Key takeaways
- Phone surveys and qualitative interviews offer insights into the profiles of C3Pay’s migrant customers, identifying the three customer archetypes: Batsa, the Cautious Customer; Angela, the Researcher; and Vishali, the Savvy Saver.
- ACCESS: More than half of the migrants surveyed learned about C3Pay from their employers. Preference for digital financial literacy training varies across gender and nationality, with women migrants preferring learning via online as well as offline channels about the app, and men migrants preferring online channels. Alternatively, Filipino and Nepalese migrants prefer in-app embedded support, while Indian migrants prefer phone calls and messages. Nearly all of the surveyed migrants reported being satisfied with using the RAK Money Transfer service on the app to send money abroad. They were especially happy with its convenience, speed, and ease of use.
- USAGE: C3Pay’s migrant customers send remittances for various purposes to cover regular household expenses, paying school fees, utility payments, and financial services such as savings.
- FINANCIAL RESILIENCE: Over 60 percent of C3Pay’s surveyed customers feel equipped to handle a financial emergency, reporting that they could come up with emergency funds in the next 30 days. This was slightly higher for women than men. Moreover, three-quarters of the surveyed migrants reported feeling financially secure since they started using the C3Pay app, and two-thirds reported having more financial control.
- FINANCIAL HEALTH: Dimensions of financial health such as financial resilience, financial security and financial control are high for surveyed migrants who used the C3Pay app.
Introduction
UNCDF’s first article on research insights from its partnership with RAKBANK and Edenred used transaction data and a market scan to demonstrate how COVID-19 restrictions encouraged migrants to switch to digital channels, such as C3Pay, to send remittances. It also showed that the use of digital channels continued to grow in volume and frequency post-pandemic.
This second article draws on 355 phone surveys and 11 qualitative interviews with blue-collar migrant worker customers of RAKBANK and Edenred.1 It outlines customer profiles and archetypes and shares insights to support remittance service providers (RSPs) in running innovation pilots to support better access to and usage of digital remittances for migrants’ broader financial inclusion and resilience.
Access to digital remittances
The surveys and interviews offer insights into the behaviours and profiles of RAKBANK and Edenred customers, the process by which they become aware of and begin using C3Pay to send remittances, and the barriers they face in accessing the service.
Customer profiles and archetypes
C3Pay customers can be broadly grouped into three customer archetypes based on their consumer behaviour: Batsa, the Cautious Customer; Angela, the Researcher; and Vishali, the Savvy Saver.
Because most of the qualitative interview participants from Nepal were Cautious Customers, those from the Philippines were Researchers, and the ones from India were Savvy Savers, the archetypes reflect this general correlation and are presented side-by-side with the customer profiles for each nationality. In reality, customers’ needs, attitudes, and profiles vary across nationalities, but this approach is helpful in offering a broad overview of C3Pay’s customers.
Customer awareness and onboarding
The survey found that more than half of the surveyed C3Pay customers were introduced to the app by their employers, who pay the workers’ wages digitally.
Many of the surveyed migrant customers indicated that they primarily relied on trusted colleagues for assistance when getting started with or using the C3Pay app. In addition, RAKBANK offers customer support for onboarding new clients, remittance transactions, and any issues that arise when clients are using the C3Pay app. Edenred provides support to migrant customers through their field agents, call centre, and WhatsApp.
‘’My employer gave me this card. He told me that it is very easy to use and that I can send money home with the service. I also heard from my friends that C3Pay is very good and easy to use. When I got the app, I started using it without any doubt.’’ – Batsa
Reducing access barriers by improving digital and financial literacy
In addition to customer support, RAKBANK and Edenred offer training to help customers use the app and improve their financial and digital literacy. So far, the most popular training courses have been related to signing up on the C3Pay app, making a first transaction, understanding the cost of remittances, and safety when completing transactions.
Women reportedly prefer learning about the app via phone calls, messages, and WhatsApp tutorials. In comparison, men prefer online channels such as WhatsApp tutorials and the embedded support in the C3Pay app itself. Filipino and Nepalese migrants prefer the embedded support in the app, while Indian migrants prefer phone calls and messages. The C3Pay app is available in multiple languages—e.g., native languages of Bangladesh, India, and Pakistan—which helps in removing barriers to access and uptake by facilitating ease of use, something we’ve also observed in our research with IME Pay in Nepal since its app started using the native Nepali language for a simpler user experience and enhanced accessibility.
