Tag: payments security

‘Tis the Season for Secure Payments: Protecting Your Business from Holiday Fraud

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The holiday season is here, bringing with it the hustle and bustle of surging online transactions. Consumer spend is expected to rebound above pre-pandemic levels for the first time, even as 72% of shoppers anticipate higher prices.

Inflation dread isn’t enough to deter cash-strapped consumers. Credit options, such as Buy Now Pay Later short-term financing, will cover an estimated 13% of holiday purchases this year.

With the uptick of consumers embracing the holiday splurge, it’s essential to ensure that your store is safeguarded from the Grinches of the online world—fraudsters. Here are three tips to keep your e-commerce business merry and bright:

 

1. Hosted Payment Pages: A Trusted Haven for Transactions

Picture a secure fortress for your customers’ payment data—one that’s not on your servers. This is where securely hosted payment pages with a reliable payments provider come into play. By directing your online payments through these secure pages, you’re ensuring that sensitive payment data doesn’t linger in your system like a misplaced ornament.

The beauty of securely hosted payment pages lies in their ability to provide a seamless and secure transaction experience. Customers enter their payment details on a page hosted by the payments provider, keeping the crucial data away from your servers and reducing your PCI (Payment Card Industry) Data Security Standard scope. This ensures a worry-free experience for both you and your customers that leaves fraudsters out in the cold.

 

2. Digital Wallets: Security Wrapped in Convenience

‘Tis the season for giving, and what better gift to offer your customers than secure and convenient digital payment methods? Enter digital wallets. With enhanced security features, they provide a hassle-free and speedy checkout experience.

By offering popular digital wallets at your checkout, you’re not just embracing the holiday spirit—you’re also aligning with what consumers trust. Digital wallets safely store payment credentials and employ advanced encryption techniques to keep them protected. It’s a win-win—customers get a seamless payment experience, and you get the peace of mind that their data is protected.

 

3. Tokenization: Turning the Tables on Fraudsters

If you want to take your holiday defenses up a notch, consider the power of tokenization.

Tokenization involves replacing actual card and ACH payment data with generated tokens. These tokens have no intrinsic value and provide no value to fraudsters. It’s the equivalent of leaving fake presents under the tree for anyone attempting to snatch them. A reputable payments provider can assist you in implementing this robust layer of security, ensuring that even if a Grinch manages to sneak into your system, they leave empty-handed.

In the midst of the holiday season excitement, don’t let the fear of fraud steal your joy. By following these three tips—utilizing hosted payment pages, offering secure digital payment methods, and embracing tokenization—you can ensure your online business stays secure while shoppers stuff their carts.

 

CSG Forte is here to protect your payments this holiday season. Contact us to get started today.

7 Essential Features for a Better IVR Payment System

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While no one likes paying bills, reducing consumer friction points during the bill-paying process can get your invoices paid faster. Millennials are more likely to prioritize paying bills that are easy to pay before tackling (or ignoring) bills that are more inconvenient. More than half (52%) of consumers report experiencing at least one pain point when paying bills, and 29% encountered multiple issues. Top bill-paying complaints include log-in frustration, authentication issues and a lack of autopay options. Creating convenient payment options improves the customer experience and can lead to more on-time payments.

Thoughtfully designed interactive voice response (IVR) payment systems are convenient, efficient and secure, which benefits both customers and merchants. IVR payment systems use Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) technology to guide customers through the payment process over the phone. However, poorly designed IVR payment solutions increase customer frustrations instead of reducing them. The best IVR systems include seven key features that improve the payment experience for customers.

Benefits of Offering IVR for Payments

Customers expect the payment experience to be quick, convenient and secure. Quality IVR services meet all three of these expectations. Customers may also expect merchants to offer an IVR payment option; according to a 2022 survey of more than 2,100 online bill payers, 26% had paid a bill via an automated phone system within the past year.

The IVR payment process is:

  • Fast. By using an automated IVR payment system, customers don’t have to wait to speak with a live agent. The average IVR payment call takes about three minutes. This can be significantly faster than other payment processing options, such as finding the merchant’s payment portal, logging in and resetting a password after multiple failed login attempts or waiting on hold to speak to an agent to complete a payment.
  • Convenient. IVR payment solutions allow customers to pay their bills 24/7—without an internet connection. Customers are also able to enter their payment reference number (e.g., invoice/account/policy number) so they don’t have to remember a password.
  • Secure. IVR payment platforms securely process transactions and reduce the risk that sensitive payment data is exposed either via unauthorized access to internal systems or through call center agents manually accepting payment details over the phone.
    • When using an IVR system, customers can enter credit card information via their phone keypad instead of reading out the information to a contact center agent. This prevents someone from overhearing the conversation and jotting down the information.
    • Merchants should select an IVR system that complies with the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS).
  • Affordable. IVR payment systems benefit merchants by increasing efficiency and decreasing labor costs by reducing payment-related calls to contact center agents, whichcost around $5 or more per call. While a few dollars per call may not sound like much, it adds up quickly. In contrast, IVR payment calls cost merchants about 50 cents each.

