Cashfree Payments doubles down on brand building; undergoes a brand refresh

New Delhi: Doubling down on brand building, Cashfree Payments, the payments and API banking platform, recently underwent a brand refresh and onboarded Bollywood actor Rajkummar Rao as its brand ambassador.

The brand also introduced a new tagline, "Move Fast," along with a campaign that reflects Cashfree Payments’ commitment to delivering the best for businesses with speed and scale—offering the fastest onboarding, quickest payments, and most responsive support.

The campaign co-created with OML is supported by a digital brand film, outdoor advertising, and more. 

Speaking to BestMediaInfo.com about why the brand refresh is being carried out, Aditi Olemann, Head of Marketing at Cashfree Payments, said, “The refresh is about reinforcing our commitment to merchants, not changing directions. Cashfree has always focused on solving merchants' pain points. As one of India's largest payment gateways, we understand the critical role of payments in B2C businesses. 

In India's competitive market, businesses need to move fast. Our new brand refresh, with the tagline "move fast," helps businesses quickly set up and launch new products. For example, when new payment modes like UPI or BNPL are introduced, we ensure merchants can offer these options swiftly.”

Olemann told BestMediaInfo.com that the company is doubling down on building the brand. She added, “The refresh is about showcasing why we are fast, not just in onboarding and payments but also in bringing the best products to market. A lot of focus will be on the brand and how we communicate this better.”

From a product marketing standpoint, the company wants to build the most seamless experience for the customer, similar to global giants like Stripe.

Olemann commented, “We closely follow their innovations and strive to be equally innovative. We aim to provide the easiest and most customer-friendly experience. Additionally, from an SME marketing standpoint, we have ambitious goals to reach 10 times the number of merchants we have today within three years. This means building a top-of-funnel strategy that is both fast and high-quality.”

Cutting through the clutter

Moving forward with the interview, we asked Olemann how Cashfree Payments uses marketing to stay ahead in the domain. Replying to the query, she said, “There are three key focuses: brand, product marketing, and traditional digital event marketing. As part of brand marketing, we focus on presenting ourselves as a brand that is customer-centric and moves fast.  Another key tent is product marketing, which is crucial because it's not just about promoting the brand but also ensuring that merchants have a seamless experience. This includes how easy it is for them to use the product, go live quickly, and activate new modes without any hassle. 

Traditional digital event marketing is also vital in B2B, especially for payments, where the role of marketing involves sales enablement and thought leadership. As a payment company, we serve a wide spectrum of customers, from small businesses and sole proprietors to large brands. This requires a nuanced approach to ensure our brand speaks to all customer profiles without alienating any. We aim to address the needs of both small and large customers, ensuring that our marketing strategy is inclusive and effective across the board.”

Marketing trends

Diving deeper, Olemann mentioned some of the marketing trends in the payments industry and the trends that are likely to persist in 2025 as well.

From the horse’s lips, Olemann said, “One crucial lesson for us, and likely for others in the industry, is that establishing trust is paramount in payments. It's not just about claiming to be trustworthy; it's about customer advocacy and social proof. In payments, merchants trust us with their revenue, and consumers trust us with their money. Building trust involves highlighting the value we provide, such as reducing risk and fraud issues, rather than just focusing on product features. As a company, we have doubled down on security to ensure this trust.

Additionally, more payment companies, including Cashfree, are focusing on brand campaigns. In a crowded market, it's important to communicate why we are different. Brand is not just about what we do; it's about who we are. Consistent communication through marketing helps build this brand identity. It's not enough to focus solely on performance marketing and quick business gains. To attract better-quality merchants, we need to optimise both our brand and marketing spend.”

Multilingual communication

Have you heard of the phrase, “When someone talks in English, you hear but when someone speaks your mother tongue, you feel?”

Highlighting the importance of communicating in regional languages, Olemann said, “Currently, our communication is primarily in English, but we recognise that not all merchants are comfortable with this. We are planning to address this in the future. Historically, our ads and communications have been in English, but we are now embracing the need for multilingual communication. We understand that to ensure our merchants and customers feel connected, we must communicate in a language they are comfortable with. This is something we are actively working on to improve.”

The hard part

Moving ahead, Olemann was asked about the marketing challenges that have existed in her industry, and giving a piece of her thoughts on the challenges, she said, “In the payments industry, there are different categories of products. On one end, there are B2C products that consumers buy whimsically, and on the other end, there are high-friction products like CRM systems. Payments fall somewhere in between but are very critical. 

Reaching a merchant doesn't mean they need you immediately. The marketing challenge is to build a funnel that nurtures the merchant so that when they need a new solution, they know who to turn to. This involves creating the right awareness, consideration, and decision-making funnel. When merchants are looking to change their payment gateway or start a new business, they should remember you. Building this funnel is interesting and challenging from a marketing standpoint. The more you build awareness and consideration, the easier and more cost-effective it becomes to convert them.

