Subscription sites not meeting Direct Debit demand, GoCardless
45% of UK consumers are interested in choosing Direct Debit to pay for online subscriptions, compared to 32% who would prefer debit cards, according to research by YouGov on behalf of FinTech venture, GoCardless.
However, a snapshot of 29 top UK subscription websites including Amazon Prime, HelloFresh and Spotify, shows that none currently offer customers the option of Direct Debit. In contrast, 100% offer credit/debit card, 62% PayPal, and 3% accept mobile payments.
Hiroki Takeuchi, CEO, GoCardless, says: “Payment preferences can have a huge impact on checkout conversion, especially for subscription businesses. There is no ‘one size fits all’ solution but businesses must understand that choice is crucial if they want to continue to appeal to consumers. If you fail to offer the most relevant options for recurring payments, customers will walk away.”
GoCardless surveyed 12,785 consumers in countries accounting for two-thirds of the global volume of recurring payments (UK, France, Germany, Spain, Denmark, Sweden, USA, Canada, Australia and New Zealand).
Globally, variation in payments preferences has as much to do with culture as technology. For example, in America, the good old fashioned cheque is still popular when paying regular household bills. In Germany, cash is still king as 40% are ‘very unlikely’ to use credit cards and 29% feel the same about debit cards. More than 30% of consumers globally were likely to choose Direct/Bank Debit to pay for online subscriptions in the majority of international markets (9/10); North America being the only exception (19%).