7 Must-Have IVR Payment System Features

IVR payment systems should provide:

  1. Multiple payment options (credit card and ACH) for full or partial payments
  2. Automated voice services offered in multiple languages
  3. Several ways for customers to connect to the IVR system
    • Call a direct number (printed on statements or included in an email or text notification)
    • Access via the IVR menu (e.g., press 1 to pay your bill)
    • Agent transfers callers to the payment IVR
  4. A variety menu options after the customer completes payment
    • Make another payment
    • Receive an email/text receipt
    • Speak with an agent
    • Store (or update) payment method(s) for future transactions
  5. An outbound IVR system that
    • Delivers payment reminders
    • Allows customers to schedule a convenient time to receive an automated call to make their payment
  6. The ability to easily make changes to your IVR system based on your business’ needs
  7. Integration with billing and accounting systems, allowing payments to be posted directly to your business in real time

CSG Forte offers an IVR payment system with inbound and outbound options for fast, convenient and secure payment processing. With CSG Forte Engage’s IVR solution, live agent calls have been reduced by up to 70% for payments, on average.

Contact us to learn how CSG Forte Engage’s IVR solution can streamline your payment processes and reduce inbound calls to your call center. Get started today.

4 Best Practices for a Better Payment Experience

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Providing a smooth experience is key if you want to make on-time payments easy for your customers. But meeting their expectations can be easier said than done.

The payment experience is often reported as a source of friction for customers. According to a survey of 400 billing and collections executives, 91% of customers cited the inconvenience of bill pay as a pain point. And 34% received customer feedback that there isn’t enough choice in payment methods.

Fortunately, there are simple solutions to facilitate a better payment experience. Follow these four best practices to deliver a secure and convenient digital payment experience that cuts down friction and meets customer expectations.

4 best practices to improve the customer payment experience

1. Seek seamless integration of payment methods

Simply making a multitude of payment options available to your customers won’t create a convenient experience. You need to integrate those channels if you want to encourage prompt payment.

When the payment process is comprised of disparate solutions, it creates friction for customers who are forced to leapfrog from one to another. A customer receiving an email payment reminder doesn’t want to get on the phone with a call center agent just to provide their credit card information. Imagine instead the convenience of being directed to an online payment platform directly within the reminder email.

By integrating your payment methods and eliminating cumbersome payment journeys, you’ll encourage prompt and repeatable payments.

2. Prioritize CX to limit late payments

Providing a positive customer experience doesn’t stop at the point of purchase. The payment portal is a brand touchpoint that deserves equal consideration.

For customers, the hassle of navigating a poorly designed platform can deter on-time payments. According to a 2022 survey of more than 1,500 bill payers, 14% of respondents prioritize convenience. Millennials go even further, with 23% citing payment ease as a reason to pay some bills before others.

A business that offers a user-friendly payment experience may encourage customers to first pay their bills before tackling—or even disregarding—those that involve more convoluted processes.

3. Gain trust with a secure payment platform

Many consumers are concerned about security, for good reason. Credit card fraud is widespread, and card-not-present fraud is expected to account for 74% of all credit card fraud losses by 2024. Up to 52% of U.S. bill payers rank security as a top feature in the digital payment process.

Here’s the takeaway: if customers don’t trust your payment system, they won’t use it.

It’s critical to demonstrate that cardholder data is protected on your payment platform. Follow these strategies to keep your customers secure:

  • Use payment IVR systems to securely take payments
    Asking customers to read out their credit card information to a call center agent increases the risk of fraud. Leverage Interactive Voice Response (IVR) technology to add a level of security.

    • Inbound IVR allows customers to call in and manually enter their credit card information via keypad, reducing the risk that someone will overhear the details and jot them down.
    • Outbound IVR lets customers receive a scheduled payment call at their convenience and then enter their credit card details during the call.
  • Keep call center payments secure
    Use a payment platform that makes it simple for call center agents to quickly create custom invoices and send customers a link to securely complete transactions. Customers can pay directly without sharing their account data with anyone, all while removing the organization’s exposure to sensitive payment data.
  • Choose a payment platform that offers Payment Card Industry (PCI)-compliant processing
    PCI regulations change frequently, making it challenging to keep up with complex security requirements. You can spare your business the risk of inadvertent regulatory discrepancies by using a payment platform with built-in PCI compliance. Trusting your payment platform to securely store sensitive customer data lets you stay focused on growing your business.

4. Make it easy for customers to read your reminders

A quick way to increase the odds of late payment is sending a customer reminders on a communication channel they rarely use. Leverage multi-channel communications for reminders to make sure you’re reaching them where they are most likely to respond.

