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Leaders In Payments
Leaders In Payments
Special Series: The World of Ecommerce: Thriving Online with Chintan Gandhi, Richard Page & Sarah Cummings from Worldpay | Episode 361
Unlock the strategies that make Worldpay a leader in the UK e-commerce scene with insights from our distinguished guests, Chintan, Richard, and Sarah. Discover the art of transforming prospects into loyal customers through innovative payment solutions and a focus on the merchant lifecycle. Chintan reveals the secrets behind WorldPay's go-to-market strategy, emphasizing the power of targeted outreach and consultative sales. Meanwhile, Richard sheds light on how his team empowers small to medium-sized businesses with tailored e-commerce solutions and technical expertise. With Sarah at the helm of customer experience, learn how operational strategies differentiate Worldpay in a competitive industry.
Explore how WorldPay's bespoke approach aids SMBs in selecting and implementing the most effective payment solutions. From solution consultation to seamless integration, uncover how Worldpay's implementation team collaborates with businesses to optimize their payment systems. Sarah discusses the unmatched importance of exceptional customer support, featuring a multi-channel approach that includes 24/7 service and an interactive online portal. Learn how WorldPay assists new customers in mastering their portal experience, ensuring they manage their accounts efficiently from day one. This episode is packed with actionable insights to enhance your e-commerce operations and deliver unparalleled customer experiences.
Thank you and the host of the Great E-Commerce Experiences, global Aid. Whether you are just starting out or upscaling your business, we'll discuss current and future trends in the UK e-commerce landscape and dive into merchant pain points and world pay solutions.
Speaker 3:Additionally, our experts will touch on actionable strategies and tips to help
Speaker 3:your business thrive online. Just as a summary, in our first episode of the series we talked about e-commerce for small businesses in the UK at a very high level. The second episode we took a deeper dive into the pain points that merchants feel related to e-commerce and also touched on some of the WorldPay solutions. In the third episode, we took a deep dive into the actual solutions WorldPay has for e-commerce merchants in the UK. So I suggest you go back and listen to those previous episodes, for today we're going to be doing a little bit different. We're going to look at the merchant lifecycle, so sort of from prospect to customer and everything in between. So thank you all for being here and welcome to the show.
Speaker 4:Thank you, Greg. It's great to be here with you today.
Speaker 3:Okay, so let's dive right in. So, chintan, let's start with you. If you don't mind, tell our audience a little bit about yourself and a little about your professional journey as well.
Speaker 4:Yeah, sure, I grew up and did my schooling in India and then moved to the UK to pursue my master's MBA. I currently live in Hertfordshire with my family, which is just on the outskirts of London. On the professional front, I've been working in the payment space for the last 15 years. I've been focusing on payments processing, merchant acquiring and cards issuing. Over the years, I've held several leadership roles, from driving business strategy to building partnerships with ISVs and SaaS providers to leading on various business development initiatives. In my current role, I lead on the go-to-market strategy and commercialization of our strategic solutions for the global SMB segment.
Speaker 3:Okay, great. So, richard, same question for you a little about yourself and your professional journey.
Speaker 5:Yeah, hi, I'm Richard Page. I've been with WorldPay for around 11 years and I've worked in the payment industry for a little over 30 years now, based in Cambridge in the UK. I spent my early career building solutions for customers and then moved into building bespoke payments for customers wanting to use payments, and that was initially mainly on paper phone, but that moved into internet payments as that became widely available. And now I head up a team for WildPay supporting our SMB customers with their e-com journey. So, from talking to them about solutions through to the full implementation and ongoing technical support of whatever solution that they choose with WorldPay.
Speaker 3:Okay, okay, thanks, richard. So, sarah, same question for you Tell us a little bit about yourself and your professional journey.
Speaker 2:Yeah, thanks, greg. Happy to so. I'm Sarah. I have the great privilege of leading the operational teams here for WorldPay, being part of the WorldPay team now and a WorldPayer for coming up 12 years, and what a journey it's been. It's been a wonderful time. Previously worked in different companies and organizations improving their customer experiences, driving their contact service strategies and, predominantly within the operations space, putting the customer at the heart of the decisions and making sure the customer voice is heard.
Speaker 3:Okay, great. So thank you all for sharing that. So, chintan, as you know, most of the audience for this podcast is going to know who WorldPay is, but if you don't mind, tell our audience in your own words a little about WorldPay.
Speaker 4:Of course, I'd love to give a quick overview.
