Contact Centre Payments: 5 reasons to add a digital Pay by Bank option
What is Pay by Bank?
Pay by Bank is a new payment method built on open banking infrastructure and offers a way for consumers to pay businesses via their contact centre channels. Customers pay digitally by direct bank transfer in a few clicks, sending funds directly from their bank account to a merchant. It is fast and secure, all with no cards and no data entry.
Why do digital payments work in a contact centre?
Pay by Bank payments are inherently faster, easier, and more secure than card payments. Customers don’t have to key in card details manually saving them, and your agents, time – reducing the overall average call handling time (AHT). Customers simply select their bank from a list and approve the purchase with their face ID or fingerprint. This can virtually eliminate fraud.
Explore the five most compelling reasons to add Pay by Bank to your contact centre payment options.
1. Increase phone and digital conversion
Problem
Whilst phone payments have been prevalent for decades, in recent years the rise of phone scams has made people much more wary about giving their financial information via this channel. Digital online security is also a top priority for consumers too. Couple this growing distrust with the rise in digital commerce pre and, even more so, post pandemic, consumers are demanding a choice in when, where and how they pay for goods and services.
Solution
By offering Pay by Bank as a payment option in your contact centre you can reach a wider demographic of digital natives who want the ease of click to pay and the peace of mind their account and personal information is safe. Pay by Bank has shown to convert up to 40%1 better than cards, because they’re designed for digital and for mobile, the process is less manual and payment success rates are higher.
2. Eliminate fraud
Problem
As described already, phone and digital scamming is on the rise. But a common threat for merchants can be from consumers themselves. According to Merchant Savvy2, global payments fraud has tripled from 2011 to 2020, rising from $9.84 billion to $32.39 billion.
So, whilst a PCI Compliant payment solution is protecting your reputation, ensuring internal agents and your infrastructure aren’t exposed to customers’ financial information, who is protecting you against consumer fraud?
Solution
You can rest assured with Pay by Bank that the consumer the agent is taking payment from is the rightful owner of the bank account and the funds which they’re using to pay. How? Because Pay by Bank has three layers of security. 1. Connection to a banking app requires secure 2FA (two factor authentication). 2. Phone apps use ID & biometric security to ensure the mobile payment journey is safe. 3. The open banking provider and the merchant also have security measures, like 3DS within their infrastructure to ward off or detect fraudulent behaviours.
3. Minimize chargebacks
Problem
Brought in over 50 years ago to assuage consumer fears over credit card security, chargebacks allow consumers to dispute a payment they’ve made with their credit card and submit it to their bank for reversal. The decision then rests with the customer’s bank (also known as the issuing bank, or card issuer), which can choose to either side with the consumer, or the merchant (research shows that on average merchants who dispute chargebacks have a 32 percent win rate.) When the bank comes down on the side of the consumer, the payment is refunded, and the merchant charged an additional fee for their troubles. A report by Mastercard estimated there were 615 million global chargebacks in 2021 and the merchant cost of chargebacks will exceed $117 billion by 2023! – Most worryingly are ‘friendly’ chargebacks – 81% of cardholders admitted to filing a chargeback out of convenience. It was seen as easier to contact the bank for a chargeback than call the merchant for a refund. Friendly fraud chargebacks can account for between 40% and 80% of all eCommerce fraud losses and is on the rise – you can read more about the depth of the chargeback problem from the experts at CB911 here
In the UK chargebacks can be between £5 – £20. In the US they can be significantly higher, at anywhere between $20 – £100. How much friendly fraud are you victim to, and how much could be avoided?
Solution
Pay by Bank payments are a great way to eliminate chargebacks altogether by avoiding credit card processing entirely. As there’s no card network involved, there is no chargeback process to deal with. The consumer benefits because if something goes wrong, only three parties (the customer, the merchant, and the open banking payment provider), all with direct relationships, are involved in the resolution.
4. Provide instant refunds
Problem
Consumers, you can’t live with ‘em, you can’t live without ‘em! The problem is, if a consumer needs a refund this can typically take on average between 3 – 10 working days for the refund to be issued. If you don’t have appropriate channels or mechanisms for communication the consumer will call or message your contact centre chasing their refund payment. This means there are agent overheads in time, and money, on calls and chats that needn’t be.
Solution
Pay by Bank refunds are instant. It’s as simple as that. Cash is king for consumers so having that money refunded instantly will boost your reputation and delight your customers.
5. Reduce the overall cost of taking payments
Problem
As Mairead McGuinness, European Commissioner for financial services, financial stability and Capital Markets Union recently put it:
“In 2022 it’s absurd to think that European banks are still charging vast amounts of money for businesses and consumers to send money internationally, and then taking days to fulfil such transfers.”
Solution
We’ve touched on the agent cost savings for refunds, and on fraud and costly chargeback savings, combining that with added revenue from higher conversion it’s a win-win already. But the other significant saving is on payment processing fees. Where traditional card PSP providers charge a premium, on average between 1.5% – 3.5%; What’s more Pay by Bank settles more quickly than cards instantly compared to 1-3 days which has a positive impact on cashflow.
If that wasn’t enough, the cherry on the cake for Pay by Bank contact centre payments is the phenomenal user experience for consumers young and old – a simple digital journey that will convert and retain more customers than ever before. See it in action.
Pay by Bank is just one contact centre payment method in a series of revolutionary new multi-payment checkout methods.
PCI Pal has solved the PCI DSS compliance issue and now we’re focused on creating new revenue generation and cost-benefitting solutions for contact centres with our next-generation payments, supporting businesses with enhancing their overall payment journey and customer experience.
Read more on our digital payment’s solutions
Contact us to see how Pay by Bank could work for you.
