When a customer initiates a payment and selects a payment method on your checkout page, they take the first step on the payment journey, setting in motion a chain reaction that either enhances the customer experience or causes frustration and cart abandonment. The key to creating a frictionless checkout experience that keeps customers coming back, is Payment Orchestration.
The use of alternative payment methods (APMs) is on the rise, from digital wallets to mobile payments and cryptocurrencies. Offering multiple payment options and providers means customers can select their preferred method and enjoy the convenience they’ve come to expect. But integrating them is a complex and time-consuming process.
Enter Payment Orchestration
The global Payment Orchestration market size is projected to reach US$ 4797.96 million by 2027, from US$ 784.95 million in 2020, at a CAGR of 25.75% during 2021-2027. This has been driven, in part, by the fact that nearly 25% of the United States’ small and medium-sized businesses have implemented more payment options to appeal to customers, according to a JP Morgan Chase study last year.
One of the core goals of Payment Orchestration is to provide a frictionless checkout flow and increase sales by optimising payment approval rates.
Payment Orchestration takes the pain out of adding new payment types, and our platform, Velocity, offers access to more than 410 payment methods globally. Because it’s integrated directly into your existing networks via API or mobile SDK, merchants can easily unify the payment experience across all channels, including web, mobile, call centres and more.
The importance of this cannot be underestimated. Unless multiple payment options and providers are immediately available, cart abandonment is a real risk from consumers who do not feel like waiting around; a 2021 survey found 18% of US adults frequently did just this.
As well as making a range of APMs available to the end user, Velocity also optimises the checkout process by letting the end-customer store and prioritise the payment methods they would like to be remembered. This can then be presented in a format optimised for the relevant client device – all without compromising security.
What the end user sees is our Hosted Payment Page – which they are seamlessly redirected to when they’re ready to pay, and automatically redirected back to the merchant’s site when the transaction is complete. This page easily integrates with the merchants own website to enable them to accept, control and optimise payment transactions across all digital channels – and offer their customers a responsive, safe and convenient way to make online payments.
However, our customers also have the option to keep customers on your site with our companion iFrame solution.
Check-out the results!
The ability to present the end-user with a range of payment methods, as well as prices in their local currency, dramatically improves conversion rates and we’ve seen impressive results. Some of our enterprise clients have reported as much as a 15% increase in sales after enabling local payment methods.
But the improved user experience that Payment Orchestration provides leads to the most lucrative long-term benefits.
Improved user experience means more than just making life easier for consumers, it means they are more likely to make an emotional connection with your brand, creating loyal customers and a further win if merchants can create tailor-made special offers based on the data provided during checkout.
Customer access and loyalty are crucial to success – especially at a time when players such as Amazon are increasingly successful in 'going full 360' and closing off their ecosystems. Your checkout process needs to be much more than just a line of payment logos.
Payment Orchestration can give you a seamless checkout experience that your customers are more likely to use again and again.
But checkout is just step one of the payment journey. Next time we’ll take the next step, and look at the role of payment routing and connectivity.