The mobile movement was upon us so rapidly that ecommerce merchants have struggled to keep up. But to stay competitive, they must. Consumers are increasingly using mobile devices to browse and transact, and they expect a seamless shopping and checkout experience while using those devices.
The customer journey culminates in the checkout, and the customer experience at that point, whether they are using a mobile device or not, is largely dependent on the payment gateway. Today, payment gateways need to be particularly attuned to three things: whether the payment process is frictionless for the mobile user, whether the gateway supports common credit cards, and whether customers are protected from fraud.
Here’s a look at how the right payment gateway allows merchants to respond to the mobile movement and keep customers on their site and in a secure environment from browsing to purchase.
Priorities for Merchants and Consumers
Merchants are concerned with maximizing revenues, which typically means increasing conversions, decreasing chargebacks, and protecting against fraud. Consumers want and expect a seamless and superior customer journey that starts with a platform that is easy-to-navigate and culminates in a frictionless checkout.
Ecommerce merchants also know that consumers are fickle and impatient. If at any point in the customer journey they develop a sense of frustration, they are likely to find another merchant, or worse, abandon a nicely filled digital shopping cart.
Merchants are working hard to earn bonus points with consumers and keep them rolling merrily along on the customer journey to checkout. Many are offering buy-now-pay-later financing options, rewards programs, fast delivery, and easy returns. But all these incentives proffered along the way will count for nothing if the payment process is cumbersome or anything but a source of instant gratification.
Read about customer-focused payments innovations: “From Chatbots to Chargebacks: Recent Developments in Payments’ Innovations”
Mobile’s Growing Dominance
Mobile devices are relatively new appendages now central to our daily lives. We rely on them to tell us when to get up, the time, the weather, our schedule for the day. They are our main channel for communication and for purchasing. According to Statista, in 2017, 59% of all online sales originated from mobile devices, and by 2020, the percentage had grown to 70% and to 74% by 2021.
You can blame the fintech industry for the explosion in the mobile trend. Retail banks were quick to offer the convenience of app-based banking so that members could do everything from deposit checks to apply for loans without having to visit a local branch.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, when people were in lockdown, they realized the joy of app-based banking, and app-based everything else. Who doesn’t enjoy having all of their material, physical, and emotional needs met by one source that you can access from your living room armchair? There really was an app for that.
Couple mobile banking with other digital conveniences—online lending where consumers can have cash deposited to their checking accounts within 24 hours, telehealth, ridesharing, food delivery, zoom meeting—and the mobile movement was set in stone.
The Link Between Increased Mobile Use and Cart Abandonment
As mobile use has increased, so have cart abandonment rates. Statista shows that in 2006, 60% of shoppers abandoned their carts. By 2017, that percentage was close to 70%. Today, according to OptinMonster, the average online shopping cart abandonment rate is 76%. One wonders, then, if there is a correlation between mobile use and cart abandonment. Does a poor experience on a mobile device result in lost sales for merchants?
While an ecommerce site that is not optimized for mobile will frustrate a customer to the point that they exit the app, a great mobile or mcommerce site might also encourage cart abandonment. For example, a shopper might fill up a digital cart and use it as a shopping list and purchase the items later in-store. This is known as near-purchase activity, and it happens a lot.
Nevertheless, the leading causes of cart abandonment are exacerbated by a merchant who does not cater to the mobile user. For example, according to research by the Baymard Institute, extra costs like shipping, taxes, and fees are the leading cause for cart abandonment, but the second biggest reason for abandonment is not being able to checkout as a guest. Having to type in multiple fields of information to register with a merchant is not fun or convenient on a smartphone.
Other factors related to cart abandonment are not trusting that credit card information is secure, a lengthy checkout process, an unsatisfactory returns policy, insufficient payment methods, or simply a declined credit card. While these pain points are not limited to mcommerce sites, a merchant can address all of them combining the right payments infrastructure with a mobile-enabled platform.
The Right Payments Infrastructure for Mobile
Competitive ecommerce and mcommerce sites integrate payments solutions that respond to changing consumer preferences. As mentioned before, three factors to consider regarding payments infrastructure are: Does it support mobile use? Does it integrate with popular card issuers and payment channels? Does it provide adequate protection against fraud?
Elavon’s Converge Gateway is an example of a payments gateway that does all three.
Elavon Converge Supports Mobile
Elavon is one of the largest credit card processing companies in the United States and Canada, with about 1.2 million merchants in specific industries, including airlines, restaurants, hospitality, retail, healthcare, and education. Elavon incorporates 3D Secure 2.1 into its payment solutions. 3DS Secure 2.1 is a payments tool that supports mobile use, protects against fraud, and integrates with popular card issuers and payment channels
The first iteration of 3D Secure — 3DS 1.0 — was created in 1999 when desktops were the only online shopping channel available. 3DS is a security protocol that adds a layer of authentication to the checkout process and verifies cardholders’ identity prior to authorization. Leading card networks implemented 3DS 1.0 in 2001 under the branded names Verified by Visa or Mastercard Identity Check.
However, 3DS 1.0 was designed only for web-browser authentication and did not support the mobile environment. Then, in 2019, a new version of 3DS—3D Secure 2.1—was released to address the new digital channels, such as gaming, mobile, and automobile apps, and to comply with the evolving regulatory landscape.
3DS Secure 2.1 supports both browsers and mobile apps, and as mobile channels account for 74% of online sales, 3D Secure 2.2 is a vital component of today’s digital payment networks.
For more on mobile payments, read: “Ride the Mobile Wallet Wave with Google Pay”
Elavon’s Converge Gateway Is Fully Integrated with Visa, Mastercard, American Express, and Discovery
Merchants using the Elavon Converge Gateway can accept payments from customers who use Visa, Mastercard, American Express and Discovery. The gateway will also accept eCheck and ACH transactions and allow customers to save their payment method to their account for faster checkout next time.
Elavon Converge Protects Against Fraud
The Elavon system authenticates with a one-time passcode sent to a mobile number or through biometrics, reducing fraud and friction in the mobile user experience. Elavon Converge’s payment security solutions also include encryption and tokenization to protect card data.
Encryption protects card data when it is in transit because it renders the data unrecognizable to fraudsters as it travels across networks to a secure data center. Tokenization protects card data when it’s in use and at rest. It converts or replaces cardholder data with a unique token value to be used for subsequent transactions. This eliminates the possibility of having card data stolen because the actual card data is not stored on a merchant’s system.
3D Secure authentication requires customers to enter their specific Verified by Visa or MasterCard SecureCode passcode when entering payment information. Merchants can also set up fraud tools and allow transactions to be declined based on variables such as the card number, IP address, or email. Elavon Converge also uses CVV and address verification system (AVS). Lastly, Elavon requires that merchants use Converge to support customer compliance with the Payment Card Industry–Data Security Standard (PCI-DSS) guidelines.
Related: “Customers Are Now the Biggest Fraud Threat to Merchants—How to Fight Friendly Fraud”
Elavon Converge—Gateway to MCommerce
Merchants can chase and catch up with the mobile movement by choosing a payments gateway that supports mobile users, accepts their credit card brands, and protects their data from fraudsters. The right payment gateway, combined with a platform designed for mobile use will attract customers to your app or site. Not only that, but it will also keep them there for the entire customer journey and bring them back in the future.
Contact Cartis to learn more about integrating your systems with Converge Payment Gateway.