How Payments Provider Afterpay is Converting New Users Into Engaged Customers

Madeleine Streets

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Getting consumers to sign up for an app — or opt-in for an email blast, for that matter — isn’t easy. And getting them to continue their engagement with the brand is even trickier.

Payments provider Afterpay is launching a product it believes will lead to repeat business. The firm has partnered with engagement platform Leanplum to create personalized experiences that prompt shoppers to re-use the service.

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“Sending timely and personalized messages to customers is paramount for a brand to not only engage but to retain customers long term,” said Athena Koutsonikolas, VP of marketing at Leanplum. “Imagine a situation where you are shopping for an item in an app and you add it to your cart or wish list. In today’s fast-paced age, it’s easy to stop what you’re doing, resume another task and forget about the item. If that brand sends you a push notification or an email reminding you of the item, chances are you’d go back and, hopefully, purchase it.”

Afterpay offers shoppers the opportunity to split their purchases into four interest-free payments at participating retailers. Targeted toward millennials who are more credit card-averse than previous generations, Afterpay is a free service for those who make their payments on time (every two weeks); the company charges late fees for delayed payments. Shoppers can access the service when checking out with their favorite retailers for in-store, e-commerce and mobile sales.

The company originated in Australia and expanded into the U.S. last year. Afterpay has over 3 million active users in the country, defined as a customer or merchant that has purchased through Afterpay in the last 12 months. That growth accelerated during this year’s Black Friday and Cyber Monday, according to the company, with a reported $160 million in sales across the two days and new customer acquisition of 140,000.

“As our user base continued to grow on an exponential basis, we sought a partner that could help us offer our customers a personalized user experience at scale with active and timely engagements,” said Frazer Adnam, CRM marketing director at Afterpay. “Leanplum gives us the ability to trigger communications at key moments in the customer journey — and that helps optimize our user experience.”

Leanplum’s mobile-first solution uses consumer data to determine the most effective time to communicate with users. When this moment occurs, the platform generates personalized notifications that direct the customer to related content or provide assistance. With Afterpay, that could mean promoting products or brands that are related to a user’s previous purchases.

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