Naturgy Mexico increased app usage 50% with PayPal Checkout

Naturgy Mexico is the leading natural gas company in Mexico’s $185 billion oil and natural gas market. Currently serving 1.6 million customers, at the end of 2022, across 62 rural and urban areas across Mexico. The company is highly regarded due to its focus on dependability and customer service, as well as its forward-looking stance on innovation, sustainability, and social responsibility. Globally, Naturgy Energy Group serves 16 million customers in 20 countries on 5 continents.

Success metrics

• 50% increase in customers using the app to access account info.¹
• 10/10 satisfaction rating for PayPal from Naturgy.¹
• 2 months early launch due to low LOE on implementation.¹
• 3x increase in recurring customers.¹

The opportunity

Naturgy Mexico wanted to encourage more customers to pay their bills online.

Central to this effort was finding a solution that would increase its customers’ comfort and confidence in making digital payments. Above all, customers would need to feel that the payment experience on Naturgy’s website and app was secure and reliable.

“As a distribution company, we are part of our clients’ lives — we need to provide them a trustworthy way to pay their bills,” says Luis Nava, Collections Manager for Naturgy.

Nava says that many utility customers in Mexico prefer paying in person at a bank or grocery store. But doing so can be inconvenient. By providing a solution that protects their financial data during an online transaction, Naturgy planned to help them pay their bills more quickly and conveniently.

“But many times, you just forget the bill, it’s 10:40 p.m., obviously you’re not going out to a supermarket,” says Nava. With a secure digital way to pay, “you open your app, make the payment; and it’s easy for you.”

The solution

Naturgy decided to adopt PayPal Checkout, a function that allows customers to pay using an account with PayPal.

This secure method of transacting ensures the safety of online payments.

PayPal supported Naturgy every step of the way, helping ensure smooth and efficient implementation as well as ongoing operations. In Nava’s words, the PayPal team “responded exceptionally” to the exhaustive pre-launch tests Naturgy’s IT team conducted.

“We had absolute availability and reliability from the PayPal support team,” says Nava. “We are also a service company, and we really appreciate when a supplier understands our needs and is available basically 24/7 for a tiny detail or a large problem.”

Naturgy was also impressed that the required level of effort for implementation was far lower than they anticipated. “We were able to go live two months earlier than expected and never had to use the ‘war room’ once,” says Nava.

With PayPal Checkout, customers can enable single-click payment that bypasses the usual checkout process, since PayPal securely stores their billing information. This streamlined experience increases customer satisfaction and loyalty.

The impact

With PayPal Checkout in place, Naturgy’s customers enjoy a fast, reliable, and secure digital checkout process on Naturgy’s website and mobile app.

Naturgy’s adoption of this solution made the app work more intuitively and function better. The number of customers using the app to access their account information increased by more than 50%, from 450,000 to 700,000 after implementation.¹ And the number of recurring customers tripled, from 50,000-60,000 transactions per month to 150,000-170,000 per month.¹

The Naturgy team has found PayPal’s solutions both user-friendly and informative. Real-time transaction data and purchase history provided by PayPal helped Naturgy streamline customer service and reporting.

With the new payment system benefitting both Naturgy and its customers, Nava said he’d give PayPal Checkout a 10 out of 10, in part because of how “deeply reliable” PayPal is in helping Naturgy implement the solution.¹

“Reliability is the characteristic we appreciate most,” says Nava. “We offer reliability for customers. That same reliability is what we’re getting with PayPal Checkout.”

Naturgy Energy Group’s subsidiaries in Brazil and Argentina are learning from Naturgy Mexico’s experience and analyzing the benefits of implementing PayPal solutions. With PayPal, Naturgy is positioned to continue leading the way in the fast-evolving energy sector.