Speaker 4:Worldpay is a global leader in payments, powering businesses of all sizes, from small and medium-sized businesses to large global enterprises. We enable them to process payments in a seamless and reliable way, whether it's payments processing online, in-store or through mobile. Worldpay sits at the heart of many of these great e-commerce experiences that we encounter in our day-to-day lives. But what really stands out about WorldPay sits at the heart of many of these great e-commerce experiences that we encounter in our day-to-day lives, but what really stands out about WorldPay is our ability to meet our customers' needs when it comes to their unique business needs and also, more importantly, about tailoring solutions that support them through each stage of their growth. For small and medium businesses especially, worldpay offers innovative and easy-to-implement payment solutions that really help them thrive. But I think, beyond the technology and solutions, what truly makes WorldPay special is our global reach and diverse team of experts that bring a wide variety of perspectives to solve complex payment challenges that we see and really create that seamless commerce experiences that we can serve everyone.
Speaker 3:And that's a good segue into kind of the meat of this conversation. You mentioned having some of the experts. I think we have some of them with us today, so I'm excited about that. And so for this next section, we're going to talk about a couple of things so the go-to-market strategy, which Chintan is going to cover, and then Richard's going to go into the kind of implementation, and then we'll end with Sarah sort of on the boarding customer service side, and so, chintan, let's go ahead and start with you on this. So, if you don't mind, sort of set the stage for us, maybe talk about the WorldPay strategy as it relates to go-to-market.
Speaker 4:When it comes to the go-to-market approach, it's built to effectively reach and engage SMB merchants at different stages of their journey. So I'll start by kind of covering on the targeted outreach. So one of the ways we do that is through direct acquisition. One of the ways we do that is through direct acquisition. So when we engage with merchants, we want to make sure that, whether they are new to e-commerce or looking to modernize their payment solution, we achieve that through consultative sales approach that we have through our telesales and sales team. We also empower SMBs to make sure that they have the ability to onboard and manage their accounts independently through a digital self-serve tools. What this does is this really enables them to set up quickly and efficiently with minimal friction, while still having access to the support they may need.
Speaker 4:We have a collaborative partnerships model where collaborating with ISV, SaaS providers, e-com platforms and also the ISO general partners, independent sales organizations it's at the central point of this strategy. When it comes to execution, we make sure that we have these partnerships enabled and they are embedded into our solutions and platforms so that we cover the partner networks these SMB merchants already use in creating that seamless experience right from the start. These SMB merchants already use in creating that seamless experience right from the start. And I think the other thing I would say is the education and the awareness piece where we really prioritize educating prospects about the benefits of our payment solutions, showcasing how they can help streamline operations, enhance their customer experiences and ultimately adding value and driving the growth for their business. This education is crucial in building the trust and facilitating informed decision making.
Speaker 3:Okay, great, and just for those listening, the last episode that we did. So that would have been episode three of the series. We talked in detail about the products and the solutions and the value. So that's a great episode if you really want to learn what WorldPay offers to small businesses on the e-commerce side in the UK. So I suggest going and listening to that episode. So with that, let's move on to implementation. So, richard, over to you, maybe at a high level, let's talk about what the merchant should expect from WorldPay. Like what are the initial conversations that you sort of have with merchants around implementation?
Speaker 5:Our vision was really to set up a digital-first proposition whereby merchants primarily want to self-serve. So there's lots of collateral, lots of information, lots of guides on the sites at point of sale when people sign up, signposting everything really that they're going to need to do. However, we also know that lots of SMBs like a more personal touch and don't want to spend the time digging through guides finding out what to do. They want another solution. So we provide an end-to-end service that includes solution consulting.
Speaker 5:So we will talk to merchants about what they're trying to do in collaboration with their sales channel so either a partner or directly through our sales teams, about how they want to implement e-commerce, how they want to use it, what.
Speaker 5:How they want to implement e-commerce, how they want to use it, what tools they want to use. And then we'll take them through that and talk to them, or, more likely, their developers, about how they're going to actually implement that, either using a partner or a third-party shopping cart or indeed, as a lot of our merchants do, a direct integration into the apis that we have. So, again, we've got engineers who've done this all before. They've built their own servers, they've built all of these support tools. They know how to use them. They can best guide the merchants how to get up and integrate it as quickly as possible, because with these small customers, you know it's the time that's the challenge. So, although we've got all of these digital first routes to get support and they're fully manned and 24-7, we also provide during UK working time, a full end-to-end support solution to talk these merchants through actually getting up and running with a human touch.
