In December, Facebook announced plans to introduce a new version of Facebook Pay, allowing consumers to purchase goods and services inside of the Facebook ecosystem (covering Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp) in the company’s latest snipe at WeChat.
If your business has an active presence on Instagram or Facebook and you sell products via e-commerce, accepting this new mobile payment method may feel like a headache at first, but it could be good news for your business. Below, we’ve put together six reasons why…
More than 40% of businesses use social media to promote their products and services, and new tools like Instagram’s shopping feature mean consumers are already able to buy select products and services inside of their favourite social networking apps.
If we want to see where the trends are headed, there’s no better place to look than China.
In the world’s biggest e-commerce market, apps like Xiaohongshu and Little Red Book are designed with social shopping in mind, capturing the attention of Gen Z and Millennial shoppers. Social shopping in China will drive more than $413 billion worth of sales by 2023.
Facebook hasn’t had an easy time of it of late.
The company has been embroiled in privacy scandal after privacy scandal, facing scrutiny from governments and media organisations around the world. Its most recent was the announcement of its own cryptocurrency, Libra, which has seen several high-profile backers pull out, putting the currency’s future in doubt.
With Facebook Pay, the social networking giant will “securely store and encrypt your card and bank account numbers,” in a similar manner to Apple Pay and Google Pay, so it should mean consumers will be confident in signing up to the service and using it to buy products.
One of the biggest reasons for shopping cart abandonment is form-filling; if you are buying a t-shirt and you’ve got to hand over tonnes of personal information to a company you know little about, you’ll think twice and may decide to give up before completing your transaction.
Indeed, having to type in your credit card information, address, username, password, email address, security questions, and complete Captcha verifications can be pretty frustrating.
Facebook Pay is following in the footsteps of PayPal, removing the friction of credit cards by allowing consumers to authenticate their purchase via biometrics such as Face ID or Face Unlock, saving consumers time and increasing the likelihood of them completing a purchase.
Facebook announced in January that it planned to merge its popular networking apps Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp to create a singular, unified messaging experience.
However, that was met with a mixed reaction with many questioning whether the aim was for the company to transfer data and sell advertising across its multiple billion-user platforms.
Facebook Pay is designed to work alongside the company’s new strategy, being brought to WhatsApp and Instagram following an initial Facebook-only launch. That’s great news if you have a large following on Instagram and want to be able to allow consumers to buy products from their newsfeeds or allow clients to pay for add-ons when messaging you via WhatsApp.
Facebook Pay will launch with dedicated customer service. Consumers who have a problem with a transaction will be able to speak to a representative on live chat, meaning that you’ll receive fewer enquires and can focus on running your business the way you know best.
At a time when buyers want minute-by-minute updates on their order and expect to receive a response to a social media enquiry within 30 minutes, you can stay ahead of the curve.
Facebook Pay can be configured in just a couple of button clicks or phone taps.
Once it launches, you’ll be able to head to your Settings menu and add a credit card, debit card or PayPal account to access the payment service, and we expect to see a large-scale advertising campaign to sit alongside the roll-out to attract shoppers to sign up and use it.
For businesses, accepting Facebook Pay will be as simple as tapping into the company’s APIs and integrating it with your existing e-commerce tools; documentation will be provided.
Facebook Pay will begin to roll out in the United States in January, though the service is expected to come to other markets, including the United Kingdom, later in 2020. Stay tuned for updates and reach out to Zudu if you’re looking for assistance building the presence of your e-commerce business. Our time-served digital marketing team is on hand to help.
