The receipts could also offer discounts or other promotions that compel customers to make future purchases—including the ability to sign up for a subscription or auto-ship for items purchased on a regular basis. The survey found that 59% of merchants would like the ability to allow customers to reorder products through digital receipts.
Overall, the merchants surveyed recognise the value in leveraging digital receipts for customer promotions.
3. Providing warranty information
Consumers often lose their product or service warranty information—or they misplace the receipt they need to make a claim on it. Digital receipts offer an intuitive place for providing customers with their warranty information, since it can be linked directly to the purchase receipt they need to keep along with it.
Especially for merchants that sell big-ticket items such as appliances or furniture that often come with warranties, the ability to provide customers with their warranty information through the digital receipt could be a win-win. Merchants surveyed that do offer warranties said putting that information at customers’ fingertips would help them reduce call volume—essentially freeing their employees’ time for other tasks.
In fact, more than two-thirds of merchants surveyed who offer warranties said the ability to provide it through a digital receipt would be “important” or “very important.” Nearly half of those who provide warranties also said they would value allowing customers to buy or extend warranties through their digital receipt.
4. Offering return information and capability
Digital receipts offer merchants the ability to both inform customers about their return and exchange policy and even initiate product returns. Already, some major ecommerce retailers make returning products very easy—asking customers to simply click a link to start the return process and having them drop the returned item off at a shipping provider’s location (or even having it picked up from their doorstep).
Of the merchants surveyed, half said it would be “important” or “very important” to be able to provide their return policy through the digital receipt and 32% would value the ability to allow customers to initiate a return through the receipt.
5. Offering card-on-file management
Customers could manage their payment card information and how it’s stored directly through their digital receipt—making it easy for them to, say, update their card number when they get a new card or stop their card number from being kept on file at a merchant.
Today, many merchants manage customers’ card information directly through their payment applications. However, about one-third of merchants said they would be interested in offering card-on-file management through the digital receipt. We expect even more merchants will see the value of this offering in the future due to the customer experience benefits and efficiency it can provide.
Digital receipts are evolving
As digital receipts become increasingly integrated into consumers’ digital banking channels and applications, they will become a more powerful tool for helping merchants further engage their customers. In the future, digital receipts can help drive loyalty program participation and compel customers to more easily find products and services they need through merchants’ recommendations based on their purchase transaction history.
