In Brief: In today’s fast paced world, customers have come to expect a seamless and consistent payment experience – whether they are making a purchase in-store or online. It is important to give your customers the experience they are looking for, which is why omnichannel payment solutions have become a must-have for modern businesses.
What are Omnichannel Payments?
While you may be familiar with the phrase “Omnichannel Payments”, it’s important to know exactly what it is referring to. Omnichannel payments refers to a comprehensive payment ecosystem that enables customers to make payments seamlessly across multiple payment channels including:
- Online payments: Ecommerce, hosted payment pages
- In-person payments: Terminals and POS systems
- Digital payments: Mobile wallets, ApplePay, GooglePay
- Phone payments: Keyed in payments over a phone call
- QR codes: Scan a digital or printed QR code and make a payment
- Other digital touchpoints: Social media apps, email and text messages, chatbots or virtual assistants, etc.
While this list of channels may seem extensive, it is no longer considered a “luxury” to offer a variety of payment methods, but rather it is a necessity. Customers are looking for a payment experience that matches their needs and expectations and that includes a variety of ways for them to pay.
Why Do Omnichannel Payment Solutions Matter for Your Business?
Enhanced Customer Experience
- Convenience: It is important to give your customers the flexibility to choose how and when they pay. This includes making an online payment at home, scanning your mobile wallet in-store, or even paying over the phone. Offering a variety of payment options creates a less stressful and more efficient experience for your customers.
- Consistency: Providing a unified payment experience across all channels reduces friction and improves customer satisfaction. For example, you pay for a flight with an airline using your laptop. With an omnichannel payment solution, your payment information is synced with your other devices. If you want to upgrade your seat, or pay for extra luggage, you can do so on the mobile app without having to re-enter the payment card information that was originally entered on your laptop. This makes for a more efficient customer experience.
Increased Sales and Revenue
- Reduced cart abandonment: Offering a variety of quick and easily accessible payment options can reduce online cart abandonment rates. The easier the checkout process – the more likely the sale will go through. For example, many people will proceed with a purchase if ApplePay is offered as a payment method versus just a traditional online payment page. Using ApplePay on a mobile phone to pay simply requires your Face ID to make a purchase rather than finding your credit card and inputting your information again on a payment page – making for a much faster checkout experience.
- Increased sales opportunities: Customers are more likely to make a purchase when they have flexible payment choices. For example, if you forget your wallet at home, but you have a digital wallet on your phone or watch, you are still able to complete the intended purchase.
Improved Operational Flexibility
- Introduce new payment methods: When a new payment method is introduced, you can quickly respond to customer preferences to integrate it across all channels without having to undergo major system overhauls
- Expand into new markets: Entering new geographic markets can lead to having to adapt to local payment preferences. For example, in Asia-Pacific countries payments are predominantly taken using mobile wallets while in European countries, contactless cards still remain most popular.
Enhanced Data Insights
- Customer behavior analysis: Omnichannel platforms provide valuable data on customer behavior, preferences, and purchase patterns. It gives a holistic view of your customers in terms of purchase history and value segmentation.
- Improved fraud detection: Analyzing payment data across channels can help identify and prevent fraudulent transactions.
Tips for Implementing an Omnichannel Strategy
- Choose the right technology partner: Selecting the right payment partner is key to successfully implementing omnichannel payment solutions for your business. It is important to make sure the payment partner you select offers a wide variety of payment technology options that fit your business’s needs.
- Prioritize security: The most important part of payment processing is ensuring that your business and your customer’s sensitive data is safe. It is imperative that your business has strong security measures in place to protect customer data and prevent fraud.
- Integrate with your existing systems: If possible, ensure seamless integration with your existing software such as your POS system, CRM, ERP, or other business software.
- Continuously analyze and optimize: Regularly review your omnichannel payment methods and make adjustments based on customer behavior and business needs. Ensure that you are offering the technology your customers desire and that you are keeping up with market trends.
Omnichannel payments offer a significant competitive advantage for your business. By providing a convenient and seamless payment experience, businesses can not only boost sales and improve operational efficiency but also build stronger, more loyal customer relationships.
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