Daniel Holden, CEO at fintech platform Trust Payments
We live in an increasingly consumer driven world. Options are endless and it is therefore a rat race to find, satisfy and retain customers. In a clearly competitive landscape, differentiated products and services coupled with seamless and convenient experiences continually come out on top.
Customer journeys are far more varied today than ever. With data at the heart of every transaction and with the option of in-store, online or mobile available, a customer needs to have an integrated experience seamlessly shifting from one channel to another.
Omnichannel or multi-channel payment options make an improved customer experience a reality. With the right payment technology in place, as well as the right blend of channels, businesses can build a unified payment system that is smooth, secure and efficient.
Data is king
Businesses need new ways to identify and reach their customers. This means they need to research all their channels and understand who and how they are selling to. By doing so, they are able to create more convenient, personalised shopping, loyalty and return experiences.
Data is key to this. Omnichannel payment systems allow for the facilitation and synchronisation of data across multiple channels, making it possible to have multiple data points to collect, analyse and drive insightful analytics from.
A unified payment system provides customer data sharing across all channels. Data collected from these points helps businesses paint a picture of how, when and where customers are conducting their purchases. It helps businesses create a customised offering so the business can concentrate on marketing to those customers through specific channels.
This data can be used not only to find insights and inspire new initiatives, but also to build customer loyalty and programs. By integrating eCommerce, mobile and in-store data, the full breadth of the customer and different customer types can be understood and used to a business’s advantage.
Digital loyalty through payment data
Customer retention is a key performance indicator for most businesses. It is imperative for businesses to continually revisit their customer retention numbers and try to improve their current practices.
The current landscape is riddled with outdated loyalty programs that are not rooted in data and often are forgotten or ignored by customers. Digital loyalty programs that are data-driven and payment-linked are efficient and can reward customers, unprompted, with offers, reminders or other forms of rewards.
A transformed loyalty programme builds a loyal customer base by offering a more interactive, intuitive and personalised experience. It requires minimal input from the customer’s side, giving them further motivation to choose your product or service and consider it as a more convenient way to shop. Digital loyalty programs are a much more creative approach to rewarding customers for their ongoing loyalty.
Converged Commerce™
The benefits of data lie in whether a business is able to take advantage of the insights it provides. Payment, although the last step of the customer journey, is undoubtedly the most important one. The pandemic has accelerated the digitisation of payments and companies have had to quickly and efficiently adopt new cutting edge technologies in order to remain competitive and retain customers. Future-proofing with technology is key.
A good way to look at the future of payments is to understand the emerging concept of Converged Commerce. It is born out of the idea that cohesive solutions will improve customer journeys and how businesses will run in the future. By looking at a customer’s journey and the data surrounding it in detail, businesses are able to better understand customer habits, preferences, and behaviours as well as being able to identify and build an accurate view of the customer. This, in turn, can be used to offer better products and an enhanced customer experience.
A converged experience uses a single view of the gathered client data from the entire customer journey across all touchpoints and helps to spot opportunities for improvement inevitably leading to customer retention and higher profitability.
