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Despite the challenges it has created, the pandemic has opened the door to a host of exciting new business opportunities. Merchants of all shapes and sizes have a once-in-a-generation chance to seize upon a massive shift in consumer behavior. Businesses that provide consumers with a deeply contextual digital experience will set the benchmark.
Through an openness to experimentation and meaningful partnerships with organizations that enable them to stay agile, merchants can capitalize this new wave of digital consumer. Those that can adapt quickly to these changing consumer demands will continue to grow their revenue exponentially.
Digital payments are at the heart of this opportunity. With this accelerated digital transformation, payments have boomed as consumers have ditched cash for cards and digital payment methods. Almost 420 billion transactions worth $7 trillion are expected to move from cash to cards and digital payments by 2023, and as much as $48trn by 2030, Accenture estimates.
Even the smallest improvement in payments performance can significantly boost the bottom line. That’s why companies such as Uber and Deliveroo have shifted their payments from a cost center to a strategic function within the business, with a place in the boardroom. Payments performance can provide a true competitive advantage. Merchants that can use better data and gain deeper insight into their payment flows can unlock more revenue, launch innovative new products and deliver better customer experiences.
Doing so requires using a payment service provider (PSP) such as Checkout.com, which has made customizable solutions, full data transparency and consultative service central to its offering, enabling clients to achieve optimal payment performance and revenue generation. Their clients have included some of the most innovative and fast-growing companies such as Farfetch, Coinbase and Klarna.
“Data is the lifeblood of our operation,” says Emina Zahirovic, Head of Payments for North America at HelloFresh. “I cannot do my job and drive payments performance without it.”
However, even payments leaders at the fastest-growing companies continue to find driving these improvements a huge challenge. Most businesses are unaware of what happens once a customer makes a payment. Often, payments providers can’t give them that data or they only offer them the most basic insight. For a payment provider to be able to pass on full, robust data for insights and analysis, they must own the entire payments chain, acting as the gateway, acquiring bank and payment processor, all in one.
That lack of access to actionable data is a significant challenge for many companies. Forty-one percent of merchants don’t receive any actionable analytics from their payments data.
“The data that is returned by third-party partners is very critical for extracting the most value and increasing your ability to optimize conversion and, then, for reducing the cost of payments,” Andrew Row, former Managing Director of Uber Payments, said in a recent Checkout.com report.
Knowing the value and nuance in the payments data is only half the story. If organizations can’t collect and visualize the data in a meaningful and timely manner, the value is just theoretical.
“The worst, most expensive mistake you can make,” Row says, “is to lose a customer when they initiate payment when you’ve spent so much on customer acquisition.”
Payments data is equal in its power and its complexity. Understanding payments data is as much an art as a science. That’s why businesses are increasingly leaning upon their PSPs to help them understand their data and determine what they should do to optimize payments performance.
Choosing the right PSP is critical for any business keen to get more value from its payments. Thus, your PSP must prioritize data visibility. Whether you need a payment platform to integrate into a broader suite of solutions or to operate on its own, your payments data must be accessible at all times.
Yet many PSPs are unable to provide the data organizations require to use their payments as a strategic lever for growth. They either can’t because they don’t have a direct scheme integration and direct acquiring or because they are not set up to focus on that depth of data, so they consolidate and simplify the data rather than help companies leverage it to make more informed decisions – and that’s true even of many modern providers. Businesses wanting to access their complete data therefore need to work with providers such as Checkout.com that own the end-to-end payments flow and offer access to the granular data your business needs.
Businesses should determine whether their PSPs have the resources or expertise to provide this support. PSPs should be there for when companies need them, to guide them through the data, and provide the insights they need to build their strategy and grow their business. Checkout.com provides a white glove service with deep global expertise and knowledge of regional nuances, giving insights on local payment methods, regulation requirements and trends that enable organizations to create best-in-class checkout experiences.
Without this data transparency and service, obscured payments data such as consolidated decline codes and transaction costs can stifle a company’s ability to optimize acceptance and drive more revenue. A provider such as Checkout.com gives the most transparent payments data, including more than 150 decline codes, and the expertise to leverage it.
Today, payments are at the center of business performance, revenue generation and providing the best customer experience. Forward-thinking business leaders will look to redefine payments as a competitive advantage that can yield a significant bottom line.
Learn how:
Checkout.com’s platform and expertise can help you unlock more value in every transaction and deliver the best payments performance.
