Summary
Making you feel better about borrowing
Challenge
E-commerce has changed the way we shop and, the way we pay. In 2021, digital wallets (45.4%) followed by debit cards (14.6%) and credit cards (13.3%) were the leading e-commerce payment methods.1 Having normalized cashless payments, Fintechs are now bringing new-age lending products. The latest being Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL). E-commerce giants like Amazon, Flipkart have Pay Later options on their platforms. India's youth is extensively using such credit products to facilitate their big-ticket spends. BharatPe's new credit service ‘Postpe' was the first to bring Buy Now Pay Later for everything from cappuccino to mobile phones. It gives you credit for everyday expenses and micro-purchases. That is why it was pitched at young people. But that's where the challenge was. Postpe's USP raked up a classic Ego problem - Who would feel good about borrowing to buy their cup of Coffee? For Postpe to win favor with youth we needed to resolve the emotional discomfort that it created. To be among the top 10 fintech apps within the 1st year of launch. KPI – Market Share gains
Objective
BNPL was useful for everyday expenses. From paying at the restaurants to paying at the movies to paying for shopping. That was its USP and hence was pitched to young people. But that's where the challenge was. Postpe's USP raked up a classic Ego problem - Who would feel good about borrowing to buy their cup of Coffee? Borrowing for everyday expenses made you feel anything but smart. It makes you feel like a poor money manager or worse, it can make you feel poor. The Challenge: Why would you buy into a service that puts your self-worth in question? For Postpe to get more users, we needed to resolve the emotional discomfort that it created.
Strategy
We delved into our culture to find what reduces our discomfort in borrowing. And asked ourselves Who do we feel most comfortable borrowing from? It is from those who made us least conscious when we owe them back. And this was best manifested in not how they behaved when they were lending the money, but when it was time to return it. They would always tell you ‘ Koi Jaldi nahin hai DE DENA AARAM SE' When said this phrase was powerful because it expressed the lender's trust in my ability to return it. We leveraged this truth to give youngsters the confidence to Postpe. BNPL apps were already much the rage - normalising taking credit especially for big ticket items. Postpe's offering was focused on selling credit for everyday expenses and micro purchases. To cut through fintech's clutter to reach youth, we needed to reach out to Youth on all their high usage platforms - i.e social media, YouTube and e-commerce apps. Digital targeting was a key component in activating our strategy. And to counter category noise we launched a youth centric TVC that highlighted Postpe's USP and relative relevance to Youth lifestyle and expense needs.
Data
Postpe's USP raked up a classic Ego problem - Who would feel good about borrowing to buy their cup of Coffee? Borrowing for everyday expenses made you feel anything but smart. It makes you feel like a poor money manager or worse, it can make you feel poor. The Challenge: Why would you buy into a service that puts your self-worth in question? For Postpe to get more users, we needed to resolve the emotional discomfort that it created. We delved into our culture to find what reduces our discomfort in borrowing. And asked ourselves Who do we feel most comfortable borrowing from? It is from those who made us least conscious when we owe them back. And this was best manifested in not how they behaved when they were lending the money, but when it was time to return it. They would always tell you ‘ Koi Jaldi nahin hai DE DENA AARAM SE' When said this phrase was powerful because it expressed the lender's trust in my ability to return it. We leveraged this truth to give youngsters the confidence to Postpe.
Solution
Results
India leads the world in its intent to use 'Buy Now Pay later' services in the future, reveals data from YouGov's latest report - the 'Future of financial services'. In India, the intent to make a purchase through these schemes is comparable across age-groups, except for those aged 18-24, who are less likely to say they will use the BNPL plans. This YouGov report revealed that BNPL is often seen as a route for customers to make purchases they can't buy instantly - which raked up an emotional discomfort in Youth for using it. And is exactly the challenge that our campaign helped Postpe resolve for Youngsters. Leading to unprecedented acceptance of Postpe that reflected in its business success. In fact, POSTPE EMERGED AS THE FASTEST GROWING PRODUCT IN THE BNPL CATEGORY. Despite being a late entrant in the BNPL segment Postpe has captured over 17% Market Share in under 9 months of launch. Post Campaign, Postpe saw a 2X increase in Transaction Processed Value (TPV). In addition to the jump in July'22, Postpe saw an 80% increase on average in TPV over the next 4 successive months.
