How To Attract Customers With Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL)

Offering affordability and an enhanced point of sale (POS) experience, Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) can be a powerful tool for motivating customers to make the purchases they want.

Businesses are seeing increased sales, more repeat purchases and are achieving higher average order values (AOV), all of which are helping to boost bottom lines. But BNPL alone isn’t a quick fix for maintaining an influence on customers’ purchasing decisions. Without a sharp focus on the overall purchasing journey and your customers’ needs, efforts to engage and drive sales can miss the mark.

For consumers with new or low credit capacities, or who are simply averse to revolving credit, BNPL has emerged as a cost-effective alternative to traditional credit options.

Affordability is the cornerstone of any purchasing decision and for BNPL users, especially those in younger demographics, BNPL makes expensive purchases more attainable. Increased buying power is a positive encouragement for customers to make the purchases they want and might not have made otherwise. That means valuable opportunities for retailers; but knowing your customer ecosystem and how to market to them is key. 

Value-focused BNPL promotions, like low or zero annual percentage rate (APR) or extended payment schedules, can go a long way to widen the marketing funnel and engage new customers. It’s also beneficial to provide product and offer details as high up the funnel as possible to make customers aware that they have the option to choose BNPL as a payment method.

Buying power also means giving customers the ability to purchase higher quality options and add additional items to their carts. According to the Citizens Point of Sale Survey, 36% of consumers say financing enabled them to buy a more expensive option than they were previously considering.

Anything that makes it easier for customers to upgrade, add on or buy again is an advantage for retailers. Qualifying larger BNPL carts for special offers is an obvious way to make this happen. It’s also possible to prequalify customers for a BNPL account that operates as a flexible line of credit. As opposed to a closed BNPL loan, customers can return at a later time, make multiple purchases and not have to go through the application process again.

A user-friendly BNPL experience backed by transparency and a strong brand reputation is also a key factor in motivating customers to purchase and is important to consider when looking at how BNPL might help your business.

Simplified checkouts, hassle-free applications and instant credit approvals are essential features for a BNPL product to effectively engage customers. Making it easier to shop is the priority as customers are much more likely to purchase when their checkout experience is simple and straightforward. Other advanced features, such as a flexible line of credit, can take that experience to the next level — and can motivate customers to enlarge their carts and purchase multiple products.

Rounding out the experience, customers are increasingly influenced by above the board transparency and trustworthy brand reputations. The likelihood of making a purchase via BNPL increases when customers know and trust the brands and businesses they are doing business with. Knowing that a BNPL financing product is backed by a reliable and regulated financing entity can be a big part of a purchasing decision.

Privacy and data also figure into the equation and can sway how consumers think about committing to a purchase with a vendor. Today’s shoppers are becoming increasingly concerned whether their data is being handled properly and, in many cases, it’s not clear how well a servicer or provider handles customer data and what privacy standards they are adhering to. How your BNPL partner handles customer data should be paramount, especially as regulations in this area continue to evolve.

Built on extensive experience in consumer financing, Citizens Pay was designed to strategically help merchants meet their customers’ needs with unique BNPL solutions. For customers, that means flexibility and affordability at the POS, through a range of flexible financing options including an open line of credit. Citizens Pay also delivers seamless and fully customizable POS integrations that make for superior checkout experiences. In addition, there is the support and reputation of a well known financial institution to assure customers that their finances and data are in good hands.