The importance of a customer's payment data
Why is your customers' payment data so important? When we talk about customer payment data we are not referring to their sensitive information, but to the payment methods they use the most or how much time passes between each. With this information, you can unlock more opportunities that you can use for your business to grow. Whether it is to offer a better service and shopping experience to your customers, to know better what they consume, where they are, among many others.
What is payment data?
One of the key pieces of data that you should know about your business is the way in which your customers pay for their purchases. This type information is easily accessed and you can start to observe your business, simply by analyzing your day-to-day sales.
For example: Which payment methods are the most popular, how much time passes between each purchase, from what device they normally use to make their purchases (computer or mobile), what is the failure rate, and ultimately any data you consider important to improve your business model. For example, if your services or products are repeatedly consumed over time, it could be beneficial to implement a subscription payment model to facilitate the purchases and increase the loyalty of your customers, as well as to automate recurring payments. The good news is that you do not have to invest large amounts of money or resources for this, since payment data can be collected very easily.
How to utilize payment data
There are many ways to utilize the potential that payment data can have on your business. Some of them are summarized in research to collect data, improve from the information obtained and, finally, loyalty thanks to all of the above.
Researching online payments
Understand your customers' needs and interests as this is the first step to effectively use your payment data. To do this, their buying behavior reveals everything we need to know. Often, we believe it is impossible to know how our customer behaves, but it is possible through observation, interviews or surveys. Analyzing the competition is also a good way to understand what payment facilities are offered, for example, if they offer installment purchases, from what amount, with what conditions and in how many installments.
An excellent way to collect objective and updated data in real time is by integrating a payment management platform that automatically monitors and records all transaction information. With tools like this it is possible to access the most relevant metrics for your business and with which you can initiate other sales strategies such as the following.
Improve your online payments
Once you have collected enough payment data you can begin to implement strategies to optimize your sales, or what is the same: propose improvements in the payment process of your business. Depending on the preferences and behaviors you have observed in your customers you can sense which will be the best ways to increase sales and productivity.
Taking into account your current data and the payment options you offer to your customers, you can assess which options are the most beneficial according to your circumstances and vision for the future. That is to say, right now you may offer a payment system that is not really the most suitable for your customers because its technological level, availability, accessibility etc. may be superior or inferior next to it, but you will not know until you know in depth its behavior. By collecting data about your online payments, you will come to the conclusion whether offering and paying for certain payment methods is profitable or not. If your audience is technological, you can consider options such as mobile payment; if it is more traditional, you can offer the option of direct debit payments in the bank or even split purchases if prices are high. All these options will make the moment of purchase smooth, easy and stress-free.
Building online customer loyalty
A step that should not be forgotten at the end of any sales process is to build customer loyalty. When the purchase has been completed, it is time to start a loyalty strategy to ensure that the customer makes another purchase. If another sale is closed again, it means that the customer has been satisfied -both with the product and with the payment method- which is a great advance for sales metrics.
One again, a customer's payment data comes into play, as it is a great source of information for making strategic decisions. Thus, with the data you can recognize if a long time has passed between purchases, if the average purchase amount has decreased or if different payment methods are used, you can take actions focused on increasing the frequency of purchase, maintain or even increase the purchase value and take advantage of the payment methods you offer, and therefore help increase revenue. Some of the ways to build loyalty for your business are usually with marketing resources (offers, discounts, reminders, advertisements...) that will help to keep customers active. On the other hand, having convenient payment systems for the user will also make the purchase more habitual.
Finally, other sales models such as subscriptions, which maintain the loyalty of customers who buy on a recurring basis over a long period of time, should also not be overlooked.
