The drive to optimise the payment experience has quickly become an imperative for merchants across diverse industries. The landscape of commerce is dynamic, and the concept of payment optimisation can mean many things to many people. However, at its core, the goal is to maximise customer conversion, minimise costs, and concurrently mitigate the risk exposure inherent in financial transactions.
In an era where consumers demand seamless interactions, their tolerance for friction in the purchasing journey has reached unprecedented lows. Simultaneously, the surge in online data sharing has created fertile ground for fraudulent activities. Industries such as retail, gaming, airlines, grocery, and hospitality face mounting challenges with escalating customer acquisition costs or soaring operational expenses.
This challenging environment underscores why it is essential for merchants to optimise their payment flows comprehensively, from initiation to completion. It’s not just a matter of convenience but it is more a strategic necessity.
Customer conversion begins with prioritising user experience and optimising the payment page design. Consumers expect a diverse array of payment solutions tailored to their needs, coupled with a presentation that is straightforward and intuitive. Digital wallets, for instance, play a pivotal role in reducing data inputs and mitigating cart abandonment – an issue often stemming from the inconvenience of having a physical card on hand. For global merchants, the ability to dynamically convert prices to local currencies is critical for broadening acceptance.
When we consider optimising for cost, understanding the payments mix – the spectrum of payment methods used by customers – is equally important. Having access to effective back-office tools can generate insights into customer behaviour and identify the drivers for those choices, which, in turn, can help in deciding how to effectively manage processing costs. This can be done either by identifying what payment solutions to present at a particular stage during the customer lifecycle, or by routing transactions through least-cost networks in the US, for instance.
Considering risk management strategies, the more merchants understand their customer base, the better they will be able to implement effective fraud management solutions that strike the right balance between transaction acceptance and protection. Strategies also need to consider the rise of subscriptions, which we see in new verticals like hospitality and education, and individualised customer loyalty schemes.
Proper orchestration of payment flows is an optimal way to balance conversion, cost, and risk across diverse markets and industries. Recognising the unique needs of each sector is paramount – where an airline may need to prioritise local currency acceptance in multiple markets, an insurance firm may require to payout large sums, whereas a fashion retailer may need omnichannel solutions.
Effective payment orchestration doesn’t have to be complicated. It is about understanding the optimisation factors and collaborating with trusted payments partners to deliver them. This collaborative approach ensures that payment strategies align with industry-specific requirements, delivering a tailored and effective solution for merchants.
A frictionless checkout experience is the cornerstone of customer satisfaction. It revolves around three key pillars:
Seamless and smooth – payment pages should be slick, quick, and convenient, and they should anticipate customer preferences, provide customised offers, deliver contextualised messaging, and be localised whenever possible.
Safe and secure – building trust and loyalty requires an effective fraud strategy. Merchants need to prioritise security measures to safeguard customer data and transactions, fostering confidence in their brand.
Payments performance – a judicious mix of payment options, tokenization, dynamic transaction routing, and the capability to operate globally in multiple currencies maximises the overall performance of a merchant’s payments function.
Worldpay, as a leading player in the payments industry, offers tailored solutions to assist merchants in optimising their payment flows. Here are a few notable offerings:
Guaranteed payments – popular with retailers and airlines, this solution shifts the liability for fraud, leading to an average increase in approval rates by around 5-7%.
Fraudsight – a comprehensive fraud management tool applicable across all verticals. Leveraging machine learning on data from over 40 billion transactions annually, Fraudsight makes real-time fraud decisions in milliseconds, increasing safety and less friction at checkout.
Revenue boost – this solution empowers merchants to manage customer credentials effectively through Network Payment Tokens and an Account Updater feature. It facilitates intelligent payment routing, immediate retries, and automatic recycling, all accessible through a unified dashboard that even allows peer benchmarking.
In conclusion, the imperative to optimise the payment experience is not only a technological, but a strategic necessity. Merchants need to embrace a holistic approach, leveraging technology, understanding customer behaviour, and collaborating with trusted partners to navigate the intricate landscape of payments successfully. Worldpay stands ready to assist merchants on this journey, providing solutions to enhance payment experiences across the board.
This editorial piece was first published in The Paypers' Cross-Border Payments and Ecommerce Report 2023–2024, which taps into the fast-growing cross-border market and provides a comprehensive overview of trends and developments that are pivotal in this space, being the ultimate source of information for ecommerce businesses interested in expanding globally.
Alex Morgan-Moodie joined Worldpay in September 2020 and is Vice President and Head of Vertical Growth. Before Worldpay, Alex spent 11 years working for large multinational ecommerce businesses where he held various positions within the payments, product delivery, and corporate strategy functions, observing first-hand how the right payments strategy is an essential pillar underpinning growth.
Worldpay payment processing solutions allow businesses to take, make, and manage payments in-person and online from anywhere in the world. Worldpay solutions, which support approximately 225 markets in 146 countries and nearly 135 local currencies, are offered by FIS, a leading provider of technology solutions for merchants, banks, and capital markets firms globally.
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