Voice of the Industry

Payment optimisation: how a holistic approach could drive revenue gains

Thursday 22 February 2024 10:17 CET | Editor: Irina Ionescu | Voice of the industry

Yuval Ziv, President at Nuvei, analyses the complexities of digital payments and emphasises on a holistic approach, including providing local payment options, to streamline payments and drive growth for businesses.


In today's rapidly evolving digital marketplace, businesses are increasingly recognsing the strategic importance of payment optimisation as a catalyst for revenue growth and customer satisfaction. Through a recent collaborative study conducted by Nuvei, insights were gathered from over 300 payment leaders representing some of the world's largest brands. The study delves into the challenges and opportunities surrounding payment optimisation, providing a comprehensive roadmap for businesses to navigate the complexities of the global payment landscape. 

This article further explores the key findings and actionable strategies outlined in the study, empowering businesses to harness the full potential of payment optimisation for accelerated revenue growth.


APMs: more than just a nice-to-have

In a digital economy where consumer preferences vary as widely as the global market itself, the strategic implementation of Alternative Payment Methods (APMs) emerges as a critical tool for revenue acceleration. Contrary to the notion that APMs are just nice-to-have, forward-looking companies have discovered their critical role in driving sales, especially when operating across diverse markets. Thus, it is not merely about offering a plethora of payment options but about selecting and personalising these methods to meet the nuanced preferences of the target market.

Taking digital wallets as an example, 33% of merchants identified the implementation of digital wallets as the primary driver for their sales growth, underscoring the pivotal role this payment method plays in modern commerce. In markets such as Southeast Asia, where digital wallets are predominant, merchants who offer this method can drastically reduce cart abandonment rates and boost conversion. This showcases the need for businesses to understand and adapt to local payment preferences, something which 42% of merchants describe as a ’pressing challenge‘.  By partnering with a global payments provider with expertise in local payment preferences, businesses could boost revenue by up to 30%.

Tailoring the payment experience to mirror local preferences and habits is essential in making customers feel ’at home’, thereby enhancing customer satisfaction. This might include recognising the enduring relevance of cash in certain markets, offering mechanisms for customers to convert cash into digital formats. The former Chief Digital Officer of the world's largest convenience store chain noted that innovative fund-loading methods at POS in specific markets increased purchase frequency, reduced transaction costs, and improved store throughput, doubling the return on investment by catering to consumer preferences.


Streamlining the payment experience

The payment stage of the customer journey is critical. The Baymard Institute's research sheds light on this moment, revealing that 70% of online shopping carts are abandoned at checkout. The study provides insight into which points of the transaction customers are most likely to abandon their cart:

  • 23% of consumers abandoned their cart after their payment was declined/they received an error message;

  • 21% abandoned their cart after entering personal information, such as their address;

  • 21% abandoned their cart after entering payment information.

Overall, these statistics highlight the consumer’s need for a fast and frictionless payment experience from start to finish. To counter these challenges and streamline the payment journey, adopting the following strategies can create a smoother path to purchase:
  1. Low-friction payment paths: Simplify the checkout process by implementing autofill, digital wallets, and express payment options like Apple Pay to facilitate seamless transactions without the need for account creation or entering extensive details.

  2. Relevant payment and financing choices: Offer a variety of tailored payment and financing options without overwhelming customers. Streamline choices and test for effectiveness to enhance the shopping experience and meet diverse needs.

  3. Ensuring promptness and accuracy: Nearly a quarter of customers abandon purchases due to frustrations over errors and slow transactions. Businesses must ensure a swift and error-free payment process to keep customers in a competitive market.

These strategic solutions can make the payment stage a seamless part of the customer journey, increasing sales completion rates, enhancing satisfaction, and promoting repeat business and loyalty.

Optimising payment metrics

Monitoring and optimising payment metrics are vital for ecommerce businesses to minimise transaction abandonment and maximise successful checkouts.

Key metrics for monitoring include:
  • Authorisation rates: Optimising authorisation rates, which fluctuate significantly across industries and regions, can lead to substantial revenue uplift. By closely monitoring these rates, businesses can identify patterns of decline that may indicate overly aggressive fraud filters or technical issues in the payment process.

  • Chargeback rates: The study shows that high chargeback rates directly lead to revenue loss. By managing chargebacks effectively and providing proactive customer service, businesses can reduce this problem and boost their bottom line.

  • Fraud prevention rate: With the frequency of online fraud, the effectiveness of fraud prevention mechanisms becomes paramount. Employing real-time analytics to adjust fraud detection algorithms can reduce false positives, thereby minimising the 20-30% of transactions that might be falsely declined due to stringent fraud detection measures.

Addressing false declines is pivotal for maintaining customer trust and safeguarding revenue. The study emphasises the importance of employing machine learning and analytics to enhance fraud detection, thereby reducing false declines significantly. This strategy is crucial, especially considering that European ecommerce retailers are estimated to lose around USD 25 billion annually to false declines, far surpassing the USD 12 billion lost to fraud. To highlight this issue further, 30-40% of transactions in Europe are declined, with 20-40% fully lost. This emphasises the need to improve payment processes through analytics, turning false declines into opportunities for growth and better customer satisfaction.

Conclusion

As digital commerce continues to evolve, a holistic approach to payment optimisation stands out as a crucial strategy for businesses aiming to thrive in the global marketplace. By localising payment experiences, embracing alternative payment methods, streamlining the payment journey, and optimising payment metrics, businesses can unlock new avenues for growth and customer engagement. The insights from the Nuvei and Accenture’s latest study provide a valuable framework for businesses to approach payment optimisation not just as a transactional necessity but as a strategic asset for revenue growth and competitive advantage.

For further exploration into the transformative power of payment optimsation and to gain deeper insights tailored to your business needs, download the full study here: Accelerating revenue growth: How incremental payment optimization can drive up to 30% revenue gains.

 

About Yuval Ziv

Yuval Ziv has served as MD, Digital Payments since October 2019 after first joining SafeCharge (later to become Nuvei) in 2008. He was promoted to President of Nuvei in 2022. Over the course of his tenure at SafeCharge, he held positions of COO, CCO, MD and VP Business Development, in addition to serving as a board member and VP of Operations and Business Development at the Gate2shop division. Prior SafeCharge, Mr. Ziv was an Operation Manager at Formula Telecom Solution, a senior manager at MAFIL, and an Analysis team leader for Cellcom.

 


About Nuvei

Nuvei (Nasdaq: NVEI) (TSX: NVEI) is the Canadian fintech company accelerating the business of clients around the world. Nuvei’s modular, flexible and scalable technology allows leading companies to accept next-gen payments, offer all payout options and benefit from card issuing, banking, risk and fraud management services. Connecting businesses to their customers in more than 200 markets, with local acquiring in 45+ markets, 150 currencies and more than 600 alternative payment methods, Nuvei provides the technology and insights for customers and partners to succeed locally and globally with one integration. For more information, visit www.nuvei.com 


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Keywords: payment processing, checkout optimisation , online payments, merchant, local payment method, ecommerce, fraud prevention, fraud detection, chargebacks, authorisation rate, digital payments, payments , POS, e-wallet, digital wallet, super wallet
Categories: Payments & Commerce
Companies: Nuvei
Countries: World
This article is part of category

Payments & Commerce

Nuvei

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