Instagram’s parent company Facebook announced that it will introduce in-app payments feature in March 2017. Well! The option is live now with the new Instagram update which allows you to book a service with a business right through the app. In-app payment option is available to some users only, in case you cannot find this feature on your phone. Then, it’s time to update your app. Instagram is planning to launch this functionality in 8 more countries.
Over 80% of users are following business directly or indirectly. These huge daily footprints over this social network will help small business to grow smoothly.
Instagram will allow you to reserve a table at a dining restaurant or book a movie ticket with Instagram payments without exiting the app.
How users can make purchase on Instagram?
From the account section of your profile, you can access the Instagram payments feature. Instagram allows you to register your debit and credit card for instant transactions.
The payment section is divided into 3 subsections:
Activity- In this section, all your past purchases will appear here. You can track them with unique transaction ids and additional details.
Profile- Your register cards will appear here by clicking ‘Add Debit or Credit Card’ link. You can easily edit and remove the card details and switch amongst the multiple registered cards.
Security- Giving an edge to security, Instagram asks you to configure a PIN which acts as your security code which you need to enter every time you make a transaction.
How it will help brands to get a higher conversion rate?
Instagram enabled the in-app payments with the integration of Shoppable Tags. Retailers can tag their product in their Instagram posts and users can see the details such as price and description of photos simply by tapping the tags.
Users can buy the product instantly by instant transactions through registered cards. Now pondering over the marketing edge through in-app payments. Instagram already enabled the shopping feature but users were redirected to third-party websites for payments.
Instagram is the major advertising platform amongst all social networks. In-app payments will allow the brands to advertise and complete payments on the same platform. This feature will allow the product pages to boot up instantly as no third-party pages are to be redirected. The most amusing thing is that being a mediator, Instagram will not ask for its cut. This will excite the brands to push their potential buyers to checkout directly through Instagram leading to higher conversion rates.
Facebook is trying to introduce in-app chatbots in the next Instagram update for seamless support like other ecommerce platforms. Users can ‘save’ products to bookmark them and they can also compare them with other products of different brands.
In-app shopping with Instagram Payments will be a major opponent for existing e-commerce giants like Amazon and eBay. Instagram is most likely to expand this in-app payment feature globally in near future. It will be a vital revenue-driving opportunity for small businesses and start-ups.
Inspired by Instagram’s native payment feature, Snapchat also introduced in-app snapchat merchandise store or snap store with native payments. The company CEO claims that with the introduction of native snap store, the aim is to portray the brand loyalty to its community rather than earning revenue.