You're doubtless familiar with tokenization as a way of securing sensitive payment data—but did you know it can also help you deliver seamless payment experiences that increase customer loyalty?
Your customers expect their payment experiences to be simple, secure, and consistent, whether they’re buying online, on their devices, or in store. They also want to pay the way that best suits them. As new and alternative payment types (including eChecks and digital wallets) become available, many customers enthusiastically adopt them.
However, all that choice has made the payment environment increasingly complex. Tokenization can help simplify payments for your business: It’s already part of the payment security strategy for many businesses with an eCommerce channel, helping keep data secure.
But tokenization can also help you create the seamless payment experiences—across channels and payment types—that keep customers coming back.
The evolution of payment tokenization
Almost 20 years ago, sellers, acquirers, and payment platforms started issuing tokens for individual payment credentials with the primary aim of keeping those credentials secure. A customer's sensitive payment data is replaced with a digital identifier, or token, while the real data is securely stored. Even if the token is compromised, it can't be reverse-engineered to reveal the payment data.
The next iteration was network tokens, generated by a payment network like Visa. Instead of replacing a single primary account number (PAN) for its lifespan, a network token represents a customer's payment credentials for all subsequent transactions. Even if a customer replaces their card, the credentials are automatically updated via lifecycle management. Customers can be recognized by their network token, allowing you to gain a better understanding of buying behaviors across different channels.
Now Cybersource goes further with its unique super token—the power behind our Token Management Service. Our proprietary super token links together network tokens from different card brands, banks, payment types, and channels.
How super tokens help increase customer loyalty
By linking previously disparate network tokens and payment types together, Cybersource’s super token centralizes and simplifies token management and connects and unifies customer payment data. This allows you to create a complete transaction history for each of your customers, as well as:
- Deliver simple, seamless payment experiences, no matter how your customers are shopping.
- Offer personalized loyalty, reward, and promotional opportunities for every online, mobile, and in-store transaction.
Making payments seamless and personalizing customers' interactions with your brand can enhance loyalty—and drive repeat business that boosts revenue. You also get peace of mind that you're keeping payment credentials safe and refreshed and reducing your PCI DSS compliance scope.
To learn more about how payment tokenization can boost customer loyalty, download our guide. And watch for upcoming blogs that will explore how tokenization can increase revenue, enhance payment security, and reduce PCI DSS scope and costs.