Research Proposal on Affinipay
Customer Experience
Abstract
The FinTech market in USA is expanding, and new companies are entering the market. Therefore, AffinipayPay needs to evaluate its services to maintain its position in the market. This research proposal is aimed to explore Affinipay customer experience through its customer satisfaction and loyalty. Customer satisfaction score and net score promoter are used to study the collected data by surveys and secondary resources. Finally, the recommendation is drawn to improve Affinipay customer experience.
Contents
3. THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK/ LITERATURE REVIEW 4
4. RESEARCH PROBLEM AND QUESTIONS 8
8. ANALYSIS AND STATISTICAL METHODS TO BE USED TO ANALYSE THE DATA 10
1. BACKGROUND
- Affinipay is AffiniPay offers a payment solution developed specifically for the needs of professionals and their clients. It accepts all credit cards, debit cards, and eChecks with one-click payment processing, advanced fraud protection, and security that exceeds internet standards. (affinipay 2020).
- This research study will be performed in USA
2. PURPOSE OF THE STUDY
This study report analyses and explains how the latest share entrance influences affiniPay in the US. To analyze this research purpose and figure out how Affinipay can compete and improve its customer experience in the USA FinTech market. After the study, Affinipay was established in 2005 affiniPay is the market leader in professional services payments serving legal, accounting, architectural, engineering and construction firms. AffiniPay has been recognized as one of Inc. Each of its brands leads the market it serves with solutions purpose-built by industry including LawPay, ClientPay, CPACharge, and AffiniPay for Associations( AffiniPay 2021).
What will encourage clients to use Affinipay?
How comfortable are current users, and how can Affinipay strengthen customer experience?
What are the main factors which distinguish Affinipay Pay from competitors?
3. THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK/ LITERATURE REVIEW
A widespread, accessible high-speed Internet at affordable prices and the advent of and proliferation of information technology has led to maritime changes in the business world affecting the conduct of the routine of our business. With a slow start, e-commerce has increased exponentially among individuals and companies. Any underlying payment mechanisms were initially made available, with different kinds of phenomena such as aggressive security payment environments. Payment systems have progressively improved, and the world now has highly sophisticated digital payment systems offered worldwide by various companies. However, this does not mean that these payment systems are safe. Saudi Arabia is the largest economy and part of The Group of Twenty (G20) in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) (HSBC 2020). It supports the digital economy in its views of 2030 as a significant pillar of the Saudi economy (UnitedNationalPlatform 2020). The State plans for a cashless Saudi Arabia society in which 70 per cent of the Kingdom ‘s overall payments will be digital by 2030 compared to just 18 per cent in 2017 (Almuhammadi 2020). From a financial inclusion and bank account point of view, it is very advanced.
Consequently, POS machines are available to most large and medium-sized stores and micro traders. NFC made 53 per cent (12 per cent) in June 2019 and 12 per cent in May 2018 of all transactions on the Saudi market (Almuhammadi 2020). NFC and contactless card or mobile payments were introduced in mid-2017 in Saudi Arabia; today, more than 94% of POS devices use technology (Almuhammadi 2020). Saudi Arabia advocates the use of NFC-contactless payments. Indeed, one of the most significant cash outflows in the region is Saudi. Therefore, focusing on innovative ideas for cross-border businesses, domestic trade, peer-to-peer financing to SMEs and other Fintech values is of priority. Banks and other Fintechs are now designing their solutions to ensure standard-by-standard interoperability between wallet suppliers. Subject to overall POS sales of SAR 72,7 billion, with 362,3 million revenues (Almuhammadi 2020). There were 18.8 000 and 30.3 million cards issued by domestic banks (Almuhammadi 2020). 388,000 POS terminals were available (Almuhammadi 2020). Because demand continues, STC Pay wants to spend more on the consumer experience. To make goods compatible with these platforms, they have to make their software more compatible with operating systems, indicating more R&D research and technological growth. Eventual expenses would decline, and the number of consumers and sales would be expanded.
Customers can encounter hundreds of experiences in their relationship with a company, where each represents a point of view about the way they feel about the products, services and more of the business (Meyer & Schwager 2007). It is difficult by itself to measure those data points throughout the life cycle of a customer (Bolton et al. 2018). As it extends through hundreds, thousands, or even more of the individuals that make up the company’s customer base; it is even more complicated.
However, a holistic view of how the business customers feel about the product determines customer experience which pushes businesses around the world satisfaction, a success which sales (Johnston & Kong 2011). Perception with customers is how clients view the company due to all their experiences with the company.
Figure 1 Process Model for Customer Journey and Experience (Lemon & Verhoef 2016)
It is crucial to quantify and monitor customer service, so a comprehensive process is required to support STC Pay to achieve performance (Lemon & Verhoef 2016). STC Pay must obtain and interpret the correct feedback entirely, rapidly and in collaboration (Lemon & Verhoef 2016).
