Making Days Better with Contactless Fuel Pay

Introduction

Contactless Convenience

When you begin imagining the possibilities of applying technology advancements to traditionally low-tech experiences, like fueling your vehicle, it’s not hard to quickly uncover some really nice user upgrades. Who wouldn’t appreciate sitting in an air conditioned car a few minutes longer on a hot day, or on the flip side, being able to stay warm when the temperatures plunge below freezing, all the while still getting the gas you need to help you complete your commute or get started on your vacation? And then there’s the safety and cleanliness of using a shared credit card terminal - removing that touchpoint would certainly be a valuable improvement.

Despite these possibilities and the evolving expectations of consumers for more digital, contactless, and convenient experiences, fuel technology has remained largely unchanged for decades. However, when you start to think outside of the standard experience, new and innovative ways to make fueling up better begin to emerge.

And that’s exactly what Kum & Go set out to do.

As a forward-thinking company, Kum & Go, a chain of convenience stores and gas stations in the Midwestern United States, constantly listens to their customers. Dedicated to their vision to Make Days Better, Kum & Go decided to introduce new features that would upgrade the fueling experience.

To do this, Kum & Go partnered with Mobiquity to create a Mobile Fuel Pay solution in their existing mobile app.

This new program, along with their commitment to evolving and catering to the needs of their customers, proved to be fruitful when the pandemic reared its ugly head. By laying the groundwork that would be necessary to provide a contactless service during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond, Kum & Go released a just in time solution for its loyal customers.

Opportunity

Improving
Fuel Transactions

Soliciting customer feedback was the first step in designing a better fueling experience. There were a few common themes that Kum & Go heard from their customers that they were looking to resolve with the introduction of Mobile Fuel Pay:

Midwest winters can be brutal and minimizing the amount of time drivers have to spend outside, in front of the credit card terminal, is crucial.
Parents on the go, busy professionals in a hurry, truck drivers, and people with limited mobility all struggled with pumping their gas or getting out of their car.
Customers are becoming increasingly digitally-savvy, and in favor of touchless experiences.

These were just a few of the driving factors for initiating a mobile fuel pay program. Kum & Go knew they could exceed customer expectations by implementing contactless fuel pay.

To create the Mobile Fuel Pay program, Mobiquity worked together with Kum & Go to create a strategy that included:

Factoring in all of the logistics at the physical pump and integrating them into the mobile app
Creating an in-app experience that was easy to understand and use
Connecting Kum & Go’s existing rewards and loyalty program into the fuel pay feature
Enabling new members to sign up for rewards and start earning points upon registration

“At Kum & Go, we push the state of the art for convenience at the pump,” said Kum & Go Vice President of Fuels, Ken Kleemeier. “The Kum & Go app helps customers Fuel Better by linking the gas pump with the mobile phone, allowing us to radically streamline the process of fueling up, while also seamlessly integrating with the &Rewards program. Kum & Go uses technology to elevate the entire experience. It’s putting the convenience back in convenience store.”

Solution

Integrating Mobile Fuel Pay into the
Kum & Go App

After creating a strategy and plan, the Mobile Fuel Pay solution was launched. Here’s how it works:

From their car, customers select their pump. Once they select their Kum & Go store, users indicate the pump they are at by typing in the pump number.
Choose their payment method. Apple Pay, Google Pay, or a credit card are all options available to users that want to digitally pay for their fuel.
Receive a digital receipt. Customers receive a digital receipt, removing yet another physical touch point.
Redeem rewards for filling up the tank. Right from the fuel pay feature, users can apply any rewards available to them to save money on their fuel costs.
Earn rewards for using fuel pay. After filling up the tank, the digital receipt shows users how many reward points they’ve earned as a result of their transaction.
Access other benefits. To enhance the experience, the mobile app serves up timely offers on food and beverages, allows users to redeem loyalty rewards through the &Rewards program, and enables them to track prior purchases.

Results

Mobile Fuel Pay
Made Easy

Above all else, Kum & Go wanted the Mobile Fuel Pay program to be useful for their customers. They released their in-app fuel payment feature in May 2020 and initial feedback suggests they did just that. Users have reported that:

Mobile Fuel Pay works seamlessly and lives up to the promise of making days better
They appreciate the decreased contact with the credit card keypad
Interactions are speedy - often much faster than the traditional payment process.
Users appreciate being able to easily apply rewards
Saving information, such as preferred store location and payment information, make future interactions easier
Safety features, such as restricting the ability to activate a pump unless you are physically at Kum & Go, make the app even more user friendly

And while this work was already underway before COVID-19, the timing of its release provides even greater benefit to customers in the midst of this global pandemic: the ability to remove one touch point in their daily routine. In addition to positive customer feedback, recent research has indicated that contactless payments are an increasingly popular offering. Research from Mastercard found that 50% of consumers worry about the cleanliness of credit card keypads. Forrester research^[1] supports consumer interest in digital payments, finding that among consumers in the US, 35% say they will continue using this method post COVID-19.

Kum & Go is proud of everyone involved in creating the product, especially their store associates who are supporting, promoting, and bringing Mobile Fuel Pay to life every day in their stores. By providing a contactless payment option for COVID-19 and beyond, Kum & Go has truly succeeded in their goal of making days better.

^[1] Forrester Analytics Consumer Technographics COVID-19 Survey (Wave 2), 2020 (May 8-15) (US).