PYMNTS Intelligence surveyed 300 eCommerce merchants across five countries — Australia, Brazil, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom and the United States — to explore the role of technology in the user experience during checkout. The study revealed most middle-market eCommerce businesses struggle with the user experience during checkout more than with the back end of payment processing. Accordingly, merchants indicated a strong demand for technologies that enhance the user experience during checkout, particularly one-click technologies.
Drawing from the study, this series of data briefs examines how merchants in each country view the role of payment service providers (PSPs) in the user experience during checkout. This edition looks at the U.K., where 6 in 10 eCommerce merchants struggle with user experience during checkout.
U.K. merchants show strong interest in new technologies that can boost conversion and improve the user experience. In fact, 72% have asked their PSPs to add new features or functions, with one-click solutions most frequently requested. However, most U.K. merchants indicate they do not find their PSPs helpful in improving the user experience. This reflects an opportunity for PSPs to deliver more value to the merchants they serve.
These are just some of the findings explored in “The Role of PSPs in the Checkout Experience: U.K. Edition,” a PYMNTS Intelligence and Mastercard collaboration.
User Experience Drives Technology Demand
Enhancing the user experience is the top motivation for U.K. merchants requesting new technologies from their PSPs.
Conversion rates and user experience drive merchants’ interest in new checkout technologies. Among U.K. merchants that say they can request new features from their PSPs, 60% identify conversion rates as an important reason. The user experience follows at 56%. However, slightly more say user experience was the top reason, at 25%, ahead of conversion rates at 23%. This highlights that while user experience and boosting conversion go hand in hand, many U.K. merchants view the former as an end in itself. Accordingly, PSPs should tailor their messaging to highlight how they can help merchants strengthen the user experience while increasing conversion.
Helping Merchants Help Themselves
Nearly all U.K. merchants say they can ask their PSPs to add features.
Despite giving PSPs mixed reviews, U.K. merchants almost universally agree they can ask PSPs for upgrades. In fact, 96% of U.K. respondents say they can request specific features from their PSPs. Three-quarters have actually done so — the highest rate seen among the five countries we studied. These findings show that most U.K. merchants proactively approach payments and checkout technology. That said, it is noteworthy that one-quarter of these respondents have not requested upgrades from their PSPs. This suggests many U.K. merchants lack a solid grasp of available technology and how it can benefit them.
As technology evolves, PSPs regularly improve and expand the tools they provide merchants. Automatic implementation of new features can ensure merchants benefit from these upgrades. However, just 46% of U.K. merchants believe their PSPs take this approach — the second-lowest rate across the five countries studied. This suggests a gap in PSPs’ communication may result in merchants being unaware that new features are available. PSPs should review their automatic implementation frameworks, ensure merchants take full advantage of the technologies on offer and know when features are updated.
One-Click Solutions Top Merchants’ Wish List
Most U.K. merchants have asked their PSPs to enable one-click technologies.
Merchants in the U.K. have a clear favorite among checkout and payment technologies they want to deploy. We find that 60% have requested their PSPs enable one-click solutions. The data shows that merchants across our five-country study believe this technology can accelerate checkout and enhance the user experience. These outcomes directly lead to better conversion rates.
Secure card on file comes in a distant second place, with 40% of U.K. respondents asking their PSPs for this technology. Biometric authentication follows, at 28%.
Fewer U.K. merchants say they have asked their PSPs to enable gateway tokens, at 24%, or network tokens, at 18%. Considering that one-click solutions and secure card on file use tokenization, these findings suggest merchants may be unfamiliar with this technology and its role in streamlining checkouts.
Merchants Give PSPs Mixed Reviews
PSPs in the U.K. should focus more on helping merchants improve the user experience.
eCommerce merchants rely on PSPs to make their payment systems work and enable new checkout technologies. Yet relatively few merchants in the U.K. view their PSPs as an asset for improving conversion. For example, just 44% of U.K. respondents agree that their PSP delivers an easy and convenient checkout experience. Equal shares think their PSPs are helpful in raising approval rates or reducing fraud. Moreover, very few merchants name any of these benefits as the biggest advantage provided by their PSP. Security represents another important gap, with just 32% of U.K. merchants saying their PSP provides this benefit.
U.K. merchants tend to give their PSPs better reviews in a few other areas. For example, 62% agree their PSPs are widely available, meaning they are easy to reach for service requests or questions. Nearly the same share think their PSPs are easy to work with and offer easy technology implementation. That said, these results reveal about 4 in 10 U.K. merchants believe their PSPs fall short.
The data suggests most U.K. merchants do not know their PSPs can help in several key areas. PSPs may need to educate their U.K. merchants about the value of seeking assistance. Either way, the data highlights a missed opportunity for PSPs to work more closely with the merchants they serve.
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Methodology
“The Role of PSPs in the Checkout Experience: U.K. Edition,” a PYMNTS Intelligence and Mastercard collaboration, is based on a survey of 300 merchants with strong eCommerce business generating $10 million to $1 billion in annual revenue from five countries: Australia, Brazil, the UAE, the U.K. and the U.S. The survey was conducted from Sept. 18 to Oct. 9.
