By: Clinton Leask
With today’s modern consumer demands, brands know that every touchpoint in the consumer journey is critically important. This is even more evident in the payment lifecycle and journey for consumers. To say we are spoilt for choice as 21st-century shoppers is an understatement. Providing a variety of optimised, personalised, and integrated payment solutions to fit every consumer’s need will become an increasingly critical touchpoint in both the offline and online consumer journey.
More consumer choice creates challenges
When it comes to South Africans’ consumer journeys, a large portion of shoppers still use cash as the preferred payment method. Cash and debit cards are the leading points-of-sale payment methods, with less frequent use of credit cards (Source: Statista).
An ever-increasing number of Africans, including South Africans, are using their mobile phones at points of sale for payments. This has been an increasing trend over the past five years. In terms of online banking, half of South Africans prefer mobile banking apps, and innovations, such as the new payment system PayShap, are enabling customers to make bank-to-bank payments in real time.
While mobile apps and online platforms are improving payment journeys and providing more options for shifting shopper behaviours, the new payment methods do create various challenges for retailers, telcos, and even financial institutions such as banks. Developing new payment channels can be costly and complicated, especially if personalised payment experiences are the end goal.
Fortunately, fintech solutions are already paving the way forward by simultaneously addressing the current consumer painpoints and critical brand touchpoints in payment processes. This is because fintechs aim to bridge the gap between customer’s needs and existing financial technology with solutions that are both personalised and scalable, an important combination in the world of finance.
Fintech solutions create seamless brand experiences
Similar to everyday life, people prefer different methods of communication and the same is true for customers when it comes to payments. To realise successful bill payments, brands need to offer both personalisation bill presentment channels as well as multiple payment methods. Half the battle is one when bill presentment is effective. Whether it is a feature phone-using, unbaked customer or a high-tech, highly banked customer the method of communication a bill payment request must be relevant to the end customer. This could be, for example, via USSD on a feature phone or scanning a QR code from a bank app on a smartphone.
Fintech solutions can provide this adaptability and tailored experience. For instance, with Pay@, one of South Africa’s leading payments solutions providers, customers can opt to make payments via SMS, e-mail, QR code, USSD, WhatsApp, in-app, or web via various digital payment partners, as well as barcode through point-of-sale devices at retailers. One of the aspects that sets Pay@ apart is the real-time integration, which ensures notifications aren’t delayed, customers can access their latest account information, and payment errors are decreased.
Over and above personalised, real-time customer payment journeys, fintech solutions can help ensure a seamless experience as well. An integrated omnichannel payment solution is effectively ‘hidden’ behind one brand or interface – ensuring a less overwhelming, more streamlined customer journey.
Embracing the modern customer mindset
Adopting an effective fintech solution allows for smarter resource allocation. Traditional after-transaction processes—like transaction reconciliations, refunds, and third-party payments—often drain time and resources. However, with the right technology, these functions transform into a streamlined, agile financial ecosystem that enhances efficiency and responsiveness. This shift not only minimises operational burdens but also empowers businesses to deliver faster and more reliable service to their customers.
The partnership process becomes more streamlined too. Brands only need to form one partnership with Pay@ to access an extensive network of leading payment solutions and methods, such Zapper, Snapcan, and PaywithEFT.
Essentially, modern brands need to think about payment solutions as they think about their products and services. It needs to be easy to use, accessible anywhere, and deliver a consistent experience that creates trust in both the process and the brand. This is how retailers, banks, and businesses can turn their payment solutions into a competitive advantage and enhance the customer experience from awareness to purchase.
* Leask is the head of product at Pay@.
PERSONAL FINANCE