Apple Pay use lags awareness

Consumers know about Apple Pay, but that doesn’t necessarily mean they are conducting mobile payments with it.



According to a December 2015 survey of 1,300 U.S. household financial decision-makers, including 580 iPhone 6 users, conducted by First Annapolis Consulting Inc. awareness of Apple Pay is quite high. Among all survey respondents, 73% have heard of Apple Pay, while awareness jumps up to 84% for the sub-group of iPhone 6 owners.



Awareness among iPhone 6 users is down slightly from 88% in First Annapolis’ spring 2015 survey, though still within the survey’s margin of error.



Twenty percent of iPhone 6 owners reported adopting Apple Pay (i.e., having used the service at least once), down from 22% in the spring survey but also still within the survey’s margin of error. Among those that have adopted Apple Pay, only 15% say they use it regularly or frequently (i.e., more than once per month), compared to 19% in the spring survey.



On average, Apple Pay users have loaded 2.3 cards into their Apple Wallet and 75% of cards loaded were general-purpose payment cards (41% credit, 30% debit, 4% prepaid), while 25% were proprietary retail store or loyalty cards which Apple began enabling only in the second half of 2015.



Despite relatively few NFC-enabled terminals in the market, the physical point of sale remains the primary channel for Apple Pay purchases. Among those that have used Apple Pay, 66% reported having made a purchase in-store, while 52% reported having made an in-app purchase.



Among those that have used Apple Pay, 60% indicated that they are “very satisfied” with their experience and 94% are at least “somewhat satisfied.” Perhaps most importantly – no consumer indicated any level of dissatisfaction with Apple Pay.



“At this point in time, the typical financial institution can expect 1% to 2% of cardholders to use Apple Pay two or more times, based on the survey results and Apple’s share of the U.S. handset market,” said Hugh Gallagher, principal of First Annapolis Consulting. “This represents positive momentum for the evolution of the U.S. mobile payments market, but it also suggests a long adoption curve. Despite different stakeholder interests and mobile-related initiatives, most signs point to long-term success.”