Online checkout and deposit experiences nowadays are a breeze for consumers (at least they should be!). They find a product they need/want/love or enter an amount to deposit, and a few clicks later their payment is complete. Behind the scenes, however, online transactions are more than the sum of their parts and there’s an intricate technological journey happening between the time a consumer clicks ‘pay’ to receiving a confirmation prompt.
Nice and effortless, right? Well, kind of.
Just like it often happens in life, in payments, things that seem simple and effortless actually require much work and precision in the background. What many consumers don’t know is the challenges merchants face securing the right payment methods, gateways, PSPs and acquirers, and setting up the routing rules.
For online businesses, the customer clicking “Buy Now” button isn’t the finale and instead represents the beginning of a series of orchestrated planned technological processes. These aim to: a) ensure smooth fund transfers without unwanted ‘declined’ notifications, b) display payment options tailored to the user’s location, and c) guarantee swift transactions that don’t leave customers waiting with loading or processing screens. Ultimately, this intricate series of events is designed to not only secure satisfied customers but also to boost the online business’ retention strategies through a positive checkout user experience.
Enter Payment Orchestration Platforms
Immediately after a consumer clicks on the checkout page, merchants begin the task of managing the transaction. This is where the Payment Orchestration Platform springs into action, consolidating all of the information gathered thus far, launching a branded payment details form, and presenting localized payment options depending on where the user is in the world. This includes:
- Selecting PSPs: Given the plethora of Payment Service Providers (PSPs), the orchestration platform intelligently identifies the most optimized one for the specific transaction, choosing from a pool of hundreds of PSPs.
- Geotargeted Localization: The platform ensures the transaction meets local preferences and rules, considering how payment preferences vary across regions. For instance, a shopper in Japan will see different payment options compared to one in Brazil.
- Fraud and Risk Management: Sophisticated verification steps - sometimes even biometric methods - are taken to ensure the consumer’s details are legitimate and are then securely encrypted in a protected data vault.
- Decline Recovery: If a transaction fails, these platforms have the capability to reroute it (this is called cascading if you want to be specific), or suggest alternative payment solutions to users.
- Currency Conversion: For international shopping, dynamic currency conversion might be applied, showcasing options in familiar currencies. Orchestration Platforms provide this ability if a merchant’s gateway doesn’t include support for a specific currency.
