A Seamless Checkout To Prevent Revenue Loss

A seamless checkout process has been shown to increase conversion rates. However, streamlining the checkout process has to be done carefully while keeping PCI compliance standards in mind. After all, it won’t do you much good to increase conversions, if you also wind up bogged down with fraud charges and fees, acceptance rates, damage to your credibility, and lost customer data.

This is why streamlining the checkout process while maintaining revenue is a bit of a balancing act. The streamlining itself is very straightforward from an IT perspective, but it has to be done mindfully. In this article, we’re going to take a look at how to streamline the checkout process.

Maintaining revenue

Losses can occur through fraud, if the checkout process is too stripped down of its security features. For example, you could just require a user’s name and credit card number for a purchase, which would significantly reduce the identification process. However, if the customer decides to initiate a fraudulent chargeback, you will be left with little to no recourse.

This is why it’s important to implement security features such as AVS and CVV. These two protocols require the user to type additional information such as billing address, zip code and CVV number, but they are also your safety net in case of fraud. You can also go with a 3D Secure option, if you are a wholesale retailer. Without implementing verification, you potentially put yourself at risk for higher rates. In the US, companies are required to ask for billing address information on credit card transactions.

Reducing declines

There are two types of declines in the checkout process. You have soft and hard declines. Hard declines occur whenever there is a critical issue with the customer’s payment method (i.e. the card has expired). These declines are permanent and cannot be addressed by the business or payment processor. Soft declines on the other hand are sent by the card issuing bank, and they can mean one of two things: there are insufficient funds in the client’s account, or the bank sees a conflict with its fraud rules.

If your clients are routinely receiving soft declines, there are several options. For clients based in the US, you can reduce the number of soft declines by requiring AVS and CVV authentication, at least on the first transfer for each customer. For customers outside of the US, implementing the 3D secure system is the best solution. 3D secure payments will also help with chargebacks, because they will completely shift the liability to the card-issuing bank.

For more information on how to streamline your checkout process without taking a hit to your revenue, or to open a merchant account, please call (888) 924-2743 or go to Charge.com.