Millennials Want Payments Security in Their Retail Subscriptions

Younger consumers have spent their formative years online, and they’re inclined to share details and information about themselves across digital channels.

That comprises personal information for payments, including card details and other data points that are used by merchants to conduct much of commerce anonymously, on platforms, and 24/7.

But there’s evidence that some level of caution is creeping into the mix.

Millennials, PYMNTS Intelligence found, are cognizant of security risks and the rising tide of fraud, and they want their providers — financial institutions and subscription firms among them — to provide assurance and visibly that transactions and interactions are safe and sound.

“Visible and Invisible Security: Perceptions in Digital Banking,” a PYMNTS Intelligence and Entersekt collaboration, found that, overall, 50% of consumers are dissatisfied with their banks’ security measures for touting transactions. More than a quarter of consumers want their FIs to do more to improve security measures. More than a quarter of respondents, too, want additional security in place when sending or receiving money. The numbers skew even higher for millennials, as 37% of this demographic said they want their banks to step up their security efforts for routine transactions.

Implicit in “routine” transactions would be retail subscriptions, where separate PYMNTS Intelligence, in joint effort with sticky.io, found that 4 in 10 millennials use retail subscriptions for everyday purchases. The transactions themselves tend to be facilitated through scheduled or auto-filled options.

Security Concerns May Lead to Cancellations

The same research into the retail subscription economy found several issues that might spur a subscriber to cancel their order and/or sever a relationship with a retail subscription offering entirely.

Consumers would be 4.2% more likely to cancel if there was no security certification displayed. In addition, they would be 2.8% more likely to cancel if there were frictions when updating payment information.

Subscribers want some input into how they transact. They also want the ability to use the payment methods with which they feel safest. (Perhaps a credit card, with its fraud and liability protections, might appeal more than a debit card for some retail subscribers.) And they want transparency about who’s helping to protect their data.

Although the appeal of setting up subscriptions rests in part with the automatic nature of the interaction — the refills and the payments — the occasional reminder or verification might be welcomed.

The PYMNTS Intelligence/Entersekt findings indicated that 47% of consumers had used biometric authentication for online financial activities, and 52% of biometric authentication users preferred this method over passwords. Additionally, multifactor authentication (MFA) is gaining popularity, with 34% of consumers preferring this method.

When it comes to the everyday essentials, ordered online with regularity and sometimes like clockwork, younger consumers are willing to take a moment to interact with their providers and gain some peace of mind that the payments are protected.