growth How to Build a More Durable Payment Program through Merchant Experience CPP, SVP PRODUCT AND CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE - SECURITY CARD SERVICES
Let me tart by getting thi out of the way: I love my job. There ha never been a more exciting time to work in merchant ervice. Innovation i all around u, and that particularly true of payment acceptance. Payment technologie have made atounding progre in a hort amount of time. Something that ued to be confined to wipe and click i now much more veratile and complex. I wear many hat at Security Card Service. But the mot ignificant impact I bring to our bank partner (and their merchant) i realized through the payment product I help elect and develop. The talent of your people and the depth of their commitment to ervice are only a powerful a the product portfolio at their dipoal. It make ene that bank prefer the widet variety of payment option available. But, we believe that it how thoe product are choen and deployed that truly et a merchant ervice program apart. I enjoy what I do o much that I ve written two paper that explore different ide of the ame coin: Product Selection and Merchant Experience. In the prior paper, I offered ome inight into bet practice for payment product election. Thi paper will touch on what thoe bet practice mean for the merchant experience (or bank cutomer experience). 2
We ve learned that product election i actually an excellent opportunity to take a proactive approach toward retention. Proactive Retention Through Product Adoption Retention rate i a reliable ymptom of a healthy merchant ervice program. Retention rate i alo a dependable way to compare performance between program. High merchant retention rate how that a program i well run and that all of the detail are covered. The durable revenue tream are a nice benefit, too. One of the mot common truim in buine i that retaining a new cutomer begin the moment they ign on the dotted line. That motly true of merchant ervice. Payment proceing i o complex. Problem arie and mut be olved wiftly and with certainty. So merchant ervice provider are jutified in emphaizing cutomer ervice and problem reolution. However, bank have to think holitically about merchant retention (that why that common belief in buine about retention i motly true when applied to payment). We ve learned that product election i actually an excellent opportunity to take a proactive approach toward retention. If your product election proce can chooe the right payment product and alo embed the right merchant experience into thoe product - the ale approache and ervice offering that help merchant adopt thoe product - then your merchant can more reliably integrate high tech payment product into their buinee. They will feel more confident in their equipment and will be more patient when cutomer ervice iue arie. In um, your merchant will be happier. Happier merchant tend to tay longer. 3
The Latet in t Necearily the Greatet We tre merchant adoption of payment product becaue we ee it a a forward thinking, proactive way to curb attrition. Even the mot diligent cutomer ervice team can t olve a merchant adoption problem. Cutomer ervice team function to identify and troublehoot technical iue and uer error. Thoe are entirely different problem from the one that arie when the technology i far too advanced for the merchant. Think of it a a burden imilar to your mobile banking ervice team fielding inquirie from your account holder on how to ue an iphone. High tech bell and whitle are often intimidating to Cutomer ervice team function merchant becaue they can be too powerful, complex to identify and troublehoot and confuing. Yet technological advancement preent technical iue and uer error. a great opportunity to build a merchant experience Thoe are entirely different problem from the one that that turn a potential pitfall into an advantage. Thee arie when the technology i far emerging product feature and complexitie are avenue too advanced for the merchant. for conultative ale trategie that bring bank cloer to their buinee. That another reaon our product election proce devote o much time to grappling with the many technologie, feature and functionalitie characteritic of today payment product. 4
Again, product election in t a matter of finding the nazziet payment gateway or mobile cloud-baed olution. You can t jut pick the trendy tuff. It more about identifying opportunitie to embed a merchant experience into the product and technologie to enure that the merchant ha a payment olution that will enhance their buine (and make their life impler). Technology create opportunitie for payment product to evolve beyond omething that merely procee tranaction. A ound merchant experience help merchant (and our bank partner) capitalize on thoe opportunitie. Merchant experience i about helping merchant acquire the right payment ytem and then going the extra mile to enure they undertand all of the feature and functionalitie o that they might uccefully integrate that new payment ytem into their buine. A bank can build a good merchant ervice program around a product portfolio. But it can build an exceptional program around merchant experience. Technology create opportunitie for payment product to evolve beyond omething that merely procee tranaction. A ound merchant experience help merchant (and our bank partner) capitalize on thoe opportunitie. Put imply: we have to make ure we re picking product that merchant need. But we alo have to tap into what we ve learned in the election proce (about merchant and product) to enure that we provide the merchant everything they need to ue the equipment properly (and our ale team with the ability to guide merchant accordingly). 5
