Payment Experience

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Customers today have more options than ever before when making payments. They can use cash, paper checks, credit cards or digital payment methods. One way to set your company apart is to provide an exceptional payment experience.

What Is a Payment Experience?

The payment experience is part of the customer’s journey. It refers to the process of paying for a purchase and the ease or difficulty a customer experiences while paying.

Payment experience consists of several components:

  • Payment methods your company accepts
  • Option of storing payment preferences and information for future purchases
  • Ability to automate payments
  • Security and trustworthiness of payments
  • Notifying users of due dates and completed payments

Why Optimize the Payment Experience?

You’re shopping online, adding products to your cart. You hit checkout and are taken to the screen where you put in your payment information and other details.

You scroll to the list of payment options, looking for the one that suits you best. The merchant only accepts credit card payments, but you’ve left your physical wallet in another room. You have your payment information stored on your digital wallet, but that’s not an option now.

You could walk into the other room and grab your credit card. But, if you’re like many people, you probably just abandon your cart, figuring you’ll finish your purchase later.

Similar situations happen frequently, so it’s critical for merchants to create a frictionless payment experience. Other reasons to optimize the payment experience include:

  • Increased security and trust: Today’s shoppers are usually wary about who they give their payment information to. Security and trust are essential components of the payment experience. Your online store should explain security measures in place to keep that information secret.
  • Higher customer satisfaction: If people look back on their shopping experience and remember having to scramble to find a card or having difficulty inputting their information, they will be less satisfied with their overall experience. If they have a smooth payment experience, they’ll feel happier overall and more likely to make another future purchase.
  • Fewer late payments or abandoned carts: People abandon their carts or make payments late when it’s difficult to pay. Accepting automatic payments and storing payment information for repeat shopping trips makes people more likely to pay on time or complete their purchases.
  • Faster payments: A smooth payment experience is good news for merchants, as it can mean your company receives payments for products or services faster.
  • More repeat customers: The more payment methods your company accepts and the more streamlined the checkout process is, the more likely your customers will be to return and reuse your services.

How to Create a Seamless Payment Experience

Follow these steps to create a seamless payment experience for your customers:

  • Accept multiple payment options: Don’t turn customers away at the door. Accept the payment options your customers are looking for.
  • Allow for autopay: Give customers the option of setting it and forgetting it, particularly for recurring charges or bills due each month. It’s more convenient and can reduce late or completely missed payments.
  • Enable customer choice: Credit cards can expire, and accounts can get closed. A card may be near its limit one month but not the next. Give your customers the option of switching between payment methods as needed.
  • Multichannel payment options: Choose a payment solution that lets you accept multiple forms of payment across channels. CSG Forte Engage accepts payments through SMS, phone, online and Interactive Voice Response (IVR) to ensure ease of service for every user.

Payment Experience Case Studies

Companies that have switched to an all-in-one payment solution have seen the benefit of a frictionless payment experience. For example:

  • After adopting text and email messaging for past-due payments, a financial firm saw an $8 million boost in revenue.
  • After adding digital payment options, a security firm saw an 85% drop in payment arrears in one month.

Choose CSG Forte

Modernize the payment experience for every customer with CSG Forte Engage, our payer engagement platform. A seamless payment experience will encourage your customers to shop more often and make an impeccable first impression on new users. Contact us to streamline your payment processes today.