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With digital payments evolving day by day, customers’ experience is of paramount importance for businesses. Today, customers seek a seamless, efficient and time-saving payment experience. Here, omnichannel payment services have a major role in enabling it.
Businesses provide multiple payment methods like UPI, cards, net banking, etc. so that the customers have numerous options to choose from.
However, extending these payment options to multiple channels of customer interaction varying from an online site and a mobile app to retail stores or home deliveries is the current need.
Businesses that use omnichannel payment gateway can provide diverse payment options at several customer interaction points. Therefore, it results in better customer experience and repeat orders and customer retention.
In fact, according to Omnisend Report 2021, marketers who used three or more payment channels earned a 494% higher order rate than those who used a single channel.
So, how can your business achieve that?
Let’s find out!
Omnichannel Payment: The Need Of The Hour
An omnichannel payment means a comprehensive platform which integrates multiple payment methods at all sales channels giving a single view of the customer’s transactions.
Customers switch from online to offline (aka from store websites to retail storefronts). Suppose a customer buys a dress at a retail shop and then s/he wants to return it. But s/he doesn’t have to do the hassle of going to the store again by booking the return through the online website and asking for a refund.
So, an omnichannel payment service works like a unified portal that:
- Offers multiple payment options at all customer touchpoints as well as maintains a cohesive report of all their transactions accessible from any touchpoint
- It gives a holistic view of their payments that can help in quick repayments or getting insights into the payment trends
- Enhances the process of giving a personalised experience to the customers
How are Omnichannel and Multichannel Different?
Multi-channel means that a business has multiple sales channels for example – online stores, social media shops, retail stores, etc.
But this does not ensure the flow of information among them or sharing of customer data or that it has a centralised database.
In an omnichannel payments gateway, customer data and transaction details that are collected at one sales channel are shared, accessed and managed at all touchpoints.
Benefits of Omnichannel Payments
Omnichannel blurs the boundaries between the physical and digital interactions of the customers with the companies. This is the biggest benefit that omnichannel payment offers. This comes with its own set of advantages-
Enhance Customer Experience
Accepting multiple payment methods gives customers additional options and convenience. But with omnichannel payments, the payment process for customers becomes simplified, flexible and convenient.
It is a centralised dashboard that contains payment reports, transaction history, and all purchase details in one place but can be accessed through multiple channels.
Businesses can know the preferred mode of payment of the customers and the channel they prefer and offer more personalised solutions to the customers.
Boost Customer Base and Sales
Businesses that store all the customer data at one location can actually break down the data to understand the customer’s journey. They can also get channel insights as to how the business performs via which channel.
Accordingly, businesses can plan channel optimisation, plan email marketing to targeted customers.
Cost Effective for Businesses
Managing multiple payment options at separate channels is time and resource exhaustive. It may require multiple third-party integrations as well but work with omnichannel payment gateways can be cost-effective.
It will save time, money and effort making the entire payment process and data analysis more efficient.
How To Enable Omnichannel Payments For Your Business?
Opting for an omnichannel payment service for your business can help you to collect payments from various channels. You can add plugins to the payment platforms or direct the customers to the payment gateway where they can choose their payment method.
For collecting payments, you can use online methods of UPI, net banking, and cards. You can also share payment links through emails or messages. For offline payments for home delivery or at retail shops, POS machines are also an option.
Cashfree Payments now offers softPOS where an android mobile can be used as a digital POS machine and the business agents need not carry a physical POS machine.
Cashfree Payments, as an omnichannel payment gateway, supports multiple payment methods. Customers can pay via UPI, cards, QR codes, etc. as well as through different channels like websites, mobile apps, and offline channels.
You can easily enable the Cashfree Payments gateway in the following ways:
1. On Website and In-app
You can collect payments on your website/app or an e-commerce site through a payment gateway.
A payment gateway can offer a one-stop solution to collect and split payments seamlessly across multiple vendors.
It allows mobile integrations, website integrations as well as e-commerce plugins for the on-site shopping experience. Your customers can pay via any card, net banking options, UPI, Paytm & other wallets, EMI and Pay Later options.
Moreover, payment gateways like Cashfree Payments offer automated payment reconciliations and manage customer refunds with ease. Marketplaces, financial services, on-demand services, franchises and multi-branch outlets can use a split payment gateway.
Moreover, businesses can now offer their customers subscription plans and auto-charge future payments. It can be periodic or on-demand with one-time authentication.
You can automate recurring payments and reduce subscription churn with Cashfree Payments.
2. Off Website
Businesses in e-commerce and delivery niches need to collect payments from websites on a daily basis. Moreover, freelancers and SMBs with no website require a safe and robust payment collection system as well.
Let’s explore some payment acceptance options available.
Payment Links
Create customised payment links with an auto-filled amount on which the customers can click to pay with their choice of payment mode. The merchants can also share payment requests via emails, SMS or social media sites like Whatsapp.
Businesses can also use payout links for refunds where the customer can enter their bank details, UPI number, etc. to receive the amount.
Payment Forms or Excel Plugins
You can create payment pages or forms and excel plugins for off-website collection. Multiple payment requests can be sent from the excel sheet through emails, messages, Whatsapp and similar mediums.
QR codes
Merchants can use Quick Response (QR) codes where the customers can scan the graphic code to make payments. COD offers have become digital replacing cash.