Consumer experience can be like a difficult to quantify abstract term. STC Pay needs to rely on various metrics that can be used individually or together to show the expertise of its customers in their business. Customer satisfaction score (CSAT) and net promoter score (NPS) are included in this study.
Scores of Customer Satisfaction (CSAT):
Figure 2 The ACSI model (Hsu 2008)
The typical primary success metric for customer loyalty reflects how satisfied consumers are with the products and services of the company (Hsu 2008). It is a mental state measured according to the expectations of the customer (Johnson & Fornell 1991). With the awareness of those expectations, the organization will significantly boost its consumer loyalty to its brand.
Figure 3 A framework for satisfaction research (Johnson & Fornell 1991)
Firstly, we need to consider the meaning and the connexion between satisfaction and expectations. Satisfaction is, therefore, a general psychological condition that represents the appraisal of the customer’s or consumer ‘s interaction with a business, environment, product or service. The three major psychological factors involve satisfaction: cognitive (thinking/evaluation), affective (emotional / feelings), and behavioural. The expected results (benefits or values) in given predicted performance levels based on prior affective, cognitive and behavioural experiences are, however, believed (likelihood or probability) to be produced by a product or service (containing some characteristics, attributes or characteristics) (Johnson & Fornell 1991).
Net Score Promoter (NPS):
The net promoter score represents a measure of consumer satisfaction established in his 2003 Harvard Business Review article, “The one number you need to grow,” by the Satmetrix company and the Fred Reichheld group (Reichheld 2003). The crucial point is that essential insights into consumer development can be gleaned through monitoring only the consumers at the peak of a company’s loyalty level by word-of-mouth reviews and frequent purchases (Anderson 1998). Such lessons will be missed in a more complex but comprehensive study (Schneider et al. 2008).
The origin of the measure is the assumption that clients are either exporters, highly satisfied consumers who serve as loyal brand promoters and sources of significant revenue for replication, or critics, somewhat disgruntled users (Pollack & Alexandrov 2013). The latter hinders brand development by sharing negative product testimonies. The developers of the definition believe that an organisation can accurately calculate the satisfaction of its customer base by taking the net difference between the two classes.
STC Pay will be critically affected by the newly introduced FinTech companies and the following firms. Therefore, STC Pay may have to evaluate its relationship with its user. This evaluation will help STC Pay to understand its clients’ experience and gain insights and recommendations for improvement.
4. RESEARCH PROBLEM AND QUESTIONS
To study STC Pay and help them improve their customer experience. STC Pay Client Satisfaction and loyalty analyses this research challenge to understand how STC Pay can enhance its customer experience? Then five research questions allow the research issue to be addressed as follows:
What are the findings of STC Pay’s customer satisfaction?
What impacts the satisfaction of STC Pay’s customers?
Why do STC Pay customers recommend STC Pay to friends and family? So if not, why not?
How do STC Pay’s customer experience influence satisfaction and loyalty?
What are STC Pay’s challenges and opportunities to improve its client experience?
5. DATA COLLECTION
In this study, a qualitative approach and a quantitative method are used to obtain data. The researcher will collect online survey data and open questionnaires about customer satisfaction and loyalty for the qualitative method. For example, how fast if STC Pay in the payment process? And instead, the researcher will obtain evidence on the quantitative approach from secondary data in Saudi Arabia, including STC Pay & other FinTech firms, financial results, academic journal papers, news, and Internet.
- Measurement
Primary Data:
The primary data that will include STC Pay customer satisfaction and customer loyalty will be obtained from online surveys and open questions in the questionnaire.
Secondary Data:
Secondary data are provided by academic journals, STC Pay & other FinTech websites in Saudi Arabia, newspapers, magazines, and government statistics. This secondary information is used to support part of the primary data.
6. RESEARCH DESIGN
The research design is primarily based on an exploratory and descriptive approach for analysing STC Pay customer experience and analysing STC Pay customer satisfaction and loyalty. Theoretical concepts and analysis are to be given by exploratory study. Within the descriptive analysis, more detail on a research topic is discussed. This research is based on the collection and analysis of primary and secondary data and suggests for STC Pay.
7. THE SAMPLING PLAN
Non-probability samples and comfort methods would be used in this analysis. This research is carried out in between 1000 and 5000 individuals and separate men and women from Saudi Arabia using STC Pay. In the online examination, open questions will then be posted in questionnaires.
8. ANALYSIS AND STATISTICAL METHODS TO BE USED TO ANALYSE THE DATA
The qualitative and quantitative methods of both data collection would be used for the interpretation of this study paper. Useful and appropriate tools from internet surveys and data collection for analyses will be chosen for the qualitative process to gain the CSAT and the NPS of STC Pay customers. Information from secondary figures, including research articles, STC Pay and other FinTech websites in Saudi Arabia, journals, magazines, and policy data can be collected through the quantitative process. The selection of the methods was based on the availability of the data and the limitations of the study.
