For merchants, the customer payment experience is paramount to boosting conversions and avoiding involuntary churn. By taking a more proactive approach, merchants can leverage network payment tokens and account updaters—eliminating customer friction in the process.

During a recent PaymentsJournal podcast, Jason Harding, Product Director of Optimization at Worldpay from FIS, and Daniel Keyes, Senior Analyst of Merchant Services at Javelin Strategy & Research, delved into how organizations can improve their payment strategy to cut costs and refine the customer experience.

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Seeking Growth Opportunities

Many merchants that Worldpay from FIS works with are looking for ways to save on operational costs and are also eyeing key areas to foster growth.

But it really comes down to what their payment strategy is. Because marketing spending may be subject to budget cuts, having a profitable payment strategy can ensure a higher percentage of conversions for first-time shoppers. Although it’s important to focus marketing spending on effective acquisition strategies to attract as many customers as possible, it doesn’t end there. Figuring out how to retain customers is just as crucial.

“Increasing the lifetime value of the customer that you have can be done within an effective approach to payments to ensure that those who are coming through the funnel have the best possible chance to convert,” Harding said.

Often, merchants may not be as comfortable taking a new approach or experimenting beyond what they have traditionally done. But Keyes notes, it’s important to find creative ways to boost conversions amid powerful economic forces.

“It’s about getting creative and trying new things with payments in order to increase your conversions when you really need it,” Keyes said. “There’s an opportunity to improve your operations so you can break even or even improve during these periods of time rather than just trying to wait it out.”

Leveraging Analytics to Drive Business Outcomes

When it comes to having a robust payments strategy, merchants also need access to the right data. Many solutions can be leveraged to ensure they have the latest customer information to process timely payments and enhance the customer experience. “Part of it is understanding what’s actionable insight versus what is the noise,