Market research shows that the decision to choose a payment gateway rarely happens at the time of searching. It often happens because someone has recommended it. Word of mouth is very critical in payments because merchants trust their payment gateway with their revenue, and consumers trust it with their money. Building trust through word of mouth is a long-term game. Ensuring that word of mouth helps you is essential, but it is not straightforward. These are some of the challenges we face in the payments industry.”

Using AI

Hoping onto the most abused word of our times, Olemann spoke about how she uses AI in her marketing; she said, “We leverage AI tools to improve remarketing, especially for the funnel piece we discussed. If someone is not actively looking but browsing for future needs, we use AI to keep them engaged. Additionally, we use AI and data to better profile and understand our Ideal Customer Profiles (ICPs). This helps us cater to a wide range of merchants, from small businesses to mid-market merchants. When our representatives approach them, they are more knowledgeable about the merchants' needs and challenges.

This understanding allows us to provide better marketing and support. It's important to use AI and data ethically and responsibly, ensuring that our tools are used in a measured way to benefit our customers. By leveraging AI, we can enhance our marketing strategies and maintain strong relationships with our merchants, ultimately helping them grow and succeed in their businesses.”

Marketing Mix

The marketing mix for B2B brands is very different from D2C brands, presenting insights into her media mix, Olemann said, “For new products, marketing spends vary depending on the stage. As a B2B digital and online business, we focus less on offline marketing and more on online channels. Our channel mix includes performance marketing, which is essential for SME-focused businesses, and brand marketing to build awareness and consideration. We also emphasise organic and direct traffic, ensuring we rank for the right keywords and provide relevant information to potential customers.

We allocate budgets to various initiatives, including B2B events, both those we participate in and those we host, like Cashfree's own summits. These events help us engage in in-person conversations, adding vertical depth to our digital reach. Additionally, we invest in social media and thought leadership to maintain a strong presence and ensure that when merchants need a payment gateway, they remember us. The proportion of spend varies based on different factors, but our focus remains on building a comprehensive marketing strategy.”

Closing the gap

Going further into how Cashfree Payments is marketing itself to close the gap with established players in the field like Razorpay, Olemann replied by saying, “We have taken a very aggressive focus on SMBs, building our strategies and products with a product-first approach. Our primary focus is to ensure we build the best products possible, going beyond just payments. For example, when you buy something on Amazon, the payment process is seamless with saved payment methods, making it almost a one-click experience.

However, this ease is not always present when trying out new B2C brands. Often, consumers get frustrated and drop off during the checkout process due to the need to enter their address, payment details, etc. We are doubling down on solving this problem by enhancing the checkout experience and improving conversion rates. Our goal is to provide a super-fast and seamless checkout experience, which is a key tool in helping us grow faster than the competition. To add, we are also eyeing international expansion and working on our GTM.”

Influencer marketing

Commenting on how she looks at influencer marketing, Olemann said, “We are identifying meaningful ways to partner and stay in the consumer's mind daily. For us, it's about being relevant for emotional decision-making, which differs from consumer-focused strategies. As a marketer, I believe influencer marketing and collaborating with creators are great ways for a brand to grow. We are currently experimenting and identifying how this fits organically for us. Today, our merchants are our voice, and even end consumers who have had a great experience with our services, like a seamless checkout, provide better advocacy than us promoting our features.

When consumers use a cashless checkout and love the experience, their word-of-mouth is far more impactful than any marketing message we could deliver. This organic advocacy is invaluable and significantly more effective in building trust and credibility for our brand. We focus on ensuring that our merchants and their customers have excellent experiences, which naturally leads to positive word-of-mouth and brand growth.”

Managing the embargo

The payment facilitator ecosystem is a tough nut to crack as it involves regulations and strict licensing approvals by the Reserve Bank of India and the RBI also imposed an embargo on payment facilitator platforms from December 2022 to December 2023, prohibiting these platforms from onboarding new merchants. Such a situation makes the job of a marketer as they now have to communicate to the new merchants wanting to board the platform that the problem is a regulatory one and not a software glitch.

Sharing her thoughts on how she handled the situation, Olemann said, “Of course, it was a tough time as we were receiving a lot of boarding requests but we couldn't onboard new merchants because of the embargo. We wanted to make sure people understood that any delays were due to poor service but regulatory requirements. To achieve this, we sent additional communications, ensuring that merchants received multiple emails to keep them informed. 

Proactive communication was key, and with our founders actively engaging, especially with larger merchants, we took a hands-on approach to address any concerns and maintain transparency. To add, we continued to service our existing merchants, doubling down on our commitment to help them grow. We assured them that this temporary challenge would ultimately benefit them, as obtaining the license would make us a regulated and trusted FinTech entity.”