Thanks to technology, businesses can leverage an overwhelming number of customer touchpoints to ensure they maximize the number of interactions and transactions from their target customers.
With various online and offline methods to track, businesses realize that they need to balance presenting themselves consistently on each channel while still tailoring their interactions based on that specific platform’s audience.
“Omnichannel” is a buzzword that gets a lot of discussion in the retail and marketing sectors. It’s an approach where multiple channels across marketing, selling, and customer service are used to create a cohesive, on-brand experience regardless of the channel a customer uses.
The omnichannel concept can also extend to payments, allowing ISVs to play a significant role in providing this much-desired experience to their clientele. Integrated payment solutions can be connected on the back-end, allowing businesses to provide additional value post-purchase.
Consider the following omnichannel experiences:
- A customer pays for an item online. They can decide to have it delivered, or pick up the item at their convenience either in-store or curbside.
- Someone wants to return an item they purchased online by dropping it off in-store.
- An item is out of stock at a store, but the customer still wants to buy it. The store associate can put in an online order and have it delivered to the customer.
In this post, we’ll explain how integrated payment solutions make these experiences seamless for customers and businesses.
Multichannel vs. Omnichannel - What’s the difference?
Omnichannel means multiple channels are involved; omnichannel will always be multichannel. However, having multiple channels doesn’t automatically qualify as an omnichannel experience.
In the context of payments, a business can have multichannel payments. They could have a POS system, an interactive voice response IVR system (accept payments by phone), a mobile app, and an online shopping cart solution.
However, the business could be using a different vendor for each of these systems, running the risk of offering inconsistent customer service experiences across platforms. Additionally, looking at separate payment portals is a barrier for businesses who want to see all their transactions in one place.
Benefits of the omnichannel approach
Omnichannel payments address this pain point, and ISVs that offer this solution can gain an edge over their competitors. An integrated solution makes it possible for multichannel payments to feed into a central portal so merchants get full visibility on all transactions.
Prioritizing payment experiences is a smart strategy that optimizes business operations and improves customer service.
Operationally, integrated payments allow retail businesses to seamlessly consolidate accounting with their inventory, ensuring item quantity is continuously updated in all channels to reflect stock levels accurately.
In terms of the customer experience, return customers are becoming “omnichannel shoppers” who support brands and businesses through multiple touchpoints. Businesses need to appeal to these loyal customers, as they tend to spend 4% more in-store and 10% more online than a single-channel shopper. Additionally, 71% of these consumers want a consistent experience across all sales channels, but only 29% say they get it.
Keeping track of these customer engagements across channels allow businesses to provide a personalized experience to returning customers, increasing brand loyalty in the process.
Other omnichannel payment benefits include:
- Appealing to customers across all demographics by providing them every opportunity to make a payment with their preferred methods during any part of their customer journey, maximizing sales in the process
- Allowing businesses to have consistent branding for each channel, in turn, building trust with customers and a cohesive, predictable shopping experience for them as well
- Your software being the “single source of truth” and “one-stop-shop” for viewing and managing transactions. For example, ISVs that work with Global Payments Integrated can offer their customers a Payments Portal, which provides access to all payments, including recurring billing, debit, credit, and gift card sales. This offering allows businesses to reduce the number of vendors they need to work with to offer and support multiple payment channels for customer convenience.
Payment channels ISVs can implement
Build the best omnichannel experience for your customers by integrating some or all of these options.
- Point of Sale Devices: Brick-and-mortars with busy retail environments require machines to process numerous card-present and contactless payment transactions daily.
- Mobile Payments: Provide an online checkout solution that accepts payments through phones, wearables, and digital wallets.
- Interactive Voice Response (IVR): This channel allows for payment processing through a phone-based automated response system at the merchant location.
- ACH and Checks: Appeal to those who prefer traditional payment methods by incorporating devices that can process these payments.
- Unattended/Kiosk: Offer secure and reliable payment processing without needing any staff present.
Global Payments Integrated offers a semi-integrated unified solution that connects all the payment channels mentioned above, complete with security features that prevent fraud. It also tracks customers by assigning their credit card a unique ID, allowing businesses to see valuable insights such as recent purchases, frequency of visits, and amount spent.
Businesses can develop targeted, effective omnichannel marketing campaigns thanks to data points that help uncover customer profiles and create relevant loyalty offers.
Pick the right partner for omnichannel success
ISVs who need a white-label payment solution can look to Global Payments Integrated. Our company has resources dedicated to adding value to your software, from integration support to sales and marketing assistance to your customers.
Our robust security offerings help prevent data breaches, chargebacks, and fraud, giving ISVs the confidence that this critical aspect of their payment solution is appropriately managed across traditional and digital channels.
Contact sales to start a relationship with us!
Michelle Mondonedo
Brand Marketing Manager
