When we analysed the results from our Digital Now survey (looking at consumer attitudes to payment and digital experiences), we wanted to look at a real-life example of challenger organisations, and how their success shows the kind of customer experiences we’re talking about.
And Zumo seemed like a perfect example to talk about.
Zumo is an innovator in crypto, allowing customers more ease and convenience when it comes to their cryptocurrencies. With a Zumo account, you can convert your crypto into pounds and pay for goods and services anywhere that accepts Visa.
Diversifying the customer base
One of the big things that we found was that the audience for challenger organisations is larger than many may have thought. This is particularly the case with older consumers (including those aged 65+).
Zumo found similar, according to Marketing Director Amelie Arras. “When we did our own research, with consumer analytics platform Focaldata, we found that 55-64 year-olds most strongly agreed that the current banking and financial system doesn’t deliver good value for ordinary people in the UK. They also most strongly agreed that banks prioritise profits over the best interests of their customers.”
While older consumers can be slower to join innovative financial products, Zumo says it expects this to become more diversified as trust and adoption continue to grow.
Of course, this only works if the solution is actually convenient and easy-to-use. No matter the age of the user, Zumo wants to ensure that its product is accessible and easy to pick up – for everyone involved. And this is where Zumo’s partnership with Modulr has really helped. Transfers and top-ups needed to be instant. And being able to add a virtual card option (via Modulr’s principal card-issuing membership of VISA) was a must-have if Zumo was going to interact with the bricks-and-mortar world of shops and restaurants.
The awareness that consumers weren’t willing to put up with slow, cumbersome experiences was why Zumo and Modulr worked together to simplify how customers top-up their accounts. By working together, Zumo and Modulr turned a laborious manual bank transfer process into a simple 4-click instant top-up experience for Zumo users.
Building credibility
Credibility and accountability are also important aspects of Zumo’s offering, especially as it looks to diversify its audience-base. This was also one of the key points we talked about for challenger organisations in the Digital Now eBook. This can be built through brand recognition, but it’s important to make sure this is on top of a rock-solid and trustworthy base.
By working with fully regulated partners (such as Modulr), Zumo is able to offer a trusted payments solution – in addition to which, Zumo itself is one of a small handful of businesses to have received FCA approval as a registered cryptoasset firm.
This trust is also built through reliability and transparency. Zumo has made sure that customers are fully informed about how the process works, the fees that are applied and the choices that are available to them. And it’s important to be able to do this in real-time with instant notifications (particularly on those all-important first interactions a customer has with the brand). This ties into our research that found that over half of all consumers expect receipts and notifications either instantly or within 10 seconds.
The formula for success
In the Digital Now, we talked about the formula for success (Ideal payments experience = instant + convenient + responsible + trust + control). These were the things that a company had to offer in order to meet their customers’ expectations.
In this case study, we wanted to show you what that looks like in practice. It’s not just about one aspect of the payments experience – it’s about anticipating your customers’ needs and building your processes around that.
For Zumo, building around its initial customer base and partnering with Modulr’s API-first platform has allowed the business to build a solid, flexible platform. This has put the company in a strong position as it continues to grow and build its brand.
For more about the Digital Now and how to delight your customers with great payment experiences, download our free ebook.