Do players want ACH?

When choosing a payment method, players most value security, convenience, and payment speed, not the network used (debit or bank transfers (ACH)). The payment methods that spike on these metrics, debit card and PayPal, are unfortunately the most expensive. Customers are willing to try new methods, but they need to deliver on these metrics — and offer something new. Push Cash offers user friendly, recognizable experience and supports instant withdrawals.

In one of our first posts, we discussed what makes a great cashier, primarily focused on the payment options to offer for deposits and withdrawals to maximize players’ access to their funds. TL;DR: Cashiers should include payment options that pull from a user’s checking account, typically the core storage of value, while also offering access to a complimentary digital wallet (e.g., Paypal).

In this blog post, we focus on the consumer perspective of what they look for in a payment option — and how they choose which option they use.

Methodology

In October, Push Cash ran a consumer survey to understand what sports betting users desired in a payment method and what would compel them to try a new payment method. The survey, of more than 400 respondents, was completed by users who use at least one major online sports betting or daily fantasy sports app and placed at least 5 bets in the past year.

What do customers look for in a payment method?

When choosing a payment method, consumers value safety, security, and payment speed (for withdrawals). To consumers, the exact payment method is less important than the characteristics of the method — <10% of users selected “debit” or “ACH” as the critical keyword.

Consumers care first and foremost about security in their payments. They are highly aware of the fraud risk with online payments, and will select payment methods that protect them.

Next is the speed of payments. Consumers want their money to appear in their wallet as soon as they make a deposit. When they win, they want to be able to get their money back out quickly.

What methods do consumers use today?

Per our survey, on average, consumers who have placed more than 5 bets in the past year have used between 2 and 3 payment methods (across all operators). Given the variety of payment options across different operators (e.g. not all operators offer PayPal), this intuitively makes sense — a user’s preferred payment method may not be offered on all of the apps they use.

Credit cards ranked third, however we recognize that this survey covered users of both Online Sports Books (where the user is charged a 3% cash advance fee) and DFS / sweeps.

What methods do consumers prefer today?

Respondents overwhelmingly preferred Paypal and debit card. Consumers are less likely to prefer ACH-based solutions (ACH Preferred, Trustly).

Paypal and debit cards both perform well on the metrics that consumers care about: safety, security, and speed. Consumers recognize and trust the Paypal logo and the card networks, and can also count on protection mechanisms like chargebacks. Paypal and debit card (via push to card) support instant withdrawals back to a user’s Paypal account or checking account, respectively.

Unfortunately, these methods are also the most expensive for operators. Payment costs can be north of 2, or even 3% of deposit volume, from the combined cost of processing fees and chargebacks. Push Cash can provide similar performance to debit, but at lower rates for operators.

What would cause users to try a new payment method?

Players are willing to try new methods, and the two biggest draws for a consumer trying a new method are rewards and enabling instant withdrawals.

Push believes that loyalty and rewards are critical to growing player LTV, and previously published articles on how loyalty can drive player retention for online sportsbooks. If you would like to talk more about how Push can help you support rewards, please reach out!

One of the most frequent user complaints with online sportsbooks is how long it takes to collect winnings. Some sportsbooks quote over 5 days for funds to be transferred. Users who have experienced these problems firsthand are likely to be tempted by the opportunity for ways to get their money back faster (instantly). Push Cash enables instant deposits and withdrawals for close to 100% of users.

Operators promoting a new payment method should consider what will appeal to the users they want to switch over. For example, if you want to move Paypal users to another method due to high fees, offering rewards may be more appealing, since they may already have instant withdrawals.

Closing thoughts

Consumers care about security and speed. This concept is core to Push Cash, we believe users care more about the capabilities a payment method delivers vs. the network that it uses. Like other methods, Push Cash is safe and secure — our user experience is debit first, helping to build trust and confidence with users. However, our primary value to consumers lies in enabling instant withdrawals for all.

Importantly for operators, we use a multi-network strategy, and will sometimes route traffic to ACH depending upon the risk profile of the transaction. This lets us deliver debit performance at significantly lower pricing.

In our next installment, we will cover additional insights from our survey on how to message new payment methods to both convince users to switch and to keep using them. If you would like to learn more about Push Cash, please reach out to us at hello@pushcash.com. Thanks!