Listening to clients requires an entire department: how customer success works

If my ten years of working in the payment industry have taught me anything, it’s that the core of customer success is understanding that provider/client relationships are living things which must be continuously and proactively maintained. A one-and-done approach to service providing is not sufficient; a business’s requirements evolve over time, as do the ecosystems within which they operate.

This is even more true within the payment ecosystem, where innovative technology is the only effective way to navigate shifting regulatory requirements, growing customer bases, and changing consumer behavior.

This is where the customer success department comes in – we are the analysts who design the services that our clients truly need. In addition to that, we act as consultants that spearhead process improvement, and we remain in constant contact with our clients to resolve system bugs and fine-tune operations.

Our vision is to lead our clients to success through strategic project implementations that facilitate growth. We don’t only define the products they need and suggest operational adjustments – we also manage technical solutions at the most advanced level required by the payment industry.

The Nuvei customer success team employs a three-pronged strategy – what we like to call the triangle of customer success.

Define business needs

The first, and arguably most important, part of a customer success team’s job is listening to the client. After all, how can we tailor our offering to a partner’s needs if we don’t understand what those needs are?

In fact, listening to the client is not enough. The customer success team conducts detailed research of all aspects of a given client’s business and strategy, which in many cases allows us to identify payment requirements which they were not aware of. This is because while our partners are specialists in their fields, we are experts in payment processing.

Define product demand

After our thorough examination of every aspect of our client’s business, we draw up our proposal. Nuvei’s payment processing is unique because it is truly a la carte, with an extensive list of business-enhancing features that can be integrated, adapted, or omitted, as necessary.

For example, Dynamic Currency Conversion (DCC) is a feature that we’re particularly proud of. It is a powerful localization tool which allows businesses to accept payment in any currency, reducing abandonment by making the conversion process easy and transparent. When one of our partners expands to a new location, the customer success team will be on hand to add this feature to their payment page.

Expansion to new geographies is one of customer success teams’ particular areas of expertise. In 2017, a London-based partner decided to expand into the Brazilian market. It was up to us to develop its plan of execution, which we did by integrating multiple LATAM-centered alternative payment methods. In addition, because bank transfers are popular in Brazil, we gave them that option too.

The result? Brazilian customers now account for 17% of traffic for this business, its second-largest market.

Lead Technical Operation

Another question which the customer success team must ask itself is – are our existing services sufficient to meet our clients’ needs? Thankfully they usually are, however, there have been cases in which we have developed bespoke technology for one of our partners.

For example, when one of our biggest clients decided to execute a business-wide update, the customer success team was with them every step of the way, connecting with our product team to develop exclusive features for the client.

This company wanted to not only update its gaming platform, but also upgrade the websites of three of its sub-brands. We were proud to offer them a two-tiered solution – our Cashier hosted payment page to cover their payment needs, and a bespoke service which integrated a miniaturized version of the payment page onto every page of every one of its subsidiary websites.

This was a development which took time, of course. Our representatives began with analysis of the company’s business needs, conducted research and development, and finally designed the new payment page’s look and feel so that it was aligned with the merchant’s brand.

So far, we have seen that the new Cashier has prevented 5% of this merchant’s customer abandonments – and that’s on top of the 7% saved by our regular Cashier.

Conclusion

It may seem trite to say that our partners’ success is our success too, but cliché or not, it is nonetheless true. And we know that this success doesn’t come without attention and hard work, and industry-specific knowledge applied intelligently.

After all, a gaming business won’t have the same needs as a travel merchant or a financial services company, and consumers in North America have different preferences and behaviors than those in Europe or Asia. So why offer the same service to all of them?

My team and I are passionate about helping businesses improve their payment systems, and our door is always open for a free consultation. Contact us at csm@nuvei.com and one of our team will get back to you soon.

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