Businesses in tech and entertainment have spent years perfecting their product experiences - onboarding, engagement loops, personalization, retention. The craft is sophisticated and intentional.
Yet, payments often remain a disjointed afterthought.
You might have already integrated payments, but the experience is often cumbersome:
- The handoff to a checkout flow feels disconnected.
- Subscription failures lead to customer churn.
- Refunds and disputes result in support tickets managed by an often-slow third party.
- Wallet experiences are inconsistent across devices.
- Rewards are fragmented across multiple programs and difficult to redeem.
Or maybe you are still toying with the idea of embedding financial services and asking the right questions: is it really worth all the effort, what will it unlock, and what does “good” actually look like?
Marqeta’s 2025 State of Payments report offers a helpful lens for this moment. It shows rising expectations for seamless, integrated financial experiences and highlights how both consumers and businesses are actively looking for smarter financial tools that reduce effort and deliver value automatically.
For brands, the implication is simple. Payments are no longer a utility layer, but instead they are part of your overall product experience.
Consumer expectations are shifting toward invisible payments
The State of Payments report found that 32% of consumers surveyed would use a mobile wallet that makes purchases automatically based on past behavior. That signals a broader expectation shift toward convenience that feels proactive, not manual.
In technology and entertainment, where so much revenue depends on recurring behavior, this matters. If your customers are increasingly open to payments that “just work,” then clunky payment steps, unnecessary redirects, and fragmented wallet experiences become more than a nuisance. They become a competitive disadvantage and a reason for your customers to move on.
The bar is now set by the best fintech consumer product experiences, not by the average payment flows of old.
Loyalty and rewards are becoming a product function
Another key finding from the report is that 63% of consumers want unified reward management across brands and programs. People are tired of juggling separate loyalty portals, codes, and disconnected offers. They want rewards that are visible, meaningful to them, easy to use, and consistent.
This is a big moment for tech and entertainment companies because loyalty is already central to your business model. But loyalty cannot feel like an afterthought. If rewards require extra effort or get lost across channels, they do not drive behavior. They just become noise.
This is why more brands are moving toward “invisible rewards,” where loyalty is integrated into the payment experience and applied automatically in the background, without extra steps.
Where payment friction typically surfaces
If you have embedded payments but something feels off, it often comes down to a few common friction points.
Subscription lifecycle friction
Payments fail, customers churn, and recovery flows are not smooth enough. Billing communication feels separate from the product experience.
Payments fail, customers churn, and recovery flows are not smooth enough. Billing communication feels separate from the product experience.
In-app and digital purchases that break down
A purchase flow that pulls customers out of the experience, adds too many steps, or feels inconsistent across devices lowers conversion and increases drop-off.
A purchase flow that pulls customers out of the experience, adds too many steps, or feels inconsistent across devices lowers conversion and increases drop-off.
Wallet inconsistency
Customers want a familiar experience whether they pay on a phone, a browser, a TV device, or inside an app. When wallet and payment options feel fragmented, the experience feels off.
Customers want a familiar experience whether they pay on a phone, a browser, a TV device, or inside an app. When wallet and payment options feel fragmented, the experience feels off.
Refunds and disputes that damage trust
When something goes wrong, a slow or unclear resolution process can undo customer trust quickly. This matters disproportionately in entertainment, gaming, and creator ecosystems where customer sentiment moves fast.
When something goes wrong, a slow or unclear resolution process can undo customer trust quickly. This matters disproportionately in entertainment, gaming, and creator ecosystems where customer sentiment moves fast.
Rewards that are hard to understand or use
Users want value, not complexity. If loyalty is unclear, fragmented, or requires manual activation, it does not drive adoption or retention. It’s just frustrating.
Users want value, not complexity. If loyalty is unclear, fragmented, or requires manual activation, it does not drive adoption or retention. It’s just frustrating.
These are not simply payment issues; they are product issues.
Use cases where embedded finance strengthens the product experience
The goal is not to add financial features because everyone is talking about embedded finance. The goal is to use financial capabilities to remove friction, strengthen loyalty, and improve retention.
Here are practical use cases that often resonate for tech and entertainment brands.
Subscription-first ecosystems
If your model is built on subscriptions, payments need to be designed to reduce involuntary churn and improve customer lifetime value. Embedded finance capabilities can help to support:
- Subscription strategies that reduce failed payments
- Premium tiers with embedded loyalty value
- Rewards that apply automatically to renewals or add-ons
- A consistent payment experience across channels and devices
Gaming platforms and digital content
Gaming and digital content are high-frequency, high-emotion environments. Payment friction is especially visible. Embedded finance can help enable:
- Faster, more seamless in-game and in-app purchasing
- Wallet and tokenization experiences that feel consistent across devices
- Faster payouts for creators, tournament winners, or contributors
- Platform-linked cards that keep users engaged in your ecosystem
Creator economy and partner payouts
Creators and contributors care about trust, speed, and predictability. Many platforms compete on creator experience, and payouts are one of the most important parts of that relationship. Embedded finance can help support:
- Faster access to earnings
- Branded payout cards that allow access to funds swiftly
- Spend controls and budgeting tools for creators
- Integrated rewards tied to platform activity
Creative software and B2B platforms serving SMBs
If you serve SMBs, creators, studios, agencies, or independent professionals, embedded finance is increasingly a product advantage. The State of Payments report found that 52% of SMBs see payment systems as strategic assets and 89% are willing to invest in solutions that deliver long-term savings and efficiency.
That suggests a clear opportunity for platforms to embed tools that help to improve cash flow and operational control, such as:
- Expense and spend management cards tied to software workflows
- Subscription and billing experiences optimized for business users
- Rewards aligned to business spend categories
- Financial tooling that makes your platform more operationally indispensable
What the next generation of payment experiences looks like
The State of Payments report signals a future where consumers and businesses expect payments to be:
- Embedded into the experience, not a separate workflow
- Intelligent, with automation that reduces effort
- Unified, especially for rewards and value management
- Reliable, because trust is built through consistent performance
When that happens, payment experience becomes brand experience. The best companies embracing embedded finance will treat payments as part of the core product design, not back office plumbing.
Where Marqeta fits
For companies that are already embedding payments, Marqeta’s role is often to help make the experience feel modern and consistent across the full customer journey, not just at checkout.
For companies still exploring embedded finance, the goal is to help you understand what is possible, what is realistic, and what use cases will drive measurable outcomes like adoption, retention, and revenue.
The State of Payments report is useful because it does not just talk about technology. It reflects how customer expectations are changing. And for tech and entertainment brands, customer expectations are the product roadmap.
If payments in your journey feel clunky today, that is not a failure. It is a signal. Customers are telling the market what they expect next. The companies that respond early will build the stickiest experiences and the strongest loyalty.
