Rebates Make Consumers 75% More Likely to Purchase

If you want to help ensure a customer is going to buy from your business, you can’t go wrong by offering rebates.

Studies have shown that rebates make consumers 75% more likely to make a purchase, far exceeding promotions like contests or sweepstakes.

For retailers, success lies in finding a way to manage disbursements end to end without adding increased costs and complexity, while still meeting modern consumer expectations.

Customers have grown choosier about which rebates and incentives to pursue as their disbursement preferences have grown more specific. Digital disbursements are fast becoming the norm, and a customer is less likely to buy if a rebate payment is made by check.

This desire for digital payouts has become even stronger during the pandemic, as consumers have become more acclimated to digital shopping and expect their payments to be delivered in the same way.

In other words, consumers want speed and convenience, both of which are inherent in the digital format. According to Onbe’s Future of Payments 2022 Report, 74% of consumers prefer to make payments via digital methods, while 65% believe these payments are the most secure.

Younger consumers are especially eager to make and receive digital payments, with those between the ages of 18 and 44 much more interested in using technology such as peer-to-peer (P2P) payment apps for transactions. And more than a third of consumers ages 18 to 24 said they planned to use paper checks and cash less often, or simply not at all, in 2022.

Consumers also value choice and flexibility in rebate options, especially lower-income consumers who need access to their money more quickly.

Consumers who live paycheck to paycheck and struggle to pay their bills are accustomed to choosing how they want to be paid, with 75% saying they got at least two options for receiving at least one payment in a June 2021 survey.

Even those on more solid financial footing are likely to be used to this choice, with 57% of consumers who don’t live paycheck to paycheck reporting they had two or more options for receiving payment during the same month.

To learn more about how digital payments are improving incentives and rebates, download the latest Expanding Payments Choice Playbook, a PYMNTS and Onbe collaboration.