NEW YORK—More than ever, consumers’ use of automated payments to manage their subscriptions is gaining ground, a new study shows.
That report comes at a time when consumers are increasingly subscribing to services providing music, movies, media services and more.
The new report, “Optimizing Subscription Payments: How Providers Can Take the Sting out of Payment Declines,” a Pymnts.com and FlexPay collaboration, nearly 2,200 consumers said they want those subscription payments to be seamless.
The report underscores a point made frequently by numerous payments analysts within the credit union community who have called on CUs to recognize the importance of being “top of wallet” when it comes to such recurring payments.
“And if those expectations are not met — in a world where 80% of U.S. consumers have at least one subscription, up from 72% a year ago — churn looms,” Pymnts.com said.
About 27% of consumers who subscribed to a broad range of services — overall, the average number of subscriptions across the entire user base surveyed stands at 2.3 — said they had experienced a subscription payment decline within the past year. Of those who experienced a decline, more than one-quarter of those customers terminated their subscriptions or switched services, Pymnts.com said.