Businesses are turning to online retailing as an opportunity to reach more customers, to provide swift service, and offer new products/services more quickly. There are many business challenges for those who wish to create a satisfactory customer experience. One of which is the need to prevent online fraud. More and more, people are using a variety of different Internet-connected devices to do their shopping. With this increase comes the responsibility of providing a fraud-free experience.
According to an article by the National Transaction Corporation (NTC), “Of the 17 percent of consumers who reported having had their credit card declined during a card-not-present (CNP) transactions. As many as one-third of those declines were unnecessary.”
When consumers experience these unnecessary declines, the result is an understandable aggravation. The frustration does not stop with the consumer, however. Banks and credit card companies experience increased operational costs, and online retailers are left to deal with losses in revenue.
Unfortunately, when credit cards are declined, it has a very negative economic impact because consumers are forced to handle their transactions using a different method. In regards to a recent study, National Transaction Corporation revealed that “34 percent of consumers try again another credit card, others use a different payment method and 24 percent will skip the purchase altogether or shop at a different online retailer.”
Businesses obviously want to grow and have a continuous relationship with customers. Consumers want an easy shopping experience. They expect their transactions to be swift and the customer service to be excellent. In light of this, the frustration and impact of wrongful declines is a real problem for both the business and the consumer. As stated by National Transaction Corporation, “No one wants to turn away business, and no one wants their business declined.”
The negative impact that declines have on consumers and businesses does not stop there. Banks, credit card companies, and merchants are also negatively affected. When customer loyalty is lost it trickles down to lost fees and revenues. As stated by NTC, “Creating a standard for online trust that enables credit card companies, merchants and issuing banks to better recognize trusted digital consumers and reduce the number of wrongly declined consumers avoiding unnecessary losses.” Thus, unnecessary credit card decline is an issue that needs to be addressed for the benefit of all involved.