Online payment solutions and why it is a good idea to spend a bit of time on yours…
Once a customer has chosen a product, filled out his or her details and pressed “Pay”, they will want the item! And if something goes wrong, it’s a 100% sale you lose. Unfortunately, too few web shops spend time on this part of the process, but trust the PSP (Adyen, DIBS, QuickPay, ePay etc.) to control what happens in this part of the flow.
So – do you ever consider the fact, that this flow may be improved or that it could be cheaper?
You may be able to recognize some of these situations where the “payment part” comes up shortly and where specific issues are dealt with.
- Breakdown at Christmas, Black Friday, during a campaign or just on random days (typically at the worst possible time..)
- Customers request specific payment types, that you do not have
- Customer service complains about a complex solution that is difficult to support
- Finance complains that they cannot balance the books correctly or that,for example, refunds involves a very manual processes
- Many payments fail (for example, when you use recurring payments)
- Your site is due to be launched in a new country, and you need to decide what payment options to offer
In the above-mentioned situations, there are typically internal considerations about changing something. Often, the competences and / or the time is not available and you just live with it, or “forget” until the problem occurs again.
And in most cases, the issues are hidden and will only be visible, if you ask them. Examples could be
- Reconciliation is not optimal and/or very manual
- Sales could be larger / should be larger
- The manual work in customer service is very large, for example when dealing with refunds
- Small “crashes” occur, which are recorded by lost sale, but without it is defined what happens
- The price for Payment Module / PSP or acquirer is too high, often based on a “starting price” that is not negotiated
- An oversized technical solution, that costs too much money
- Too many or too few payment methods on your site, or the wrong payment types
The good news is that you can do something about it and in the vast majority of cases, time spent in this area will have a direct – and often financially positive – effect.
- Crashes and instability: Be specific about what it costs (time, money, bad press) and start a dialogue with the supplier. Think about whether you are ready to switch to another supplier if you do not see an improvement.
- Customers request payment types: Get them on your site, but think customer service and reconciliation, so you do not introduce manual work and internal resistance.
- Customer service complaints: Draw flows diagrams with customer service, be concrete and start a dialogue with your suppliers. Perhaps a flow can be integrated into the customer service system or maybe training your employees is the way forward?
- Payments fail: Do you lose customers? Do you have a flow that “picks them up”? How does your flow work for recurring payments (eg do you contact your customer before expiration of their card?). Maybe it’s a good idea to get offers from a supplier who can deliver complete solutions and advise you (Upodi Mf.).
- Launch in a new country: Check which forms of payment are common in the country you want to launch in, remember to think about your market (young people might want to use ApplePay, but if your product is targeted at the 60+ segment, then maybe is not so relevant?)
So, to summarise – why should you look at your online payment solution, even if it “works fine”?
- You can save money!
- Get more satisfied customers
- You can get an optimized payment solution
- More efficient customer service that delivers real value to your customers (and satisfied employees)
- An easier reconciliation (your finance department will thank you)