How Seamless Payments Are Reshaping Travel & Mobility, Taking CX A Notch Up

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As the global economy faces headwinds, brands and business platforms increasingly enhance customer experience (CX) to boost the top line and lower customer acquisition costs. However, CX is no longer limited to routine support or after-sales services in this consumer-driven economy. Businesses today have a deeper understanding of CX success criteria and how tech innovations can help them achieve real-time customer centricity.

This is especially crucial as great CX is a growing demand in post-Covid times. According to a recent Salesforce report titled State of the Connected Customer, 80% of customers say the experience a company provides is as important as its products and services and 81% expect faster service as technology advances.

CX is a vast area, though, spanning the entire customer journey. But at a granular level, growth, profitability and customer satisfaction hinge on a seamless and multi-channel payment experience rather than struggling with random digital tools every time a transaction is made. Startups in the travel and mobility sector require a transformative payment system even more. Whether it is ride-hailing for local travel, long-distance tourist mobility or travel package/hotel booking, these businesses are essentially volume and value-intensive and need to accommodate multiple payment methods as people embrace the latest payment solutions.

Take, for instance, new solutions like BNPL (buy now, pay later) or the UPI-credit card linking that provides customers with many choices. As consumers demand instant, hassle-free and secure payment options in sync with their unique needs, building an overarching payment ecosystem is emerging as a successful CX hack in the travel and mobility space, enabling startups to build a major competitive moat.

To explore how to enhance CX in travel and mobility through an inclusive payment approach, Inc42 and Simpl (a Bengaluru-based payments startup) recently held an online panel discussion titled How Seamless Payments Are Reshaping Travel & Mobility, Taking CX A Notch Up. The panel discussion was part of an ongoing series called Consumer Brands Reimagined.

The session covered many critical topics, including: 

• Understanding one’s target customers and their key pain points
• How a seamless payment experience can shape and enhance CX 
• Decoding the needs and expectations of new-age consumers

Moderated by Nitya Sharma, founder and CEO of Simpl, the panel brought together CX leaders from the travel and mobility sectors, including

• Avinash Banavathu, VP (growth) at AbhiBus
• Ameya Sood, associate VP (product) at ixigo
• Abhishek Bhasin, director (brand & app performance marketing) at MakeMyTrip
• Pramod N, VP (head of product and data science) at Rapido 

Navigating The Customer Experience Matrix In Travel And Mobility

The travel and mobility space is undergoing a major change thanks to the rise of Gen Z. This new-age consumer class values instant gratification, looks for asset-light consumption (renting over owning) and prefers flexible payment methods like BNPL. Per a June 2024 PYMNTS report, nearly 50% of Gen Z and millennial consumers used BNPL in the past 12 months, and 63% of them cited better control on cash flow as an important reason for their choice.

The BNPL market size is estimated to reach $122.8 Bn by 2031, but there is no set usage pattern in a diverse market like India. Newer payment solutions like UPI and BNPL have not wiped out cash or traditional plastic money (credit and debit cards), although new-age consumers rarely carry physical cards. Nevertheless, travel and mobility businesses will do well to cater to all payment preferences if they do not want to overwhelm not-too-tech-savvy customer cohorts.      

Bhasin of MakeMyTrip narrated a use case where a payment service was designed to enhance customer experience. “We focus on being proactive and recently launched a product called Visa Rejection. It provides a 100% refund on flight tickets if your visa is rejected.” 

The product meets customer requirements in unforeseen circumstances. The goal is always to stay ahead of the curve and come up with solutions that consumers may not even realise they need, he added.

According to Sood of ixigo, when customers hit the pay button, they are at the final stage of their journey. Therefore, any friction at this point is bound to impact CX metrics. 

“At ixigo, we rely entirely on digital payments. It is the last stage of the [sales] funnel and extremely critical for our LOBs (lines of business). Our payment solutions must ensure that a user making it to the payment stage has a zero-friction experience,” he said.  

To know how consumer brands master seamless payment experiences and enhance customer satisfaction, watch the Inc42-Simpl panel discussion – How Seamless Payments Are Reshaping Travel & Mobility, Taking CX A Notch Up.