Overcoming the challenge of increasing complexity of payment management

Ecommerce companies don’t need an overly complex structure to have a payments team within their organisation. And it pays to have one, as it is quite crucial for ensuring a successful sale. Similarly, to a physical store, if the cashier greets you with a smile, you will most likely come back, and if he or she is rude, there’s a chance you won’t.

Here are some of my key takeaways that’ll help you maintain a team and avoid an increase in the complexity of payment management.

Payment partner: your payment team’s key to success

It is very important to maintain a good and healthy relation with your payment partners. Most of the time it comes naturally. There are amazing people working in the fintech industry and they understand the value of partnership, starting from sales to customer service and post-sales experience.

Consumers also need to have a choice when it comes to payments, including both local and global payment providers. Moreover, to maintain business uptime, there should be optional processors available at all times. Back in 2016, many companies suffered a drop in credit card payments when one of the top processors was effected. Partnering with additional processors prevents such instances, as the traffic can be re-routed to any of them. Since an online store is operational 24/7, technical issues with payments can arise after working hours and stay beyond internal control. In such cases it’s very important to get immediate attention from the payment partner’s assigned account manager. A good provider won’t stop you from acting when needed.

The other way: global to local

Being part of a global platform, I found that expanding a local business to the global market is a great and rewarding experience. However, all actions in this field should be correctly aimed, with local companies expanding globally in a local manner. An ecommerce platform authorisation or conversion rate depends entirely on the payment method accepted in the target region. Most cases of lower conversion rate after an influx of potential buyers stem from checkout issues. Customers want to see the payment brands they trust. 

Apart from the most recognised global methods, it is very important to implement local methods. By connecting with a local partner, you are opening yourself for information and local insight. You can stay up to date with regulations and gain market knowledge, which helps in continuing expansion and creating marketing plans.

Keep an eye on the latest updates in the fintech industry

Always stay informed. Decision-making requires knowledge about what’s going on outside the organisation, especially regarding trends that can affect the outcome of your decisions. The payments team needs to be up to date with all regulations such as PSD2, as well as local ecommerce regulations.

You need brands to help grow your brand

Partnering with globally-known companies helps to earn consumers’ trust and to ensure a better customer experience. New users tend to abandon their cart due to their lack of knowledge about your brand and the payment methods you offer.

The payment logos in the checkout have a great influence on whether users are going to share their payment details and finalise the order. A customer who doesn’t yet know your brand, but is interested in your product, can be very hesitant when encountering unknown payments. Brands like Google Pay, Apple Pay, Mastercard or Visa will surely help users make a purchase decision. Therefore, it is important for the payments team to cooperate with brands recognised in the consumer’s region.

Payments team: competitive advantage and not a cost centre

The old way of managing payments is to monitor cost, set goals, KPIs and so on. But the new way is to measure how the payments are doing using extensive analyses performed by the payments team. Take the following subjects into consideration:

1. Alternative payment methods

Drop-off at the payment sign-up/end of payment process

Alternate methods – usage patterns (how often it’s used, customer details such as gender, age etc)

2. Authorisation

Approval rates for card authorisations (regionally)

Conversion rates (complete orders vs orders created)

Number of attempts per payment method

Number of 2nd attempts to pay after the 1st attempt failed

3. Customer service

Number of tickets regarding payments topic

Recommendations for new payment methods (customer-centric)

4. Fraud and chargeback

Fraud losses

Chargeback rates

5. Financial

Cost per transaction

Payments P & L

Lifetime value

Summary

What consumers demand is the subject of constant change. In order to avoid a decline in transactions, it’s crucial that merchants provide positive consumer experiences. Payment teams are becoming central players of the ecommerce industry. However, even though they focus more and more on the global market, maintaining a local-focused approach is and will be necessary.

This editorial was first published in our Payment Methods Report 2019 – Innovations in the Way We Pay, which provides a comprehensive overview of the up-to-the-minute trends, updates, and innovations in the payments space worldwide, depicting the key developments in the way people pay.

About Faheem Bakshi

Faheem Bakshi is an expert adviser on global payments, open banking, fintech, business strategy, KYC & risk mitigation, specialising on payments management with consumers, merchants & payment partners. Faheem has worked with a variety of companies and/ or and has helped companies grow from local to global. Visit linkedin.com/in/faheembakshi/ to reach him.

About Kinguin

Founded in 2013, Kinguin has fast become one of the largest alternative marketplaces for games and software, with more than 7.5 million loyal customers globally. Kinguin’s mission is to enhance gamers’ experiences anywhere and anytime. Visit www.kinguin.net for more information