9 secrets of online payments. Part 2: regular payments

It doesn't matter what you sell online, today accepting bank card payments is the rule of “good taste”. However, depending on the type of business you enter on the Internet, you can not only follow the rules, but also set up payment acceptance as efficiently as possible and “squeeze” the maximum profit from your website.

In today's release, the second of the “9 secrets of online payments” cycle, we will explain why regular payments, which are also called “auto payments” and “recurrent payments”, are so important for any online business, as users perceive them, than to interest and how to use them to keep the client on your site. This series, dedicated to the phased setup of payments on the site and in mobile applications, contains eight years of experience of the PayOnline team, which connected the payment to more than 3,000 online stores and services.

Part 1. Setting up 3D Secure
Part 2. Recurring payments
Part 3. Payment selection page
Part 4. Payment Form
Part 5. Mobile payments
Part 6. Payment in one click
Part 7. Fraud monitoring system
Part 8. Returns and how to avoid them.
Part 9. Payment service settings for the type of business

From the point of view of the buyer, auto payment is an opportunity to save time. A user who chooses a certain service on your site will only need to enter card details once and forget about the need to go to your site every month, choose this service and enter card details during the next payment. By giving the client the opportunity to connect the "auto payment", you will save him from the risk of being left without access to your service at the most inopportune moment (and yourself from losing the client).
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How it works:

• When paying for the service for the first time, the user registers on your site and enters the data of his bank card as in the case of a regular purchase: the name and surname of the cardholder, the number, expiration date, CVV / CVC code.
• During the payment, he confirms that he wants to “subscribe” to the service and agrees to periodically charge the subscription fee.
• A customer bank card is associated with a user account in your system.
• Payment information in encrypted form is partially stored on the side of the acquiring bank, and partly on the side of the payment service provider (for example, PayOnline). Payment data is completely safe: the company selling the service does not have access to it. And even on secure servers of the bank and the payment service provider, different parts of the data are stored, which are “collected” only at the time of debiting.
• Upon the expiration of the paid period, the amount required for the subscription renewal is automatically deducted from the “attached” card.
• At the time of debit, the bank card data is “collected” from parts stored on the side of the acquiring bank and PayOnline, and sent as payment.
• The charges are made until the payer “unsubscribes” from the service.

Who needs it?

In our practice, regular payments are most often used by Internet providers and other players in the telecom market. But in general, autopayment as a payment service is vital for all companies selling services or services that users periodically renew:

• Internet providers.
• Housing companies.
• Providers of landline and mobile communications.
• Online shopping software.
• Online Games.
• Social networks.
• Educational portals.
• Resources that provide users with paid statuses.
• Internet cinemas.
• Online services for small entrepreneurs.
• And many others.

Even if you sell products, this payment tool may be useful. For example, if a customer buys contact lenses from you every month, he can be offered an auto payment for the monthly payment for an identical order and its delivery.

Using “autopayment” in your practice

• Proper use of this tool helps to optimize a number of business processes and achieve very important results:
• Automatically collect payment for the renewal of a subscription to the service, without burdening the company’s specialists by tracking and controlling the renewal.
• Reduce the failure rate after the first month (or other paid period) of using the service.
• Simplify payment control and revenue planning.
• To reduce the share of failures due to errors at the stage of placing an order and paying for it (an order is issued and paid only once).

How to motivate the payer to "become attached" to you?

The convenience of using autopay when paying, for example, the Internet or mobile communication, is clear for both the seller and the payer. However, if you sell access to services (for example, dating sites) or content (online cinemas, etc.), everything is not so obvious.

In this case, you can offer the user to authorize his card (link it) and get a month of free access to your resource. In case the user does not like the service, he will be able to unsubscribe from the next month. But if you provide quality services, your client will have time to evaluate them in a month - and is unlikely to want to refuse to renew a subscription.

There are many opportunities to attract customers to the use of autopay. Each business has its own specifics - and no one knows your customers better than you. Think, perhaps, the connection of "auto payment" will allow you to significantly increase the company's income, and make the use of your service more convenient for users.

Please keep calm!

Money is very personal. The payer worries about the safety of his funds even with a one-time payment, what can we say about multiple charges. Therefore, it is necessary to tell as much as possible to the client subscribing to the auto payment about that:

• What is autopayment, what restrictions does it have.
• How this service is activated.
• How is the withdrawal of funds.
• How to refuse the service of automatic payments.
• And even - how to get your money back.

An example of informing customers is the instruction on the use of autopayment, implemented by one of our Ural customers, UMMC Telecom.

Depending on the specifics of your business, you can notify your customers monthly of the date and amount of the next write-off - or refuse the notification.

Separately, it should be noted that the automatic debit cannot be made if there are no funds on the card. In the absence of money on a bank card at the time of debiting, auto payment is not disabled. The next attempt to write off funds occurs on the same date, but in the next calendar month. In case of reissue of the card, it is necessary to inform the client about the need to link a new card to the account.

Practice

Consider how Microsoft uses the "auto payment" service using the example of buying Microsoft Office. It is important to start working with possible objections of potential taxpayers at the stage of product selection. That's why already at the stage of comparing packages, Microsoft is not telling the customer about the purchase, but about the subscription: this is how the user gets used to the wording “subscription”, which implies periodic payment.



After the visitor goes to the page of a certain product, he is offered two options for purchasing software: “for 1 year with automatic renewal” and “for 1 month with automatic renewal”. No purchase, only a subscription with an emphasis on automatic renewal. Thus, in the first step, the user becomes accustomed to the subscription, and in the second, he becomes resigned to automatic renewal.



When switching to paying for the order, the user is once again informed that he is buying software with automatic renewal (that is, with automatic debiting for its payment - without human intervention). Such attention to detail allows Microsoft to reduce the proportion of failures at the card binding and payment stages, as well as to reduce the flow of negativity from inattentive customers making a purchase without paying attention to the information.



After entering the data of a bank card and its authorization, the buyer enters the purchase completion page. On this page, he learns about the conditions for using "autopayment":



In addition, he learns that autopayment will be activated at the time of payment. Also, before paying, he is invited to familiarize himself with the official terms of use and sale of the purchased software, including the terms of payment. And only after that the purchase is completed, the auto payment is activated, and the customer and his card are “attached” to the seller.

The same Microsoft used an excellent working case to increase the “attachment” of customers. The user was offered a free month to use any Office package, but to gain access it was necessary to go through the same card authorization procedure and agree to a “subscription” and auto payment, but after a month. During this time, the user gets used to the service and calmly perceives subsequent write-offs for the use of software. This scheme is easy to adapt to almost all types of companies listed in the “Who Needs It” section.

In the next article we will talk about setting up the page for choosing a payment method, namely: whether you need to connect all possible payment instruments or whether you should limit yourself to the “necessary minimum”, and also find out who pays what and why on the Internet. Stay tuned for new articles in the 9 Secrets of PayOnline Online Payments series on our corporate blog. And if you need to organize payment acceptance on your website or in a mobile application, please contact us, we will select a high-quality payment solution appropriate for your type of business.