Thi emphai on merchant experience require an elevated view of ale and ervice. Moreover, thi elevated view i compatible with how community and regional bank go the extra mile to erve their cutomer. Building compelling merchant experience i a unique opportunity for ervice-oriented bank to deliver merchant ervice far better than their competitor. Merchant Experience i a Powerful Sale and Retention Vehicle The product election proce hould chooe product and technologie that enable a merchant experience. But, it the implementation, ale and ervice of thoe product that craft and deliver that experience. The ame input that you ue to inform a product election proce - that deep undertanding of merchant need and product feature - mut alo be ued a output to drive training and development, marketing, ale and implementation initiative. Thi i where all the effort and care inveted in the election proce make an impact in the field. A ound merchant experience require a ale force that i avvy about payment and merchant. Again, there are myriad payment product out there, o your ale team need the market intelligence to help merchant make evaluation of not only the product in your portfolio but the one that merchant are currently uing. Adoption i often a matter of timing. If the technology i ahead of the merchant, then it jut not a good fit. Your ale team need to be able to make daily aement of fit in a manner imilar to the product team (on a more practical cale, of coure). That require ale rep to it down with the merchant, ak quetion and liten. 6
I can t tre thi enough the ale force mut undertand the danger of elling a merchant on ome kind of cool product feature, capability or interface. That a bad merchant experience for obviou reaon; the main one being the rik that the merchant will have inveted in a product that he or he might not undertand how to ue. Another troubleome outcome i a bad fit between the payment product and the merchant buine. Invoicing capabilitie might be a neat payment gateway feature, but how often will the merchant actually ue a payment platform for invoicing? I the invoicing capability compelling enough for a merchant to change their current invoicing habit? That converation hould focu more on the merchant current invoicing and reporting practice than the new product technology alone. That the reality of elling payment product that can do o much more than wipe credit card. Merchant adoption iue are revealed well after the ale team ha moved on becaue their involvement only goe a far a the deal (your cutomer ervice team won t be o lucky). Sale team are incentivized to ell! A ound merchant experience induce your account repreentative to ell the right thing to the right merchant at the right time. That kind of merchant experience won t place needle train downtream on op and cutomer ervice team. That experience alo ave merchant the headache that arie from buying a product they can t undertand or fully utilize. That practice will alo teer all partie clear of the frutration that caue merchant to attrite (and talented employee to leave). 7
We alo believe that white labeling payment product A branded payment gateway (payment gateway, for example) i an important merchant experience component. Bank like white-labeled make merchant feel like their cah i afe and ound in the hand of their bank a tep earlier product becaue they can pa thoe payment olution than it really i. off a their own. But that really only part of the reaon why we elect product that can be white labeled. We prefer white-labeled product becaue they give the merchant aurance that they can rely on their bank. There jut omething about bank brand that give their merchant peace of mind. A branded payment gateway make merchant feel like their cah i afe and ound in the hand of their bank a tep earlier than it really i. It probably help too that merchant upect that they don t have to deal with another vendor (after all, that one le 1-800 number to keep up with). A you can ee, a ound merchant experience can provide an added ene of afety and aurance. It can alo upport the brand of our bank partner too. There are other benefit to bank, of coure. Merchant Experience Benefit Bank, Too Merchant ervice program thrive when they create experience that lead the merchant to the right payment olution. A happy byproduct of thoe experience i that they can lead bank on product innovation a well. A merchant ervice program mut be a repoitory for ongoing inight into merchant and the latet intelligence on product pec and feature: whether thoe product are point of ale, tablet-baed, cloud-baed or virtual gateway technologie. That degree of information and expertie can be of coniderable benefit to bank. 8
In my earlier white paper, I remarked that the ame habit that allow a merchant ervice provider to excel at product election are the ame one that drive mooth indutry-mandated product upgrade (EMV, for example). A ound merchant experience alo unburden the bank of the difficult tradeoff between operation and ervice (and the balance between today commitment and tomorrow opportunitie). A a reult, bank will have more than jut a partner who they can pa their program off to they will have a partner who can lead them to better opportunitie. There i a point where a proceor can become too large to craft merchant experience that matter. Everyone know that large companie are often iloed, tatic and reitant to change. Merchant ervice program often become tatic becaue a payment provider ha become o large that they are too ditant from the merchant (and the bank) to gather inight into need. Call center aren t conducive to thoe kind of converation. Large proceor have a tough time taying nimble enough to remain open and flexible to change. Even the bet litening abilitie in the world are moot without adequate flexibility to act on thoe inight immediately. There mut be clear line of ight between product team, operation, marketing and ale. Sale team mut be encouraged to extract and hare inight from the field o that merchant ervice provider and their bank partner can have the immediate acce to information neceary to act fat. 9
It Take More than Plugging in a Terminal A ound merchant experience i the bet way to help merchant capitalize on the rapid technological innovation in payment. Thoe experience require the right product, freh (and eaily-acceible) knowledge and a little bit of choreography acro the merchant ervice program. Merchant experience mut be built for real people with actual need. Building thoe experience require putting merchant at the heart of your product election proce. Simultaneouly, merchant experience mut be the motivating factor in everything ele: product implementation, op, marketing and ale. That what keep a merchant ervice program more manageable and lucrative. That alo how bank can keep payment proceing imple but powerful for their merchant a well. 10