By implementing proven payment processing solutions, e-commerce merchants can maximize revenue growth.
When was the last time you said, “I am fine with the status quo”? Business leaders always look for ways to increase revenue growth. This is especially true for online merchants, where the digital landscape has become increasingly crowded. Suddenly, the status quo is the least of your worries—you need to keep your competitive advantage so you can rise above the “noise” of the e-commerce marketplace.
Yet, sometimes leaders are unaware of all the e-commerce revenue growth tools available to them—especially when it comes to payment processing. Once those opportunities are uncovered, you are no longer bound by the same old revenue-generating tactics. By implementing proven payment processing solutions, you can take more control over your bottom line.
At Vendo Services, we offer several tools to maximize e-commerce revenue growth. As part of your greater merchant strategy, these payment processing options provide you with opportunities for securing and retaining customers.
The E-commerce Checkout Process
One of the biggest challenges online merchants face is “cart abandonment.” Discount offers in e-commerce need to be enticing enough to ensure you hold buyers’ attention all the way to the last click.
Cross-Sales. This feature offers your own products and services, or external partners’ products and services, on the checkout page. It’s a great way to upsell customers when they’re already in “buyer mode”—particularly if the additional product or service offerings provide extra value for a need (or want) they didn’t realize they had. Instead of having to search out that additional offering elsewhere, you’re extending them a one-stop shop.
One-Click. Returning customers who have already provided their credit card information find benefit in re-purchasing with little hassle—in the form of a literal “one click.” It doesn’t have to be the same product or service, either. It could be a new offering or an add-on to a re-purchase. One-click also instills loyalty among returning customers. The fewer steps they must take to complete the purchase, the more likely they are to keep returning. Merchants benefit because one-click checkouts are less likely to result in refunds or chargebacks.
Website Template Management. If you’ve ever journeyed through a browsing-to-purchase path where the checkout page looked vastly different from the rest of the website, you know how unsettling that can be. It’s often the reason for cart abandonment—particularly for high risk merchants. To eliminate this risk, Vendo offers various templates merchants can apply that mirror the look and feel of their websites. Merchants can go into the Vendo back office and switch template elements at any time (colors, photos). It’s a great option for seasonal promotions—and the changes are immediate.
Back Discount Offer (BDO). When a customer is well into the checkout process, you want to do everything you can to help them complete their purchase. Back discount offers, or backout discount offers as they are sometimes known, is a special subscription price given to potential customers to encourage them to stay on the sign-up page and complete the transaction. There are two different ways merchants can approach this:
- Fixed Discount Offer—Members are offered a dollar amount off the membership price. For example, get a $20 price instead of the regular $40 subscription rate.
- Percentage Discount Offer—Instead of a fixed currency discount, members receive a percentage off the standard subscription rate (e.g. 50%).
BDOs could apply to both new and existing customers. The only difference is that brand new customers have never purchased from you previously, in any capacity.
Mid-Subscription: Customer Retention Strategies
Everyone wants their customers to be happy—and stay happy. Still, things can happen that are out of your control. There are ways to appease your customers when a glitch occurs and ultimately optimize customer retention.
Partial Refunds. Let’s say your merchant site temporarily is down. It could be due to a server outage or other technical issue. You can help retain your customers who are affected by downtime by offering a partial refund for that billing period. The next rebill would be performed in full.
Note: Each payment processing service may have its own rules for how many partial refunds may be offered per transaction. For example, at Vendo, our merchants can perform two partial refunds per transaction.
Extended Membership. If your customer has trouble logging into the member portal, you can extend their membership for the time period during which they were disallowed access. So, if it was one day and their rebill occurs on December 31, you can extend the membership to January 1. This is another good option for an unexpected interruption to your site.
Post-Cancellation: Discount Offers Still Apply
It’s bound to happen: you lose a customer. It may not even be your “fault,” like in the instance a credit card expired without their knowledge. Unfortunately, customer retention in e-commerce is never a given. The good news is there are several strategies to re-engage former customers and make them yours once again.
Repurchase. After an end user has canceled their membership, they aren’t necessarily lost forever. Perhaps they return in two or three months to sign up again. Because you have their historical data, you can offer them the same membership price, discounts, loyalty rewards, etc.—even if membership prices have risen since their cancellation.
Cancel Discount Offer (CDO). In some cases, end users decide to cancel their subscription before it is “officially” over. For example, the end date is December 31, but they go through the steps to cancel on December 20. In that interim, you might send them a discount offer to encourage them to reactivate their membership. That leads into the next solution: the retention discount offer.
Retention Discount Offer (RDO). This feature is a bit like repurchase, but instead of having an attractive offer awaiting a former customer upon return, merchants can be more proactive in reaching out with a discount or other promotion. This discount is typically communicated to the end user about three days prior to the expiration (or cancellation) date.
Expiring Discount Offer (EDO). As mentioned, some customers don’t realize their credit card is about to expire. They may have fully intended to keep their membership, but once that cord is cut, they could decide to go elsewhere. You can prevent that from occurring by offering them a special discount to update their credit card information with a current payment method. It’s generally a good idea to alert the customer about a month prior to the card’s expiration date.
Tailor-Made Solutions Maximize E-commerce Revenue Growth
Some payment processing vendors will offer solutions for e-commerce revenue growth as part of a general “package,” with limits to customization. Because we work with so many kinds of merchants, including a significant portion of high risk merchants, we know a broad-stroke approach like this falls short of revenue growth potential.
Each merchant we partner with can pick and choose which tools for revenue growth best suit their unique needs. Vendo also offers hands-on support, so merchants can implement changes on their own in real-time. Of course, our customer support team is always available to assist with any requests. But the ability to make changes quickly is a true advantage for some merchants.
The Bottom Line
When company leaders are strategizing to add to their bottom line, they may not look to revenue growth via payment processing solutions. Rather, they often focus on bolstering their sales and marketing efforts or on product development. Yet, payment processing is a crucial component of business operations—particularly for high risk merchants who may come up against various regulatory compliance issues.
Contact us if you’re interested in exploring the many ways to maximize your revenue growth with payment processing tactics.
Vendo offers comprehensive payment processing services to e-commerce merchants. Our innovative, AI-powered tools offer merchants simple, secure, and seamless payment solutions, along with expert customer support from integration to end-user concerns. Our expert team works 24/7 to shape your vision into reality.