New data from the Auriemma Consulting Group Mobile Pay Tracker survey suggests that transaction-based incentives may provide the nudge needed to get higher frequency and spend through mobile payments, according to a press release.

The online survey of 1,505 U.S. mobile pay-eligible consumers using a variety of smartphones was conducted by an independent field service provider on behalf of Auriemma in November 2016.

Of those surveyed, 25 percent use mobile payments. This group is composed mostly of employed, affluent and college-educated consumers. Of these, 32 percent recall being offered a mobile payment incentive (compared with 19 percent in a survey earlier in the year). When the incentive is offered, the take rate is high: 86 percent of incentive recipients report claiming the incentive in-store or in-app.

In the past, banks primarily offered the incentives, but in the most recent Auriemma study, the proportion of banks offering incentives dropped to 40 percent from 58 percent in the previous quarter's survey.

Merchant-funded offers are now most prevalent at 46 percent, and regardless of who offered the incentive, nearly 8 in 10 respondents (78 percent) report that their offer was linked to a specific merchant. Many consumers, however, are not seeking these incentives out — most hear about them from friends, or through emails or letters.

"While cards used in the mobile wallet benefit from merchant- and Pay-funded incentives in the short term, those not already being used could miss out, especially as mobile pay grows," Jaclyn Holmes, director of Auriemma Payment Insights, said in the release. "Pay apps very well may be the future of payments. Incentives provide an opportunity for issuers and merchants to have consumers associate their brand with the payment method, which could turn out to be a valuable long-term investment."