Speaker 3:You mentioned a couple of things there. You mentioned integration, you mentioned partners, so maybe talk through what are the different types of integrations out there. So that's sort of one question. And then, who are your typical partners?
Speaker 5:Yeah, so that's an interesting one.
Speaker 5:So obviously the partner space is very varied. So we have partners creating very niche integrations into our platforms maybe that provide direct in-store shopping solutions, or it could be very specialist for a very niche set of SMB customers, through to the shopping carts, as most people have seen when they're buying online, and they just simply enable you to integrate to WildPay, to be able to just simply put items into a shopping cart and then pay. And then we have more specialist integrations where mainly our larger customers want to create a unique experience that isn't available through a partner or through a standard integration method, and we provide APIs that enable them to do pretty much what they want, and we separate those two out. So we have separate teams working with our partners, working with the tools that they have available, and then we have a separate team who are more afraid with what an SMB is trying to achieve and how they want to achieve that, and they're more specialists in the different solutions we have and in the different integration methods that customers will want to use.
Speaker 3:Okay, and so I assume we're talking about small businesses. So maybe talk through how much of what you and your team do is kind of technical versus kind of consulting with them on solutions. Maybe they've made the decision on solution and now you're really consulting on implementation. But maybe kind of walk through those kind of conversations you have around solutions and implementation and consulting with your merchants.
Speaker 5:So if we start with, a medium-sized customer, probably in a particular industry, doesn't want to use a standard tool that is available, so probably doesn't. We might want to use a shopping cart, but we might want to use it in a slightly different way. We have a team that will work with them. Work with our sales team, understand the best solution, work with them to understand what capabilities they have. So what development team have they available? Who are they going to hire? What skills do they have?
Speaker 5:And also that forms which sort of APIs you'd like to be using, or will you be using one of our hosted solutions? That makes it a little bit easier to integrate and we'll provide that. We'll provide a suggested solution for the merchant and then at that point that's when the implementation team gets involved looks at that solution that we've agreed with the merchant and then works with the merchant to build that out and to build the payment solution that they need to run their business and take payments online and do all the other things after that as well. Make sure they know how to use the systems, the back office systems and just that end-to-end support for the customer to make sure they can get up and running with the solution that they want to implement for e-commerce.
Speaker 3:So we've talked to Chintan sort of about the go-to-market how you get customers in the door, maybe some solutions, and then obviously, Richard, you covered kind of the implementation. Now over to you, Sarah. So let's talk about support, and as someone who's been in the payments industry for almost 20 years myself, I know that support is an area that companies really can differentiate in and it's an area that maybe the industry as a whole doesn't get a lot of I don't know positive press about, but I'm interested to hear sort of how you're supporting them. So maybe talk about at a high level, give us that overview of kind of the support that WorldPay provides.
Speaker 2:Yeah, of course, greg, and I think you've hit the nail on the head right. I think it's one of those areas that we can truly differentiate, and we do believe that we should differentiate Our WorldPay customers especially. They're incredibly important to us and, from a support perspective and certainly from an overall business element, customers are at the heart of every decision that we make, and so they should be. In terms of the support that we offer, we are incredibly proud. We're not saying that we're the perfect finished article, but we are proud of the consistency and the delivery of that support. And really for me, greg, there's two areas that we are proud of. One is we have a online experience that enables customers to manage their account with us from the point that they're on board all the way through their journey. Somebody said to me just this week that the online portal experience is like a relationship manager in the customer's pocket, and I thought that was really powerful. It does make it so that it is a differentiator and that customers can manage their experience when they want it and how they want it, but, of course, that doesn't always work and it doesn't always work out that way, so we do offer a multi-channel support option that sits behind our portal as well, greg, which means that if you do need support and you don't want to go down that digital route, or perhaps it is a bit more complex then we do have the relevant teams that are sat, our silent heroes, so to speak, that are ready to support the needs of our customers.
Speaker 2:We offer a 24-7, 365 service, which, again, if you look at our competitors, we are the only acquirer to be able to do that. We offer a multi-channel experience, which is super important because, again, where and how our customers want to talk to us or interact with us, it should be for them to decide, not for us. So our strategy is very much a case of we will be there where you need us to be. So we offer a voice service, which remains our most popular channel, for obvious reasons. You know, we do have a great set of colleagues that are there to support our customers. We have our web chat service, which is integrated fully into your portal experience, so that relationship manager in your pocket.
