Today’s retail landscape is more competitive than ever. The digital quality of a retailer’s app or website can be the difference between success and failure, customer loyalty or abandonment, an iconic brand versus a fleeting trend. The process should be pleasant, personalised and friction-free, especially when users reach the final stage.

The most critical part of the customer journey is conversion – if a customer has difficulties completing a transaction, then all the best-intentioned efforts leading up to that point will have been for nothing.

To avoid churn, it’s important that retailers test every aspect of the customer journey across digital channels in the markets they serve to ensure a seamless experience, says Rob Mason, CTO at Applause.

Limited payment options put transactions at risk 

Every brand, regardless of its size or target market, needs to have a good understanding of payment trends and customer preferences to deliver smooth transactions and convert sales. For that reason, we constantly analyse trends in payments by conducting surveys of industry professionals and reports that offer retailers a better understanding of current practices and consumer expectations.

Our most recent retail studies found that limited payment options are among the main reasons consumers abandon their digital transactions. Among the key findings were that 76% of users are likely to abandon a transaction if their preferred payment method is not accepted. Another 41% of consumers encountered an issue that impacted their ability to make a payment, contributing to cart abandonment.

When retailers were asked how they determine what payment methods to accept, 65% indicated that they decided based on customer preferences. However, despite this claim, retailers are not keeping pace with current trends, as only 56% accept mobile/digital wallets, a method of payment that is becoming increasingly popular among consumers.

Testing and QA improve payment processes across borders 

Retailers can find functional gaps in processes, and identify and fix the bugs that are creating friction during the customer journey by adopting a quality assurance (QA) model that can be delivered at scale using a global community of independent testers.

This method of testing and QA provides retailers with access to testers that are carefully selected to match specific customer profiles and demographics. These in-market testing experts and end-users use their own payment instruments to identify functional, payment, UX and operational issues to help improve digital quality and reduce friction at each phase of the customer journey.

This model helps bridge the checkout gap customers have experienced due to limited payment options.

For example, it allows retailers to test and upgrade their payment instruments to accept users’ preferred payment methods, including digital wallets. In addition to testing for basic payment functionality, retailers can also test rewards and loyalty programmes, and delivery and shipping options to help ensure more efficient processes. 

More security, less friction

Critically, retailers can also use payment testing to help ensure their payment methods are secure and compatible with standards like the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) and the EU’s Secure Customer Authentication (SCA), that requires multi-factor authentication (MFA).

Retailers can balance security with convenience by eliminating any friction at the checkout associated with security processes like MFA.

In addition to PCI DSS and SCA, retailers operating in the EU are impacted by 3D Secure (3DS), an additional security layer for online credit and debit card transactions. Brands can use testing to measure the effectiveness of 3DS to vet online transactions and minimise fraud in markets where it is required.

Digital quality drives sales and delivers insights

Our research shows that cart abandonment increases dramatically because of limited or faulty payment options.

However, thanks to the latest QA and testing methodologies, global retailers can enable customers to use the payment instrument of their choice, while gaining a holistic view of the brand and payments experience across their digital channels.