Relying on email won’t always get your message across. Short Message Service (SMS) is gaining popularity. A Statista survey found that U.S. Internet users opened and read 42% of commercial text messages, as opposed to 32% sent by email.

The CSG Forte Payer Engagement Platform allows customers to pay when and how they want

CSG Forte’s Payer Engagement Platform is a revolutionary payments solution that meets your customers where they are. It enables any-time, any-way payment completion on the channel of their choice. Our low-code solution manages invoice creation, payment processing, and payment notifications—all on one secure platform.

Contact us to learn how the CSG Payer Engagement Platform can simplify your customer’s bill payments, improve their experience, reduce fraud exposure and encourage on-time payments.

Invite customers to receive payment reminders, confirmations and late notices on their preferred channels. Then implement a platform with calendar integrations to easily send personalized links to a custom invoice where you know they’ll see it.

A Mid-Year Outlook of the Payments Landscape

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Jeff Kump, President, CSG Forte

 

We’re halfway through 2023 and it’s amazing how much has changed these past 6 months, both in terms of the business landscape and the current economic environment.

Before heading into the second half of the year, I think it’s important to pause and look at how the payments industry is continuing to transform. Here are some of the emerging payments trends that businesses should keep tabs on to set themselves up for success.

 

  1. Personalizing the Payments Experience Drives Customer Loyalty

Companies need to offer personalized experiences to stay relevant, especially when you consider that 76% of consumers get frustrated by businesses that don’t offer personalized experiences.

Payments may not be top of mind when you think of how to personalize a user experience but it’s an integral part of the customer journey.  According to a 2022 survey, 91% of consumers indicated a satisfying checkout experience influences whether they will buy from that merchant again.

How do you personalize the payment experience? By letting customers pay when and how they want to pay. Offering convenient, preferred digital payments channels is essential, and is becoming more so. In CSG’s State of the Customer Experience 2023 Report, we found that digital communications sent through CSG increased 15.6% year-over-year in 2022.

Offering preferred digital channels may mean leveraging text-to-pay technology, which lets customers simply respond with a text message to make a payment, or letting customers schedule an automated phone call to complete a purchase. It could also mean printing QR codes on billing statements to make going online to pay that much easier. Not only is this a better customer experience, but your company is likely to see lower payment abandonment.

By offering a personalized payments experience, businesses are also building brand loyalty with their customers. Oftentimes we think of loyalty programs as discounts or special perks, but loyalty extends throughout the entire buying process—including completing a payment. By making payments frictionless, personalized, and convenient, companies can increase customer lifetime value and reduce payment abandonment.

 

  1. Embedded Payments Remain Paramount

The best payment experience is the one you don’t even think about. It’s so seamless that you don’t notice it at all. This is where embedded payments come into play and it’s essential that organizations offer the payment options consumers are expecting.

Your checkout page can be a balancing act—you’re trying to offer consumers the payment options they want but you don’t want to overwhelm them with choices.

When determining which payment choices to offer,  lead with how people want to pay and what is easiest for them. This includes payment methods like Apple Pay, Google Pay, and PayPal. To make payments even more seamless, you could consider offering social media sign-on, which was identified as a top checkout feature that enhances customer satisfaction.

 

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RELATED WHITE PAPER: 3 Steps to Ensure Payments Security

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  1. Security, Security, Security

We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again. All parties in the payments process are concerned about security. As payment methods evolve, so do cyber criminals and it’s critical that organizations work with a payments provider that offers the latest in payments security.

At CSG Forte, we recommend following sound security best practices and leveraging solutions that reduce PCI scope. Best practices include end-to-end (E2E) Encryption, tokenization, and two-factor authentication.

Using secure solutions can also greatly reduce risk. For in-person payments, Point-to-Point Encryption (P2PE) is the gold standard in PCI compliance. The trailblazing P2PE process creates a secure connection between devices, or components within devices, preventing possible sensitive data from being exposed at any point while it moves across a network. P2PE reduces the likelihood of PCI compliance breaches—and correspondingly drops the number of self-assessment questionnaire questions from over 300 to around 30. This means you can raise the bar on security but dramatically lower the compliance audit burden.

Another way for an organization to reduce fraud risk is to leverage an authentication solution. When using an authentication solution, you can easily confirm account ownership information (including full name and business name) to secure your ACH transactions. This helps ensure payment accuracy and reduces fraud potential.

A good payments processor will also have solutions that reduce your PCI scope. For example, call centers can greatly reduce their PCI scope by texting or emailing a link to a customer to complete payment, as opposed to having a customer service representative manually take sensitive payment information over the phone.

As the payments landscape and consumer preferences continue to evolve, it’s important that your business works with a payments solution provider that offers the latest in secure payments technology. At CSG Forte, we are dedicated to providing solutions that help your business prepare for the future. Contact us to learn how we can be a valuable partner to your business today.