A powerful customer experience is produced by a successful low-cost
distribution plan that mixes the digital and physical. Banks and
established acquirers rarely use a totally digital distribution and
service approach, yet it may be the only way to access several tiers of
customer excellence. Best practices include automatic onboarding, quick
setup of web shops, intuitive user interface design, and straightforward
post-sale data reconciliation.
Effective utilization of digital channels and collaborations is essential
for success in the SME sector, even for traditional payments acquirers.
In actuality, physical stores and branches are the least desired, closely
followed by the phone channel, while the internet is the preferred channel
for payments for SMEs.
SME service models are also changing from a reactive to a proactive
approach, continuously offering new products to address changing corporate
demands. This movement is being driven by the increased technical
advancement of payments products and the growing chances for
cross-selling. Cross-selling should be done mostly through direct channels
with self-serve access, while human-based first sales and renewals may
still be acceptable depending on region and economics, particularly by
leveraging partnerships with platform players and cash register/enterprise
software vendors.
Daily customer support tasks can also be mostly handled via self-serve
access technologies, with actual specialized coverage being saved for the
most valuable clients with the most demanding requirements. SumUp, a UK
payments fintech company that provides small businesses with lightweight,
intuitive card readers, has teamed up with customer support company
Solvemate to create an AI-powered chatbot that will help businesses
expand their customer service. The chatbot has a 72 percent no-interaction
resolution rate, which has helped the business cut the need for agent
assistance by 22 percent.
The secret to boosting sales and keeping clients is using sophisticated
data. New businesses may now compete on price and innovative solutions
because to readily available technology and rising demand for payment
solutions. The most crucial deciding elements for B2B payment products
are being satisfied by digital attackers' simple-to-use and
simple-to-set-up solutions.
Additionally, they have created cutting-edge goods at cost-effective
pricing, presenting a strong argument for businesses to switch payment
processors. Additionally, the difficult economic climate currently in
place is placing existential pressure on a large number of SMEs,
increasing price sensitivity for payments services.
Accurate segmentation of the SME customer base is essential in this
situation. In this situation, advanced analytics can significantly improve
pricing, cross-selling, and retention. For instance, a large acquirer with
a history of inconsistent pricing, little differentiation, and infrequent
adjustments, as well as a merchant population with a wide range of
profitability, increased revenues by about 17% using a pricing strategy
combining conventional commercial excellence levers and cutting-edge
analytics.
Machine learning was heavily used to segment clients based on desired
margin and likelihood to churn for these outcomes. The segmentation
improves the execution of more-fore-more repricing by focusing on
merchants with low turnover propensities and target margins below those
of their category. The repricing was put into place in three waves each
year, along with thorough and successful messaging outlining the
advantages.
In order to identify SME clients with high churn risk who should be
excluded from repricing, the acquirer also developed an analytics model.
This model allowed the acquirer to extract actual churn signals and take
steps to win such customers back. Advanced analytics can be utilized to
improve digital collections as well as optimize subscription payments.
Because updating cards on file requires laborious, antiquated processes,
card expiration is one of the most frustrating problems companies face
when trying to keep clients.
Many businesses in the industry automate updates to payment credentials
while utilizing algorithms to lower client churn. Finally, cross-selling
opportunities with current clients can be found with the aid of advanced
analytics. For instance, website traffic statistics can be used to update
client dashboards and provide suggestions for plan or other product
improvements automatically.
