I doubt there is anyone out there deliberately trying to provide bad customer service. After all, without our customers, we wouldn’t be in business. Though pleasing them 100% of the time is aspirational, by paying close attention to their needs, you can get close.
I get really frustrated when I read bad reviews posted on the Better Business Bureau or on online review sites such as Google, SiteJabber and TrustPilot. The issue is that the reviews are not created by our merchants, but by their customers who have used our payment platform.
If you are upselling or cross-selling, make sure the customer understands the details of the additional purchase.
Customers very rarely use these sites to share what a great job a company is doing, but instead to express their displeasure. Customers expect good service, and when it’s not provided, they find every way possible to share their discontent, especially online and via social media. Poor customer service results in increased complaints, refunds, chargebacks, lost sales and brand damage.
So how can we, as an industry, improve the way we provide customer support? This month, we tapped into our customer service team to uncover some tips for how to improve your ratings, keep watchful regulators off your back and keep your customer happy. Remember, a happy customer is a retained customer, and it is easier to retain a customer than gain a new one.
Gaining Confidence Through Best Practices
Customer confidence in payment services is extremely important for merchant conversion rates and repeat purchases. Without customer trust, there is no reason for a merchant to use a payment service provider, and customer support is essential to establishing that trust.
That’s why customer service teams around the globe do their best to respond to complaints from customers. In our call center, we often see them focused on four main topics: the customer has no recollection of the charge, meaning they don’t remember what they purchased; the customer was not aware that they would be rebilled; the customer believed they canceled; and the customer is unhappy with what they purchased, whether content or something else.
All payment facilitators do their best to provide quality customer support. Most make it easy for customers to contact their team via web portals, through 24/7 customer support access. They also make sure customers are aware of the terms of service, by noting those terms on the checkout and purchase confirmation pages and in the receipt process. Keep in mind that if a customer does not receive adequate support, this often results in a chargeback.
Customer Protection and Regulations
Segpay services merchants located in the U.K. and EU, and regulators in both regions pay close attention to customer protection practices. With our current challenging economic times, regulators are watching even more closely. The U.K. Financial Authority (FCA) recently announced a new Consumer Duty, which will fundamentally improve how businesses service customers.
The key principles of the FCA include good communication with customers, making it easier for customers to cancel or switch products, providing helpful and accessible customer support, and providing clear information that people can understand about the products and services. The Central Bank of Ireland issued a similar letter last November, highlighting the importance of taking care of and protecting customers in the changing economic landscape.
Protection includes providing clear and transparent information in a timely manner to customers, disclosing key information upfront like risks and benefits, fees and costs. Businesses should support customers in making fully informed decisions by ensuring that information is provided in a way that can be easily understood. Statements of suitability and other disclosures provided to customers should be fully compliant with legislative requirements. Businesses should also disclose exclusions to financial products in an effective manner at the outset, to support customers in making good decisions.
Lastly, businesses should ensure that disclosure is as clear on digital media as with more traditional communication channels. Any indication to the regulators that a business is not taking care of customers could lead to bad reputational damage, such as a regulatory review, issued fines or potentially loss of license.
Home Turf Rules
In the U.S., customers are protected by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). The FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection stops unfair, deceptive and fraudulent business practices by collating reports from customers and conducting investigations, suing companies and people that break the law, developing rules to maintain a fair marketplace and educating customers and businesses about their rights.
As we’ve seen many times, FTC concerns can turn into new card brand regulations, with which we must then manage to comply. One example that we as an industry had to address was aggressive cross-sales merchants, who were hiding cross sales and charging for undisclosed purchases. The FTC sued these merchants, levied them fines and shut them down.
The activity of a few rogue merchants helped to generate additional chargeback regulations because the hidden cross-sale merchants increased the fraud entering the banking system. To meet lower chargeback thresholds, we as an entire industry had to step up our game to control fraud. Today, any cross sales must be clearly disclosed at the time of sign-up and the customer must be provided receipts. This method has flourished in our ecosystem and there is good money for merchants that are cross-marketing.
The overzealous nutra market also caused our industry to suffer consequences through its free trials. Oftentimes, nutra merchants would rebill customers before they even received their free trial — or worse, they rebilled them without disclosing it. This pushed card brands to implement notification regulations on free trials and future rebills. For example, if the rebill occurs seven days after a free trial ends, or a rebill extends beyond six months, the customer must be notified prior to the rebill.
Seven Steps to Success
So, what can we do to help take care of our customers and stop new regulations from coming into play? We offer seven steps to success:
- Provide great customer support. Make it easy, fast and free for a customer to get in touch with you to resolve issues and address billing concerns.
- Provide thorough disclosures that clearly state what the customer is purchasing.
- If you are upselling or cross-selling, make sure the customer understands the details of the additional purchase.
- Don’t make it difficult for the customer to cancel. Share that information in the receipt process. Many merchants have a cancel option on their sites as well. The visibility makes customers happy. You don’t want to be that merchant that buries its cancellation policy on its site where the customer can’t find it. If you are, expect more chargebacks!
- Take advantage of the fraud alert systems from Verifi and Ethoca. Merchants using these services can immediately refund a transaction before it turns into a chargeback.
- Monitor your customer service reviews. Seeing that you’re paying close attention can go a long way with customers.
- Don’t overcharge your customers. You want to make sure that the price you’re charging is supported by what you are offering. For example, offering nine videos for $29.00 a month is not going to cut it.
The bottom line is, taking care of your customers protects your brand and keeps customers coming back for more purchases. It also helps keep regulators and unnecessary card brand rules at bay. Remember: a company’s greatest asset is its customers, for without them, there is no company.
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.
