Putting customers at the center of the operation starts with providing services to merchants that prioritize the customer experience at every step. It then moves into deepening a merchant’s understanding of the customer experience while using that data to improve.
In the emerging ecosystem economy, merchants will need to provide a seamless buying journey for customers. That means everything from a dynamic user interface and smart authentication to contactless payment options for faster transaction times.
Payment service providers will have to invest more to secure the merchants they want. For example, merchants are also looking for integrated and omnichannel payment options. This of course requires more from PSPs in terms of the services they provide to merchants. Merchants want the ability to plug-and-play in ways that allow them to include various payment systems and functions within one coherent system.
PSPs will need to constantly iterate on optimizing the buying experience and go-to-market approaches with their clients to stay competitive.
Merchants and PSPs have little margin for error when it comes to security. It’s a top concern among customers.
New security mandates such as EMV chip-and-PIN technology and end-to-end encryption will need to be incorporated by merchants and PSPs alike to better protect consumer financial information.
Put simply, PSPs that do not support merchants in getting security right will lose customer.
Merchants will continue to demand more sophisticated data and analytics from their payment processing. They want those data-driven insights that will drive increased sales across the board. PSPs will need to step up and provide this to stay in the game. Customer loyalty and therefore higher revenues are the goal and clients will want PSPs to join them on this quest.
This point is obviously interrelated with security in that PSPs will need to figure out how to balance protecting confidential consumer information with efforts to customize the customer journey using that same data. Merchants expect PSPs to find the middle ground and navigate it through how their systems are designed and deployed.
It doesn’t end there either. Clients are now looking to use the payment process as another opportunity to engage with customers, personalize the experience and cement customer loyalty. Payments are part of a longer process rather than just a singular act or a place to add unnecessary complexity.
Merchants expect PSPs to dive into consumer data and deliver insights. This means that PSPs will increasingly need to collect, analyze and deliver data-driven business knowledge to improve customer loyalty. PSPs will be asked to do this at both the individual customer level as well as the aggregate level in an effort to track and deliver for specific customers while also keeping an eye on demographic trends among customers.
PSPs will also need to build systems that allow for greater ease in data sharing. Such data sharing will need to occur not just among internal department but also with external partners in the ecosystem economy. This means that PSPs will need to look towards developing flexible architectures to help merchants improve data integration from varied sources.
By focusing on improving the customer journey, getting security right, measuring customer experience and using the data to inform next steps, PSPs can find terra firma amid the shifting landscape of the emerging ecosystem economy.
