Venmo’s brand scores rise during pandemic
Depending on who you ask, the pandemic has either changed the way Americans think about financial services – or simply accelerated existing trends. Venmo – a brand that, pre-COVID-19, was already a verb among some consumers, and one that, during COVID-19, saw significant growth at a time when users were limiting their use of cash – can serve as an example of either phenomenon. Data from YouGov BrandIndex indicates that the peer-to-peer payment provider has indeed performed well over the pandemic.
Word of Mouth scores, which measure whether consumers are talking about a brand with friends or family, have steadily climbed through the pandemic, rising from 9.1 at the beginning of March 2020 to a peak of 14.6 in March 2021 (March 3). Recommendations, which measure whether consumers would recommend a brand to a friend or family, also climbed from 12.9 to a high point of 18.4 a year on (March 12).
All of this contributed to an overall increase in Impression – whether consumers have a positive or negative overall view of a brand – throughout the crisis. Scores for this metric increased from 13.2 to a peak of a peak of 19.6 around the same time (March 13), while Index scores (a measure of brand health that takes the average of Quality, Value, Impression, Satisfaction, Reputation, and Recommend scores) increased from 11.0 to a zenith of 16.3 (March 7).
But most importantly for Venmo, there has been a significant uptick in Current Customer scores, which measure whether a consumer is a current customer of a financial services brand. While these scores sat at a healthy 11.2 at the start of March 2020, they rose to a high-water mark of 17.4 by March 2021 (March 7). Whether Venmo is the beneficiary of a new, pandemic-induced financial paradigm, or it was simply well-placed to serve consumers at the beginning of the crisis, it has certainly improved on its position compared to last year.
Methodology
YouGov BrandIndex collects data on thousands of brands every day. Scores for each metric are based on a four-week moving average. Learn more about BrandIndex.
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