Speaker 2:If you need help, you can simply press the button and contact one of our well-paid chatters who who are there as well to support your every need. And we have different, various spin-offs as well. If you have a really specific need or a very bespoke question, we have experts that we've set up over a number of years to to offer that detailed, dedicated support, whether that be maybe a technical question, so something to do with your online account, or something to do with your physical device, all the way through to perhaps a fraud issue, which we hope nobody suffers. But when you do, we are there for you. We have the ability to write to us, we have the ability to converse with us via email, and we also have our social media network as well. We do take that incredibly important as well, so we have quite a breadth of support options available so that, if and when it does go wrong, we are there for our customers, greg, and we're really proud of that.
Speaker 3:Okay, so let's use a scenario Someone becomes a customer. They're up and running, Maybe. What are sort of the top three things that you typically help merchants with?
Speaker 2:Yeah, absolutely so. I think the first thing that we really help our customers embrace is that portal experience, so getting them up and running at the point of application with our dashboard. So when you apply to join WorldPay and become a WorldPay customer, you can monitor your experience and where your application is with us on the customer portal, on our dashboard, and from there you can track your delivery of your device, you can track your application output and you can start to really have a look at what we can offer you in that portal experience. And I would say that that's one of the main things that we we want to support our customers with in the very early days that they can take full advantage of that digital experience. And they, you know, because there's insights in there, there's not just servicing elements, there are some really cool insights that they can use to enhance and improve their business. I think the second thing that we we do focus on is that reconciliation experience as well, so ensuring our customers can understand how their cash flow flows from ourselves back into their business, the different ways that they can reconcile those accounts, how they can really keep a track for their own purposes. That is something, again, we try to support quite heavily with in the beginning so that they can run their business as frictionless as possible Super important. And then I think, the other thing that we see.
Speaker 2:Our third point is when a customer joins us. Our devices are a plug and play, uh device from a physical device perspective. But there are times when customers want that extra support or the additional education maybe for some of their own colleagues. We can provide and offer that support as well. So in those first few months as a customer with us, there might be things that they just don't understand. They might not be using their terminal in the best way. We have a team of world payers that can support and can and can add much needed support and advice in that space. And if they don't want to speak to us, greg, alongside the portal experience we have a fully hosted knowledge base and that knowledge base has hints, tips, articles. It has um guided to help scenarios. There's some well-paid videos that our customers can watch. So again, we really feel like if we push our education to everybody, both our internal colleagues and our customers, then again it just elevates that experience and makes it that little bit easier for our customers when they first come on board with us.
Speaker 3:Thank you so much for covering that and doing it so well. I appreciate that. So, chintan, as we kind of come to the end of this episode, if you don't mind could you kind of summarize the discussion we've had today for our audience?
Speaker 4:Yeah, sure, I think in addition to what Sarah and Richard have covered, what I'll say is that VoIPay is here and we are committed to supporting our SMB merchants as they navigate through the evolving payments landscape, providing them with the tailored solutions and services at every stage, right from prospecting and onboarding to implementation, to the ongoing customer support that they need.
Speaker 4:It's how we take our solutions to market, how we position them to help merchants with the decision-making process and helping them in adopting the right solution for their business. When it comes to the actual product and solution, offering core features and functionality and the experience that really caters to the needs of the SMB merchants, whether they are new to e-commerce or looking to modernize their payment solution to the stage when they come to the you know, boarding and implementation. So you know really supporting them through those stages, whether they are the merchants directly or the developers in the background or whatever level of support they may need to get to that activation piece and way beyond that, as Sarah covered, that ongoing support and the different channels that we have for them. We really want to make sure that this kind of ties back to the point that I mentioned earlier. It's about our focus on simplicity, flexibility and scalability throughout the merchant lifecycle with WorldPay that is designed to empower these SMB merchants.
Speaker 3:Okay, I think that was a great summary and this has been a really interesting episode. It's not things that we talk a lot summary and this has been a really interesting episode. It's not things that you know we talk a lot about. It's really getting into kind of how merchants can be successful with WorldPay, and these are three areas that I'm glad we were able to kind of go deep in. So, chintan, richard, sarah, thank you all so much for being on the show today. I know your time is very valuable, so I really appreciate you being here today.
Speaker 4:Thank you, greg, it's been a pleasure.
Speaker 3:Thank you, thanks, greg, and to all you listeners out there. I thank you for your time as well, and until the next story.
Speaker 1:Thank you for tuning in today to this special series on e-commerce brought to you by WorldPay. To learn more about WorldPay and their e-commerce solutions, please visit wwwworldpaycom. Slash en-gb. Slash worldpay-ecommerce.