Even in retail shops, customers can make payments by scanning QR codes using their preferred mode of payment. QR codes can be of two kinds – static or dynamic.
Static code is fixed or an open QR where businesses can collect multiple payments from various customers with the same code. Customers have to scan and enter the amount they are going to pay.
Dynamic code is unique to each transaction, where the merchant is in complete control. The merchant creates the code which has the payable amount mentioned that cannot be changed by the customer. The code also expires after one transaction and is valid for some time.
softPOS
POS or point-of-sale machines are often used in retail stores that allow customers to pay via cards or UPI or other modes of payment.
softPOS is an android app that acts as a POS machine which can be used to accept payments. Agents can use this app and collect payments through cards, UPI, BNPL (Buy Now Pay Later) and even cash.
Cashfree Payments softPOS allows businesses to convert the android mobile into a POS machine thereby eliminating the need for physical POS It helps in centralised monitoring of online and offline payments.
PRO TIP: Cashfree Payments has introduced static QR codes on the SoftPOS app. Businesses can add multiple delivery agents to accounts and accept error-free and contactless in-store payments from customers.
How To Choose an Omnichannel Payment Service Provider?
Before finalising an omnichannel PSP, businesses and merchants should carefully consider a few aspects:
Multiple Payment Modes
For selecting an omnichannel payment service provider, it is important to consider how many channels and payment modes it supports. This provides customers with more options for payments and results in lesser cart abandonments owing to a lack of preferred payment modes.
The payment gateway should support all major credit and debit cards and must allow net banking and UPI as well as support digital wallets and BNPL or EMI options.
International Payments
As businesses are expanding, they have customers in multiple nations. Merchants want to integrate their websites with a payment gateway that provides multiple modes of payment including international payments.
So when choosing an omnichannel payment gateway, check if it supports not international payments.
For international payments, the payment service provider should accept payments in multiple currencies. This will allow customers to pay in their preferred currency and the entire payable amount can be converted to INR or the currency the merchant uses.
Compliance & Security
A payment gateway must comply with PCI DSS (Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard). Adhering to this compliance ensures reliability and safety that the details of a cardholder are not vulnerable to fraud and theft.
The gateway should also have all kinds of data security measures to monitor risks and protect against any kind of fraud. For instance, there is end-to-end encryption, geographical checks of the data storage, etc.
Quick Settlement Cycles
The settlement cycle refers to the duration that the payment from a customer takes to reflect in the merchant’s account.
The payment processing usually takes two to four working days. Customers fill in their credentials to make the payment which the payment gateway verifies. They send it to the customer’s bank for authentication and only after approval, the fund is released to the merchant’s account.
Businesses should go for a payment gateway that can fast process the payments to quickly credit them to their accounts. T+1 or a maximum of T+2 should be an ideal settlement cycle for any gateway.
Easy Integration
The payment aggregator must have an easy web and app integration process. Payment aggregators should offer plugins for popular third-party platforms and eCommerce merchants.
It should be developer-friendly that have a no-code integration process but an elaborate guideline for integrating with various computer languages.
Quick Onboarding
Onboarding the business merchants on a payment gateway is a detailed process because the vendor must fulfil all formalities. It involves KYC verification, merchant history, business details, etc. Then, the payment channels are integrated with the business website or app.
So, it is necessary to check how smooth and quick the entire onboarding process is to have a good experience.
Detailed Payment Analytics
Detailed reports along with the data analysis of the total transactions and cash flow are significant in predicting the business performance. It helps in analysing the growth, scalability and areas of improvement.
Thus, a payment platform should provide such analytical reports of volume and number of transactions, in total and through each channel.
Efficient Payment Reconciliation
Real-time reconciliation refers to confirming the real-time transaction data which means the business merchant verifies if the payment is done.
A payment gateway should have a real-time reconciliation feature to give a definite response about the customer’s payment status within the predefined time frame. This helps the merchant in getting a real-time status of payment to provide services to the customer accordingly.
Payment gateways can also block the customer’s money so that in case there is a cancellation of the order, customers can get a quick refund.
Payment Gateway Pricing
Businesses have to pay a one-time fee for onboarding and other infrastructure costs. Sometimes, payment gateways charge an annual maintenance fee as well depending on the services they offer.
Then, the payment gateway set up a standard rate of charge per transaction. The rates vary for different payment methods and it also depends on the transaction amount.
Usually, the PG pricing is 2-3% of the transaction amount which is split among the acquiring bank and payment gateways. It is also split among card networks and issuing banks if it is a card payment.
Business vendors can negotiate for the best possible rates with the payment gateways.
Cashfree Payments has ZERO set-up charges and NO annual maintenance fee with the lowest pricing in the market. We also offer customised payment gateway charges if your business has very high average order values or very small micro-transactions.
Conclusion:
Omnichannel Payment service is the pressing priority for all online businesses. No vendor wants to lose out on customers because of the lack of their preferred payment method. Moreover, businesses want to focus on their products and services rather than solving payment problems.
Here, the role of payment aggregators and payment gateways matter a lot when they can come forward to provide omnichannel payment services to online businesses. Customers can feel more connected and business vendors will have a unified data source which will benefit both parties.
Interested in offering an omnichannel payment experience to your customers?
Get in touch with our experts here!
