94% of customers now make payments online. From PayPal alone – just one of many possible checkout services – that translates into $8000 in payments processed every single second.
And customers have come to expect a fast, smooth experience before, during, and after the payment stage. These expectations are driving changes across how customers make transactions online.
Today, it’s easier than ever to pay for goods and services from websites, with an increasingly wide range of payment options. (Think biometrics, Bitcoin, bots, etc.)
And with the new in-chat payments feature offered by WhosOn, businesses can make the customer payment experience more seamless than ever before.
Here’s a closer look at how in-chat payments work.
What are in-chat payments?
In-chat payments allow you to take secure payments inside a WhosOn live chat session.
For example, a customer launches a web chat with a billing issue, or the agent successfully upsells a product during the conversation. In-chat payments then allow agents to take payments mid-conversation. There’s no directing the customer through excess pages and processes. Everything happens smoothly within the active chat session.
And, even better, the feature offers choice. Chatting customers can pay by card or through PayPal – whichever method they find to be more convenient. All as part of a secure, PCI compliant process that takes mere seconds to complete.
In short, in-chat payments let you turn chats into financial transactions as part of a supported conversational experience.
Who uses the feature?
Chat operators and your chatting customers who need to make a transaction are the two parties that will interact with in-chat payments.
Your chat operators start the transaction from their side of the chat. From there, the customer takes over to (optionally) proceed and pay.
So, it’s the customer who will see and use the secure payment form within their chat window. The customer enters their card information and makes the payment privately and independently, without leaving the chat.
How does it work?
WhosOn’s in-chat payments feature works through a rich Braintree integration. (A world-class PayPal service that processes over 1 billion transactions per quarter.)
First, the operator creates a transaction request during the chat. This is a quick click from inside their view of the chat client. They simply click the feature and input the amount they’re requesting.
This process will then send the customer a payment link within their view of the chat window. So, the customer clicks the link to proceed. On click, a secure payment form opens inside the chat window. The customer can choose how they want to pay and fill out any needed information and security questions.
Importantly, the chat agent cannot see anything that happens inside the payment form. Nor is the customer’s sensitive data retained. The process is secure and safeguarded from end-to-end.
Last, once the customer completes the payment, the operator receives a transaction link. They can then continue to chat, with no disruption to the flow of the conversation.
Why are in-chat payments useful?
In-chat payments make things smoother for the business and the customer alike.
For customers, in-chat payments mean an improved experience. There’s no channel disruption, and no navigating payment pages alone. Instead, the customer journey is simple, supportive, and conversational. This creates a better sense of support which can boost the human touch of your business. (And, in turn, customer loyalty.)
For the business, meanwhile, in-chat payments allow you to turn your live chat window into a revenue window. It can help boost conversions, as agents can nurture customer transactions for the entire journey and beyond. Upselling no longer presents hurdles or extra effort on the customer’s behalf.
Simply, in-chat payments mean smooth, frictionless, and modern commerce.
In-chat payments… and much more
In-chat payments are just one of the many useful features WhosOn offers to help you deliver smooth customer service.
So, why not see all that WhosOn has to offer, with a 30-day free trial?