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Top 5 Tips For Frictionless Payment

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The GoCardless content team comprises a group of subject-matter experts in multiple fields from across GoCardless. The authors and reviewers work in the sales, marketing, legal, and finance departments. All have in-depth knowledge and experience in various aspects of payment scheme technology and the operating rules applicable to each. The team holds expertise in the well-established payment schemes such as UK Direct Debit, the European SEPA scheme, and the US ACH scheme, as well as in schemes operating in Scandinavia, Australia, and New Zealand. See full bio

Last editedApr 20232 min read

If you sell goods or services to the public then you need to make the payment processes you use as seamless and free from friction as possible. The simplest and most compelling reason for this is that customers have come to expect it.

Disruptive businesses, such as Uber, have transformed expectations by creating interactions which are seamless from start to finish, with someone who books an Uber hardly being aware of being charged for doing so. The people who shop with you now expect the same kind of experience. In fact, if they regularly shop with Amazon, then they already experience friction-free shopping. If you can’t offer the same experience then the chances are they’ll choose to shop somewhere else.

Research on payment preferences

According to our own State of Pay report (a survey of 500 decision makers and 1000 consumers in Australia) 51% of merchants want their business to process fewer credit card payments, with 72% concerned about high credit card fees. By offering options such as PayTo, GoCardless makes it possible for your customers to pay instantly, direct from their bank account – a method which skips expensive fees and reduces the chances of failed payments. PayTo is just one of the frictionless payment options we offer.

Frictionless payments explained

In simple terms, a frictionless payment is a secure payment which is quick and easy, with the number of steps involved in actually purchasing goods or services reduced to as few as possible. Technologies such as digital wallets and near-field communication (NFC) devices can play a huge role in delivering frictionless payments, but on a basic level, offering multi-payment options to customers will mean they are able to choose the payment method which minimises friction for them.

Frictionless payments are payments that reduce the struggles associated with the regular payment process. Frictionless payments reduce the steps required to secure payment making them quick and easy for both the customer and the merchant. There are many different types of payments that qualify as frictionless payments, including payments that utilise digital wallets or NFC technology. An added benefit of streamlining the payment processing experience is that the technology involved in offering seamless payments is also likely to boost security, something else which consumers – particularly those using an online payment option – feel is particularly important.

Tips for reducing payment friction

The following technologies can be utilised to maximise customer choice and flexibility and reduce friction in the payment process:

Tokenisation – a secure means of holding customers payment information by swapping data such as cardholder with a token. This enables payment card information to be sent and received in a quick and secure manner.
Near Field Communications (NFC) – NFC technology is utilised within point-of-sale terminals to enable customers to pay quickly and simply using payment cards or mobile wallets.
Mobile wallets – Mobile wallets is the umbrella term used for methods such as Apple Pay, Google Pay and Samsung Pay. It maximises convenience by enabling customers to make a mobile payment using the smartphone (in some cases a smart watch) they are carrying with them.
Local options – if you sell online then you sell to a global marketplace, and customers on the other side of the world will expect the same frictionless shopping experience as those visiting a bricks and mortar store. It’s possible to include the capability to track IP addresses into your website, meaning it can then localise the payment options offered.
QR Codes – merchants who want to offer the frictionless online experience to in-store shoppers can do so using QR codes. Shoppers simply have to scan the QR code to be directed to a quick and seamless online checkout experience, rather than joining the queue for the checkout.

How GoCardless can help

GoCardless is the perfect payment processing platform for merchants wishing to offer frictionless payments, whether using PayTo for one-off payments or making it simple to set up Direct Debits for recurring payments. In all cases, GoCardless maximises the range of payment options on offer, making it more likely that customers will be able to find the option which is the most seamless for them.

We can help

GoCardless is a global payments solution that helps you automate payment collection, cutting down on the amount of financial admin your team needs to deal with. Find out how GoCardless can help you with one-off or recurring payments.