How to Maximize Revenue with Next-Gen Payments

Learn how next-gen technologies can optimize your payments, focusing on key metrics.

Introduction 

The e-commerce landscape is more competitive than ever, and merchants must leverage every advantage to maximize revenue. Cutting-edge technology is revolutionizing payment processing, fraud prevention, and customer experience, enabling smarter decision-making and optimization. Insights can help merchants optimize payment conversion rates, improve user experience, and make data-driven decisions to scale their business. 

 

E-commerce merchants must track and analyze key payment metrics to optimize their payment strategy. Here are five essential metrics that every online merchant should monitor to maximize revenue and streamline payment processes.

5_key_metrics_main

1. Payment Approval Rate

A high payment approval rate means that more customer transactions are successfully approved, directly impacting revenue. Advanced payment optimization techniques help analyze transaction patterns and detect issues that could lead to false declines, ensuring a smoother payment experience. 

 

How can we optimize it?

Dynamic Transaction Routing: Advanced algorithms identify the most effective payment routes based on real-time approval rates, reducing transaction failures. 

 

Optimized Authentication: Predictive analytics determine when Strong Customer Authentication (SCA) is necessary, ensuring a seamless checkout experience. 

 

Fraud Detection Balance: Intelligent risk assessment tools differentiate between fraudulent and legitimate transactions, minimizing false positives. 

 

Actionable Insights:

  • Optimize your approval rates by analyzing performance across payment methods. 

 

  • Compare your metrics against industry peers to identify gaps and implement data-driven improvements. 

 

  • Use intelligent retry mechanisms for declined transactions. 

 

  • Optimize authentication flows to balance security and user experience. 

 

  • Partner with local PSP that will locally process transactions and optimize approval rates 

2. False Decline Rate

False declines (legitimate transactions mistakenly rejected) cost merchants billions annually. They frustrate customers and drive them to competitors. Advanced technologies can minimize false declines by analyzing transaction data and identifying patterns that human-driven systems might overlook. 

 

In 2023, a survey revealed that 56 percent of U.S. shoppers had their payment illegitimately declined when purchasing online. It occurs when a payment is wrongly rejected and the purchase transaction is denied, even though it is not fraudulent.

 

How can we reduce the false declines?

Adaptive Risk Scoring: Transaction risk can be assessed in real time, allowing legitimate purchases to be approved even if they might have been flagged under rigid rule-based systems. 

 

Behavioral Biometrics: User behavior (e.g., keystroke patterns, device fingerprinting) is analyzed to confirm authenticity without added friction. 

 

Local Payment Preferences: Checkout experiences should be tailored based on regional payment habits, ensuring higher acceptance rates. 

 

Actionable Insights:

  • Monitor decline reasons and work with PSPs and issuers to understand the reasons behind declines and optimize the authorization process. 

 

  • Personalize checkout experiences and avoid unnecessary authentication requests by leveraging data-driven insights. 

 

  • Implement failover solutions to retry declined transactions intelligently. 
5_key_metrics_AI_use_info

3. Revenue Recovery & Payment Retry Success Rate

Payment failure rates typically range between 5% and 10%, depending on the region and payment method.  While these failures represent a significant revenue loss for businesses, approximately 50% of failed transactions can be recovered through optimized retry strategies and better payment processing. This translates to a substantial amount of potential revenue that merchants can reclaim by implementing smarter payment solutions.

 

Failed payments don’t have to mean lost sales. Intelligent payment retries help recover revenue by optimizing retry logic based on real-time data.

 

How to improve payment retries?

Smart Retry Strategies: Retry engines help identify the best times to retry transactions for higher success rates. 

 

Automated Subscription Management to ensure recurring billing remains uninterrupted by adjusting payment methods before failures occur. 

 

Dunning Strategies: Merchants can proactively notify customers of failed payments and suggest alternative solutions. 

 

Actionable Insights:

  • Track retry success rates across different payment processors. 

 

  • Use insights to optimize retry frequency and timing. 

 

  • Offer subscription billing solutions to reduce churn. 

4. Cart Abandonment Rate

A high cart abandonment rate signals issues in the checkout process. Optimization actions can streamline authentication and payment flows, reducing friction and increasing conversion rates. Cart abandonment has been rising for the last 10 years. It has reached 70% in 2023 and 2024.  

 

How to reduce cart abandonment

Smart Autofill & One-Click Checkout: Tokenization predicts user input and enables faster checkout processes. 

 

Personalized Payment Methods: Use advanced insights to prioritize payment methods tailored to customer location and preferences, adapting to industry trends for a seamless and relevant payment experience. 

 

Chatbots & Virtual Assistants: Customer support can proactively assist users experiencing checkout issues, reducing abandonment rates. 

 

Actionable Insights:

  • Track drop-off points in the payment journey. 

 

  • Offer personalized discounts or incentives to hesitant buyers. 

 

  • Provide multiple payment methods and local currency options. 

 

  • Use embedded finance to minimize the number of steps to payment checkout and improve customer experience. 
5_key_metrics_card_abandonment_info

5. Chargeback Rate & Fraud Detection Accuracy

Chargebacks not only result in lost revenue but also damage merchant credibility and can lead to higher processing fees.  

 

Global payment card fraud, including both credit and debit cards, amounts to $35 billion USD worldwide. This figure is expected to rise by $10 billion by 2028. Outside the United States, fraudulent transactions have nearly doubled between 2014 and 2021, highlighting the growing challenge of payment security. 

 

Enhanced fraud detection ensures that fraudulent transactions are blocked while legitimate ones are approved. 

 

How to reduce chargeback rate

Predictive Analytics: Forecast chargeback risks based on transaction patterns and customer behavior. 

 

Machine Learning Fraud Prevention: Detect anomalies and potential fraud attempts through advanced technologies. 

 

Automated Dispute Management: Streamline chargeback resolution by gathering relevant data and responding efficiently. 

 

Actionable Insights:

  • Monitor chargeback reasons and categorize them (e.g., friendly fraud, true fraud, merchant error). 

 

  • Implement fraud prevention tools that continuously learn and adapt. 

 

  • Optimize dispute resolution with smart automation. 

The Ultimate Benefit for Merchants and Consumers

By reducing false declines and accommodating local payment preferences, merchants can provide a smoother and more reliable transaction experience for customers. 

 

When merchants increase revenue through optimized payment approval rates, they can pass on the benefits to consumers in the form of more competitive pricing, loyalty rewards, or enhanced services. 

Insights for Emerging Markets

In emerging markets, such as in Africa and Latin America, merchants must navigate diverse consumer behaviors and country-specific payment preferences to succeed. Recommendations backed by data are particularly valuable to navigate those complex systems and ensure high approval rates. 

 

Actionable Insights:

  • Identify the top payment methods per country and integrate them into checkout flows. 

 

  • Leverage insights to tailor marketing and pricing strategies to regional preferences. 

 

  • Partner with payment providers specializing in emerging markets for seamless transactions. 

Conclusion

Those key metrics can be significantly improved by technologies that provide data-backed recommendations, helping merchants optimize their payment processes and maximize revenue. 

 

Advancements in payment technology are enhancing authorization rates, minimizing false declines, reducing cart abandonment, preventing fraud, and improving revenue recovery. By tracking these five essential metrics and leveraging data-driven insights, ecommerce merchants can refine their payment strategies, boost conversion rates, and enhance customer experience. 

 

Merchants that adopt these intelligent solutions will gain a competitive edge in the evolving ecommerce landscape. Partnering with a PSP that offers actionable insights like PayU GPO ensures smarter payment decisions, leading to higher approval rates and sustainable business growth.  

1