9. TIMING
Table 1
| Activities | Deadline |
| Communication with STC Pay | 10 Jun 2021 |
| Finish and submit the research proposal | 14 Jun 2021 |
| Subscribe with MonkeySurvey | 14 Jun 2021 |
| Research report introduction and data collection methods and survey readiness | 20 Jun 2021 |
| Survey lunch | 21 Jun 2021 |
| Theoretical framework and literature review | 24 Jun 2021 |
| Data collection | 15 Jul 2021 |
| Recommendation | 20 Jul 2021 |
| Conclusion and executive summary and appendix | 22 Jul 2021 |
| Presentation | 24 Jul 2021 |
| Final report submission | 26 Jul 2021 |
10. REFERANCES
Almuhammadi, A 2020, ‘An Overview of Mobile Payments, Fintech, and Digital Wallet in Saudi Arabia’, in 2020 7th International Conference on Computing for Sustainable Global Development (INDIACom), pp. 271-8.
Anderson, EW 1998, ‘Customer satisfaction and word of mouth’, Journal of service research, vol. 1, no. 1, pp. 5-17.
Bolton, RN, McColl-Kennedy, JR, Cheung, L, Gallan, A, Orsingher, C, Witell, L & Zaki, M 2018, ‘Customer experience challenges: bringing together digital, physical and social realms’, Journal of Service Management.
HSBC 2020, G20 Summit 2020 | Insights | HSBC, viewed 5/9/2021, <https://www.gbm.hsbc.com/insights/markets/g20-summit-2020>.
Hsu, S-H 2008, ‘Developing an index for online customer satisfaction: Adaptation of American Customer Satisfaction Index’, Expert systems with Applications, vol. 34, no. 4, pp. 3033-42.
Johnson, MD & Fornell, C 1991, ‘A framework for comparing customer satisfaction across individuals and product categories’, Journal of economic psychology, vol. 12, no. 2, pp. 267-86.
Johnson, V 2020, ‘MEFTECH 2020 support Saudi Arabia’s thriving Fintech growth | INTLBM’, https://intlbm.com/meftech-2020-support-saudi-arabias-thriving-fintech-growth/.
Johnston, R & Kong, X 2011, ‘The customer experience: a road‐map for improvement’, Managing Service Quality: An International Journal.
Lemon, KN & Verhoef, PC 2016, ‘Understanding customer experience throughout the customer journey’, Journal of Marketing, vol. 80, no. 6, pp. 69-96.
MADA 2020, Saudi Payment Network | Electronic payment system | Mada, viewed 6/6/2020, <https://www.mada.com.sa/en/content/glance-saudi-payment-network-span/38>.
MCIT 2018, Minister of ICT inaugurates digital payment company ‘STC Pay’, viewed 6/6/2020, <https://www.mcit.gov.sa/en/media-center/news/101739>.
Meyer, C & Schwager, A 2007, ‘Understanding customer experience’, Harvard business review, vol. 85, no. 2, p. 116.
Pollack, BL & Alexandrov, A 2013, ‘Nomological validity of the Net Promoter Index question’, Journal of Services Marketing.
Reichheld, FF 2003, ‘The One Number You Need to Grow’, Harvard business review, no. December 2003, 2003/12/01/T05:00:00Z.
Barron’s 2021, TA Associates Invests in AffiniPay in Latest Deal in Payments
,viewed6/6/2021,<https://www.barrons.com/articles/ta-associates-invests-in-affinipay-in-latest-deal-in-payments-51582580823>.
—— 2020, Permitted Fintechs, viewed 6/6/2020, <http://www.sama.gov.sa/en-US/Regulatory%20Sandbox/Pages/Permitted-Fintechs.aspx>.
SaudiVision2030 2016, Financial Sector Development Program | Saudi Vision 2030, viewed 6/6/2020, <https://vision2030.gov.sa/en/programs/FSDP>.
Schneider, D, Berent, M, Thomas, R & Krosnick, J 2008, ‘Measuring customer satisfaction and loyalty: Improving the ‘Net-Promoter Score’, in Poster presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Association for Public Opinion Research, New Orleans, Louisiana.
affinipay 2020, About Us, viewed 5/8/2021, <https://www.affinipay.com>.
UnitedNationalPlatform 2020, Digital Transformation, viewed 6/6/2021, <https://www.my.gov.sa/wps/portal/snp/aboutksa/digitaltransformation/!ut/p/z0/04_Sj9CPykssy0xPLMnMz0vMAfIjo8zivQIsTAwdDQz9LUxNnA0Cg11DXEydAowCHQ31g1Pz9AuyHRUB1eTRhg!!/>.