PayUmoney Uses Digital to Maximise Marketing ROI

PayU India is an online payment service provider with two business divisions: PayUbiz and PayUmoney, which, when combined, cater to all the payment-related needs of merchants and consumers across the country.

Indians (seemingly by nature!) like savings and with 350 million internet users, the internet is fast becoming the place for consumers to find a bargain. PayU’s solution provides a super fast and reliable payment experience across 100,000 merchants, all at the click of a single button. Each transaction also triggers a reward mechanism offering consumers a 1% saving every time they complete a payment. But while this satisfied the Indian need for a bargain, it didn’t change actual buying behaviour. As it turns out, online customers in India tend to opt for the cash-on-delivery option, and PayUmoney needed to drive brand awareness to position themselves as the preferred payment option.

Reaching the target audience

PayUmoney decided to target users who frequently made online transactions. Online shoppers spend approximately INR 3 to 5 lakhs (US$4,800 to US$8,000) per shopper yearly, whether it’s on clothes, cosmetics, grocery, electronics or food. PayUmoney wanted to encourage this segment of shoppers to use their platform as the main mode of payment, be it through credit cards, debit cards or net banking, saving themselves 1% on their overall transaction value along the way.

Using Analytics tools, they were able to determine who these customers were, and learn about their internet behaviors. With a better understanding of their overall internet usage, PayUmoney was well-positioned to convey the right message to the right user at the right time.

To position PayUmoney as the preferred transaction option, the payment platform ran the nation-wide campaign just before the festive season. By offering cashbacks on transactions during the festive season, PayUmoney hoped to instill a habit of saving amongst their target audience.

A phased approach shows the strength of digital

With campaign goals being both brand awareness and transactions, PayUmoney devised a phased marketing approach:

Phase 1: TV Only Ran for 30 days from July 13 to mid-August, 2015 and focused solely on traditional media, specifically radio and TV. The prime objective during this phase was to drive awareness.

Phase 2: TV + Digital Ran from September 25 to October 22, was a mix of traditional media and digital. Objective for this phase was to drive both awareness and transactions.

Phase 3: Digital Only The final 14 days, October 23 to November 4, was digital only, with core focus on transactions.

The mixed media approach meant PayUmoney could successfully utilise the strengths of each media and not over emphasize on a specific medium. While creating awareness through traditional media they were able to target the right customer via digital platforms. “Marketing is about the right communication, right audience and right time. Digital gives an edge to drive this more efficiently and facilitates effective measurement too. For someone not selling a physical product or service, experience is the only USP and hence the right user touch point becomes most important,” says Nitin Gupta, CEO.

Creating a holistic digital campaign

Along with YouTube ads, PayUmoney’s digital approach utilised the Google Display Network, Gmail Sponsored Promotions, Google Marketing Platform,¹ and Remarketing.

“Google products help with a wide variety of online activities. Reading emails, watching videos, search, consuming content etc are extensive buckets in themselves. Google enables us to make every platform interact with each other and drive the most relevant user interactions. This helps the movement from awareness to consideration to purchase in a way never before,” says Saranjeet Singh, Head of Digital Marketing.

The numbers speak for themselves

The 90-day campaign gave PayUmoney the stronger ROI. When compared to TV only, the cost of user acquisition was 56% lower with a digital only approach. A steady growth in transactions increased the value of the digital audience and showed long term value. The digital phase also increased transactions with the business recording a 16% rise. They received close to 2M views on YouTube, signifying user interest and involvement from highly targeted, quality leads who were more likely to complete transactions. Compared to the TV phase, PayUmoney doubled their average selling price in the digital-only period. The digital phase also a recorded a 22% increase in repeat transactions from users who were acquired during the campaign.

A digital-first marketing approach

The successful campaign with the proven results have paved the way for PayUmoney’s future marketing activities. Going forward, their campaigns will be digital-only, and perhaps branch into mixed mediums for certain target groups.

“We have started looking at online marketing as the prime funnel to create online brands and drive business growth. For a payments player in a fairly competitive industry, a valued online payment isn’t a customer habit yet. It's confined to an evolved section and digital platforms leveraged in the right manner is the go-to for internet brands. We are excited to start this journey and set the tone for the industry,” says Nitin Gupta, CEO.