It’s so exciting to be back at trade shows and talk to people in person again. I find it a great way to collaborate. Recently, we participated in the SubSummit, a conference that focuses on subscription sites and subscription boxes. It’s amazing how many are out there and thriving. My favorite is the monthly succulent box. How could anyone not get enough of those cute little plants?
While at the show, though, our team noticed how little these merchants knew about payment processing and the features they could take advantage of instead of paying additional fees to other companies for third-party services.
Is your billing solution optimized? Do you have your account set up for rebill-retries? You could be missing out on some helpful options.
For example, at the event there were service providers that offered rebilling, chargeback representatives and transaction reporting. In the adult space, all these services are standard with gateway and payment facilitators. Just recently, a long-term client who manages a network of membership sites asked us about some of the basic system features on offer, and I was shocked that he wasn’t already aware of them. So this month, I thought it might be a good time to refresh everyone’s memory on the subscription features available from gateways and payment facilitators servicing our market.
MAXIMIZE LIFETIME VALUE
The lifetime value of a customer is a key indicator for subscription websites. It’s important to check whether your payment service provider offers retention tools. These allow you to present a discount or a new offer when the customer expresses a wish to cancel. It’s also important to find out if they have call center representatives trained to help save the sale. Some processors will even offer a commission to their teams for each sale they save. Offering an incentive like this can make a big difference in how they handle the potential cancellation request.
There are several other important questions to ask your provider, like can the consumer easily update their credit card info for a membership to continue processing? Does your payment service provider have a tool to help your consumer make basic updates like updating their email address?
While not yet available to the adult world, payment service providers also have access to card update files from their banks. This notifies the payment service provider when a credit card number has changed.
Reporting tools are helpful and should be available to you from your payment service provider. Most should offer cancel reports, allowing you to remarket to those consumers. Typically, the consumer will still have days left on their subscription before their access ends. Taking that notification and marketing to the consumer at a reduced rate, or by giving them a new offer, might retain them as an active member.
OPTIMIZE YOUR BILLING
Is your billing solution optimized? Do you have your account set up for rebill-retries? You could be missing out on some revenue-boosting options. Most payment service providers have a feature that will retry a declined transaction up to three times before completely cutting off access for the consumer. Providers allow you to establish the time frame in which you can retry declined transactions. Where your customers are located is important too. If you have a large amount of foreign volume, you can increase your approval rate for those consumer transactions by setting up in that region.
For example, we see up to a 10% approval increase when our EU merchants with large amounts of U.S. consumer traffic open a merchant account through a U.S. bank. The same is true for U.S. merchants looking to expand into the EU. By setting up in the same region where your consumers live, you will eliminate cross-border fees charged by banks. These fees can add up and upset your customers, causing an increase in chargebacks.
EXCELLENT CUSTOMER SERVICE ALWAYS WINS
Providing strong customer service will help you retain members and encourage consumers to come back. If you can’t provide 24/7 customer support, check with your payment service provider, as many of them offer it. Good customer service can also help eliminate chargebacks. Check with your payment service provider to see if they have implemented the latest dispute resolution services from Visa and Mastercard. If these solutions have been implemented, you can be alerted to an incoming chargeback and issue a refund before it becomes a chargeback. Also see if your payment service provider has a 3-D secure solution to better authenticate your customers. In Europe, as part of the payment service directive that went into effect in January 2020, all consumer-initiated transactions must be double-authenticated. While this is not a requirement in the U.S., it is a best practice to help combat fraud and chargebacks.
INCREASE YOUR REPORTING SKILLS
Your payment service provider should have a wealth of data available for you to review, to further help you optimize your subscription site. This enables you to see what price points are selling and rebilling the best. If you own a network of sites, it is helpful to see sales broken down by URLs so you can measure their individual performance. You can also see what countries your consumers are coming from. One of my clients noticed that they had a lot of traffic from India, where they weren’t doing any marketing. Now they have shifted their marketing plan to include India and are growing their audience in that region. If you have solid rebill reporting, you can see what’s in the pipeline and how long you’re able to retain your members. If you’re not familiar with all these reports, just ask your payment service provider to walk you through their client admin.
FIND PARTNERS IN MARKETING
Marketing partners can help you cross-sell or even upsell within your membership area. Check with your payment service provider to see if they can suggest any that would be a good match for you. You could add a one-click upsell to an additional website in your network or, for example, partner up with a cam site to offer your customers the option to try out their site. These are great ways to keep your customers engaged and help you make some additional money.
When profit margins are tight, knowing what you’re getting out of your processor is key. By asking these questions, you can avoid paying for things you don’t need, plus discover new options that can improve your profits.
Cathy Beardsley is president and CEO of Segpay, a merchant services provider offering a wide range of custom financial solutions including payment facilitator, direct merchant accounts and secure gateway services. Under her direction, Segpay has become one of four companies approved by Visa to operate as a high-risk internet payment services provider. Segpay offers secure turnkey solutions to accept online payments, with a guarantee that funds are kept safe and protected with its proprietary Fraud Mitigation System and customer service and support. For any questions or help, contact sales@segpay.com or compliance@segpay.com.
