7 reasons to view analytics provided by a credit card payment processor

The following is a guest post by John Rampton, founder and CEO, Due

Big Data has permeated nearly every industry as more data becomes available. Thanks to the various technology platforms that collect that information, we have better insight as to what customers want.

There are now thousands of data points that can be analyzed and studied to look at just about everything everything related to a business. When you change your perspective you can provide valuable insights that can drive real change.

Within credit card payment processing, there is a significant amount of data available. This data can be beneficial in many ways.

Some data is private and cannot be collected and stored for use. Watching for aspects of these transactions you can use will help you in many ways.

Here are these seven reasons that you should consider:

1. Understand your customers’ behavior

The data available from a credit card processor identifies specific types of consumer and business spending behaviors. You can customize your accounts according to this data.

Developing your marketing campaigns to directly address behaviors grows revenue. These considerations should result in greater sales. You can now target your customers when and how they are likely to be most amenable to making a purchase. This provides information to help optimize your marketing efforts.

This knowledge can involve anything. You may design a new product or service and know when and where to market them.

Additionally, if you're experiencing a slowdown in sales, the data will provide insights into what is wrong. You can also relate to the customer experience better.

You'll know if you're delivering what your customers want. You'll see signs of a bigger economic issues on the horizon. You'll see more clearly where you need to adjust your strategy and marketing.

2. Personalize offerings based on data

Your data likely also reveals specific interests and needs in individual customers that you can leverage. Addressing needs to increase engagement with customers will help to grow your business.

Everything is about personalization right now. Using these analytics will show you how to personalize in ways you may have never seen before.

Specific promotions can be sent out related to where your customers are located. You'll know when it is likely an opportune time to encourage them to make a purchase.

3. Use trends and patterns to get new customers

Your customers' purchase behavior can reflect larger trends that are coming. This information helps you strategize to go after others in your target audience. The data you are consulting is using predictive analysis to determine what these prospects will most likely respond to.

4. Benchmark your data against the competition

What your data reveals in terms of volume, spending per transaction, and return purchases can be compared. You can view what your competition is doing. You can gauge if you are accurate or if you could be doing things differently.

While you don’t want your competition causing you to become reactionary in your responses, it is good to always consider them in the overall big picture.

5. Uncover suspicious activity

The data from credit card processing is becoming increasingly important as a tool to fight fraud. When combined with artificial intelligence, this data is being analyzed quickly to uncover areas of purchase activity.

You'll know what is outside the norm for customers that have previously bought from a company. This is typically a sign of potential fraud that can proactively be shut down in its tracks.

For example, if a customer is identified as not shopping in a particular area or is buying outside of their normal price range, a credit card processor can help identify that activity as a potential fraudulent transaction. Through these analytics, companies will be able to save themselves a lot of lost money.

6. Reduce chargebacks

The ability to detect suspicious activity and patterns in data can also assess whether or not a transaction might result in a chargeback.

The last thing you want is a chargeback causing a loss of merchandise and revenue. Using analytics to track each transaction reveals anomalies. This information can help you reject that transaction, and save your business from another chargeback.

Being able to use the data this way can also help you maintain a lower rate and fee schedule to save you further money.

7. Determine how to make improvements in your overall business

Data should be viewed as the raw material of business intelligence. For example, the data can assist you in making decisions about risk in your business.

Data can help you better understand when to adopt new technology. Data can help you understand financial performance and improve strategic planning. Data can help you see a clearer picture of what type of experiences you should create to retain customers.

Conclusion

The best analytics tools from credit card payment processors are those that combine the ability to analyze, predict and strategize. Covering all aspects of the customer life cycle will help to maximize your returns.

Using this data and its research capability enhances your customer service. This data holds tremendous power that can provide a significant advantage for your business.

It is well worth the effort of looking at these analytics to understand what they mean. Beyond that, the best move you can make is then to act on what those analytics are telling you.

About the Author

John Rampton is an entrepreneur, investor, online marketing guru, and startup enthusiast. He is the founder of the online invoicing company Due.

John is best-known as an entrepreneur and connector. He was recently named #2 on Entrepreneur magazine's Top 50 Online Influencers and a Blogging Expert by Time.

John currently advises several companies in the San Francisco Bay area.