Usage of digital remittances and other payment instruments
C3Pay’s migrant customers send remittances for various purposes. According to the customer survey, 88 percent use them to cover regular household expenses. One-quarter of customers use them for each: paying school fees, utility payments, and financial services such as savings. Although less common, still 14 percent of migrant customers use their remittances for productive investments—such as starting or improving a business; buying land, housing or livestock; or buying agricultural equipment or inputs—and 9 percent use them to repay debt.
“After sending money to my daughter, I send some to my bank account in India. I keep very little for myself. After I saved for many years, I used my savings to buy land, and now I’m saving some more to build a house.” – Vishali
Migrants like Vishali and Angela send remittances mostly for utility payments and their children’s education. Those like Batsa use their remittances to repay the debt they acquired to finance their migration costs.
“I send almost all of my salary for my son’s education and to pay loans. I must send all of my salary!” – Batsa
Digital remittance users value convenience, speed, and ease of use
Nearly all of the migrants surveyed reported being satisfied with the process of sending money abroad using the C3Pay app. They were especially happy with its convenience (69 percent), speed (68 percent), and ease of use (51 percent).
“The C3Pay app is truly a time-saver because as long as I have an internet connection or data, I can remit money to my family in seconds. Previously, I would need to go out, take a cab, look for an outlet and stand in line. During the salary period, the queue is so long. It is more convenient to use the C3Pay app to remit money.” – Angela
When using the exchange houses, I had to take a taxi, which cost me around AED 35-40. The C3Pay app is much cheaper, around AED 10 for each remittance.” – Vishali
In particular, Nepalese migrant workers cited security as an important benefit of using C3Pay.
“It’s easy to lose all the money you worked for. The notifications in the C3Pay app make me feel safe. I can trust that the money is not lost.” – Batsa
Despite the general optimism and satisfaction with the app, nearly 60 percent of the surveyed customers reported some hesitations about using a digital channel such as C3Pay. The most cited concerns included perceived high transaction costs, additional fees for SMS or internet, and difficulties using the app. In response to this feedback, Edenred has recruited and trained a gender-diverse customer service team with representatives who speak migrant customers’ first languages and are from similar cultural backgrounds.
“I suggest that if the sender is a Filipino, a Filipino should also be the one to assist. I don’t want to speak to another nationality.” – Angela
Value propositions for each customer archetype
Understanding their customers’ archetypes and journeys can help RAKBANK and Edenred address barriers and pain points in the customer experience to tailor products and services based on each customer group’s values. In turn, these will help accelerate the uptake and usage of the C3Pay app among migrant customers.
Financial resilience
Based on UNCDF’s 2021 framework for financial health, the survey and interviews explored customers’ financial security, financial resilience, financial control and freedom.
Most of C3Pay’s migrant customers generally feel that they are financially secure. Of the surveyed customers, 77 percent reported having money left at the end of the month, and 58 percent indicated that they feel better able to manage their daily financial commitments since starting to use C3Pay.
In terms of financial resilience, over 60 percent of C3Pay’s surveyed customers feel equipped to handle a financial emergency, reporting that they could come up with emergency funds in the next 30 days. This was slightly higher for women than men. Most important, 52 percent felt that their ability to handle financial emergencies increased since they started using the C3Pay app.
In terms of financial control, 67 percent of the surveyed migrant customers reported feeling more confident in handling money since they started using the C3Pay app. This was slightly higher for men than women.
Next steps
RAKBANK and Edenred’s continuous engagement with UNCDF has amplified the companies’ gender-inclusive and migrant-centred lens, visible in their marketing, communications, and product development approaches. In particular, the following practices have been institutionalized to drive inclusion for the excluded segment, especially women:
The concept of human-centred design is not new to Edenred, however, the value of personalizing the C3Pay app experience to meet the needs of the excluded segments, i.e., women, is critical and shall be replicated beyond this project.
- The customer archetypes improved Edenred’s and RAKBANK’s understanding of their customers. Edenred is leveraging this information to tailor marketing and communication materials to the different customer segments and communicating the benefits of the C3Pay app to different customer archetypes identified during the research.
- The acknowledgment of women as a commercially viable segment by Edenred and RAKBANK. To reach more women customers, Edenred and RAKBANK have ensured a gender inclusive sales force that has led to the onboarding of more women migrants onto the C3Pay app.
- Edenred and RAKBANK are leveraging C3Pay power app users to act as ambassadors of the product to drive awareness, uptake and continuous use of the C3Pay app.
- Linking the C3Pay app to financial services such as digital utility payments and savings that customers value and use the most. Additionally, other value propositions being developed include insurance, pension, money transfer, mobile recharge, salary advance, and micro loan products.
References
1. Both the survey and interview samples were gender-balanced and included customers from Nepal, India, and the Philippines.