MasterCard Mobile Payments Study Reveals What All the Buzz is About

MasterCard’s annual Mobile Payments Study evaluates the social media sphere to gauge consumers’ changing sentiments about digital payments and mobile payment technology. By tracking people’s posts about mobile payments across Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, forums, Google+, and YouTube, they’re able to assess what’s important to consumers and predict where the marketplace is headed.

Their fourth annual study monitored nearly 2 million posts—that’s over two-times the 85,000 posts trailed in 2012. That fact alone proves that mobile payments are a hot topic. Let’s take a look at what’s buzz-worthy:

What are people talking about?

The percent of consumer conversations centered on the following topics:

• Digital wallets – 97%
• Contactless cards – 47%
• Biometrics – 33%
• Personal payments – 14%
• Wearables – 6%

Discussions about digital wallets tended to relate to product launches, service improvements, and how people are evaluating them. This year, there was a marked increase in global conversations, with growth in every region. With respect to contactless cards, people were chatting about cards’ global acceptance at public transit systems and availability at sporting events. And exchanges over wearables are really heating up: the volume of mentions the in 4^th quarter of 2015 was more than 30x higher than those in the first quarter of the year.

Conversations continue to evolve

While safety and security are perennial concerns impacting the adoption of digital payments technology, the study revealed that people focused less on their “confusion.” Rather, their conversations celebrated innovation—an interest in more secure solutions. MasterCard’s press release said that in 2015, 94% consumers took a positive or neutral view of the services being offered to them, representing a 3% increase over last year and 24 points above the initial 2012 study.

In fact, PYMNTS.com’s story about last year’s study, MasterCard Study: Consumer Sentiment On Payments Evolves From “Why Mobile?” To “What’s Next?”, detailed how, across-the-board, people’s social conversations started becoming more positive in focus and tone. In 2014, 94% of global conversations were favorable, compared with 77% in 2013 and 70% in 2012. And the most positive of the 2014 conversations were centered, reports PYMNTS.com, on innovation, rewards, loyalty, and convenience.

In 2016, consumers are asking for mobile payments options. Their uptake of connected devices continues to grow, and they’re using them in more sophisticated ways as they get more comfortable with the technology at their fingertips. And it’s clear they’re talking about it over social media—mobile payments are a part of their life that they want to share with their connections, whether that’s engaging with industry players or discussing with friends.

For more insights, you might enjoy:

Mobile Payment Adoption: A Global Snapshot

Are Digital Wallets In, Out, or Somewhere in Between?

The Next Big Thing? Wearable Payments

Biometrics in Payments: Pleasing Consumers while Fighting Fraud