For more than 15 years, PayNearMe has helped billers optimize the payment experience. In a PaymentsJournal podcast, John Minor, PayNearMe’s Chief Product Officer, joined Brian Riley, Co-Head of Payments at Javelin Strategy & Research, to discuss how poor payment experiences contribute to rising operational costs and drive up the total cost of acceptance.

Lowering the Total Cost of Acceptance

Many billers struggle with outdated technology that offers limited payment options and delivers subpar user experiences. This often results in increased exceptions such as higher call volumes, chargebacks, and manual interventions—all of which drive up operational costs.  

“Payment exceptions are on the rise which really drive up the cost of acceptance,” said Minor. According to Minor, an exception is anything that causes a payment to fail, be delayed, or not happen at all. These exceptions require manual intervention and extra resources such as service calls or ACH returns, which ultimately increase expenses.

“Taking a good payment is easy; the complexity lies in managing exceptions,” he said.

Workflow automation plays a critical role in minimizing exceptions and reducing operational overhead. One of the most common payment exceptions—ACH returns—can take days to process due to the delayed nature of the network. Without the right workflows in place, managing these returns can become costly and inefficient. Minor pointed out that implementing automated workflows to process exceptions efficiently, reduce manual intervention, and provide consumers with the right payment options helps businesses minimize costs and improve overall payment efficiency.

Reliability is Fundamental

Platform reliability is paramount to a business’ success. Reliability means ensuring every payment is processed smoothly from start to finish—every time. “If you can’t take the payment, nothing else matters,” said Minor. “Clients have told us that failed payments keep them up at night. Reliability is fundamental, and we’ve built our platform to deliver consistent performance.”

Riley agreed, adding “Ensuring transactions go through without issues is critical.”

Convenience for Consumers and Businesses

Consumers expect payments to be as seamless and effortless as shopping on Amazon or ordering an Uber. By focusing on convenience and ease of use, billers can enhance customer satisfaction while reducing internal efficiencies 

A platform that consolidates all preferred payment methods helps businesses stay ahead of evolving trends. PayNearMe enables clients to accept payments via traditional methods as well as alternative options such as Apple Pay, PayPal, Venmo, Cash App Pay, and cash.

“Businesses really need a unified solution that evolves with new payment trends,” Minor stated. “With our platform, they don’t have to worry about development costs every time a new payment type emerges.”

Driving Down Costs with Self-Service

Self-service is a key factor in reducing the total cost of acceptance. Businesses are turning to self-service solutions for efficiency, while consumers increasingly expect the convenience they provide. The indirect costs of payment acceptance, such as employee time spent assisting with transactions, add up quickly when self-service options are lacking.

“We’ve worked with several clients to increase self-service rates and seen places where it improved as much as 40%,” said Minor. With PayNearMe’s Smart Link™ technology, clients have significantly increased self-service adoption—reducing manual support needs while enhancing the customer experience.

Self-service empowers consumers to complete essential tasks—such as making a payment, setting up autopay, or checking due dates without customer service assistance. This streamlines the payment journey and eliminates unnecessary operational costs.

On the business side, self-service provides real-time visibility into payment workflows, access to critical data, and the ability to take action within the platform without needing direct support. By democratizing access to insights and automating routine tasks, self-service capabilities can reduce overhead, enhance efficiency, and ultimately lower the total cost of acceptance.

Three Key Takeaways: What to Expect from a Modern Payments Partner

According to Minor, businesses evaluating a payments platform should focus on three key factors for long-term success and cost reduction:

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2. Stability and reliability: A consistently stable and secure platform ensures payments are processed without disruptions. 
   

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3. Optimized payment experience: A modern platform enables communication with consumers where they are, leverages data to deliver personalized interactions, and actively manages the end-to-end payment experience to reduce costs.
   

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4. Effective exception management: The right partner proactively identifies and prevents exceptions, uses data-driven insights to minimize them, and implements tools to help reduce manual intervention costs.
   

By prioritizing these factors, businesses can enhance payment experiences, improve operational efficiency, and significantly reduce the total cost of acceptance.