Fraud is becoming more complex and pervasive, and stopping it without racking up false declines and creating a poor customer experience is becoming harder to do.
So, the first step to get ready for the coming year is to review your existing fraud prevention strategy.
Whether you use a decision platform in-house or outsource some or all your fraud prevention strategy, the start of the year is a good time to decide whether you want to stick with it or change it.
When you’re evaluating your current fraud prevention strategy, remember that stopping fraud is only one element of a good program. You also need to look at whether your strategy is limiting your ability to make sales and grow your business. If your current program incurs a high number of false declines; blocks orders from specific countries or entire regions based on fraud; or Blocks deliveries to specific countries or regions for fear of fraud, then that fraud prevention strategy is hindering your sales and growth.
It’s time to look at alternatives that let you make selling decisions based on your business goals instead of on the shortcomings of your anti-fraud program.
Another fraud prevention element to review is how your strategy impacts your customer experience. Consumer expectations have never been higher, and 80% of businesses say they “expect to compete mainly on CX” through 2023.
If your fraud prevention strategy requires your customers to go through a long checkout process that requires entering lots of data, it’s interfering with your CX. If your strategy is to automatically reject suspect orders without manual review, it’s probably driving away customers through false declines. Look at your customer journey and see where you can make improvements. You may need to change your fraud prevention strategy to keep your customers happy.
Finally, if you handle fraud prevention in-house, look at how much time and resources go into that program versus working on your core business.
The good news for 2020 is that merchants of all sizes have more options than ever for outsourcing some or all their fraud prevention tasks. With so many players established in the North American market now, retailers have plenty of ways to evaluate potential vendors: online reviews, conversations with customers, case studies and more.
Building a fraud prevention strategy that stops fraud, prevents false declines, enables growth and creates a great customer experience is easier now than it’s ever been. And as the new year ushers in new fraud trends, tighter e-commerce competition and higher customer expectations, excellent fraud prevention strategies have never been more important.
