Ecommerce: the arrival of customer 3.0

Neil Caldwell of CyberSource outlines the expectations customers now have of ecommerce and gives his tips on how to meet them.

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Online commerce has changed beyond all recognition. Today we approach a new era; a truly connected, digital world with the consumer in the driving seat – looking for a safe, seamless, ecommerce experience irrespective of device or location.

‘Customer 1.0’ demanded the greatest in-store experience, and ‘Customer 2.0’ the greatest online experience. ‘Customer 3.0’ demands a seamless omni-channel experience. 

They are looking for the same choice of products and services available via the channel that best suits them at the time; be that online, mobile, or via in-store kiosks. 

Customer 3.0 expects the same levels of convenience and security across each channel and a richer, more consistent brand experience during every visit.

Sounds simple. And actually, delivering this doesn’t have to be complex. 

By taking a holistic approach to payment acceptance, payment security and fraud management, you can deliver a cross-channel, secure, seamless experience.

Let your customers pay the way they want to

Offering your customers the methods of payment they prefer can boost sales conversion and increase the likelihood that they will return. Demographics and geo-demographics will impact the ways consumers want to pay, whether it is by credit/debit card in the UK or iDeal in the Netherlands. Working with a payment acceptance provider that enables you to offer these payment types can be key to your success, both in your existing market, and in your future expansion plans.

Accept payments via multiple devices

Just as customers have preferred payment types, the device they will use to buy things with changes depending on the time of day, the type of purchase and where they are. Being able to accept payments via mobile, tablet, kiosk,
call centre and website is key in this omni-channel world.

However, delivering consistently across all of these channels can be a challenge. By centralising your infrastructure and using one platform to accept payments you can help ensure that your customer receives the same experience, whenever they buy, whatever the channel.

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Don’t mistake your customers for fraudsters

Rejecting a good customer is certainly not the way to build solid customer relationships. So how can you be sure that you are not rejecting a valid order? How do you know that you haven’t kept a customer waiting too long to receive an order confirmation?

Today’s organisations cite turning away too many good customers when trying to detect fraud as a top concern. The time and effort spent acquiring new customers or encouraging repeat business may be impacted if your business’s fraud screening tools don’t recognise good customers first time. Even worse, they may be flagged as a potential fraudster. 

Combining the knowledge you have on your customers and their purchasing behaviours, with the intelligence a global fraud screening tool can offer, can help to build fraud rules that will automatically recognise genuine customer orders.

The added bonus is that as more genuine customers are automatically accepted, more of the fraud team’s resources can be spent tackling true fraud, ultimately reducing your total fraud losses. A win-win situation for your business.

Don’t let payment details be compromised

Being able to deliver functionality such as one-click checkout makes it easier for returning customers. They can log in quickly and select their preferred payment option or delivery address rather than having to complete these details every time they make a purchase.

But storing this precious payment data is not without risk. Cyber criminals want the card holder data you have on your customers and, according to our latest figures on payment security, 63 per cent of merchants believe attacks against their payment processes are on the rise. A quarter of these say attacks are increasing in both frequency and severity.

The impact of a data breach can be far reaching, not only in terms of financial penalties but also the potential damage to your reputation, with the loss of existing and future customers.

To help reduce the risk, ensure that payment data doesn’t touch your system. Using hosted payment pages and ‘tokenisation’ services (where payment details are stored as tokens) means that there’s no payment data to be compromised. This helps to protect your brand, your reputation and your customers’ valuable payment information.

One platform. One view of your customer

So why should ecommerce payment acceptance, payment security and fraud management be managed in tandem, on one platform? Having one platform gives you one view of your customer, providing you with deep insight into their preferred payment types, as well as the channels they choose to purchase through at different times of the day.

It also enables you to provide a consistent and secure payment process across all touch points, helping to gain customer buy-in and confidence. In doing so, you can build more efficient operations and provide a much more appealing end-to-end customer experience. This will be crucial as you look to future-proof your business in the evolving ecommerce market.

To download the 2013 UK eCommerce Fraud Report, visit www.cybersource.co.uk/ukfraudreport

Tomorrow is now

At CyberSource, we are dedicated to helping our customers embrace the speed of ecommerce change. A sophisticated payment and fraud management platform helps merchants innovate faster, so that they can accept more customers, from across more markets, via more devices. Safely.

A single connection makes light work of integration; while our global footprint means that we can scale as merchants expand, driving out complexity and enabling growth.

And with over 19 years’ experience, we’re able to gather intelligence from over 400,000 customers based round the world, continually evolving our enterprise-calibre solutions.

Neil Caldwell
Regional Sales Director – Europe

CyberSource
PO Box 3073
Reading
RG1 9YB

Telephone: 0118 990 7300
Email: europe@cybersource.com
Website: www.cybersource.co.uk

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