As of today (Jan. 21), users of cash-sending app Venmo will have the ability to send animated custom stickers through the app’s newsfeed. The stickers include an animated coin jar with a heart and the words “With Love,” a cartoon figure running on a spinning pizza wheel, a “Late Night Dinner” flashing neon sign, a sub sandwich splitting with the word “Split” and an animated green dollar bill floating into a coffee mug full of dollars and coins, among others.
To create the stickers, Venmo worked with Holler, which specializes in generating content for expressive visual messaging — usually intended for fun. They will all be original stickers, and available for use when Venmo users want to send, share and split payments on the app. Venmo is partnering with an array of sponsors — including Subway and IKEA — to bring specific new stickers to the service.
More than 90 percent of Venmo transactions already contain emojis, so the company thought to give users access to a host of new content as well. A press release stated that the intent is to provide users with a perfect story to share with friends, and enhance the overall experience of using Venmo.
Venmo also recently rolled out a cash-back rewards program for its Venmo Mastercard, with “5 percent cash back at Target, Sephora, Chevron and Papa John’s, and 4 percent cash back at Dunkin’, Sam’s Club and more. All in all, Venmo was up 64 percent financially year over year, as reported in November, with the addition of features like the rewards program contributing to that.
The company’s success, along with that of similar rivals, indicates that peer-to-peer (P2P) spending is big right now, exploding with customers everywhere. Demand for instant payment is growing in the U.S. these days, as 42 percent of consumers have utilized some service to send or receive payment in the last year. Just two years ago, that number sat at only 11 percent.
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