What is the perfect payments experience?

Here’s an exercise that may come off as too academic – like a debate over how many angels fit on a pinhead – but is really among the most vital for not only PYMNTS readers, but pretty much any other business operators: What is the perfect payments experience?

That question formed a hook for a recent PYMNTS discussion between Karen Webster and Kurt Bilafer, executive vice president and chief revenue officer at Yapstone. The company, like so many others, is essentially living that question, as it powers electronic payments for sharing economy marketplaces such as HomeAway and VRBO, as well as travel and other platforms.

The answer to that question can mean the difference between success and failure for any payments or commerce operation – the difference between consumer churn and abandonment, and lucrative, long-term loyalty. The ideal, most would likely say, is a payment experience that requires a consumer to basically do nothing, to take no hard steps to complete a transaction once a purchase is decided upon.

 

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