It’s no exaggeration to say that the Asia Pacific region is leading the pack in terms of payment tech growth. According to EY, the region has seen the widest adoption of digital wallets and super apps in the world, surpassing North America and Europe in terms of market expansion and transaction value. And the market is ripe: fueled by ever-expanding customer appetite for seamless, integrated, and accessible payment solutions, PayTechs are currently valued at over $2.17 trillion and rising.

But with the recent rise of new digital services, including Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) and peer-to-peer (P2P) cross-border payments, and as more traditional tech and financial services companies enter the digital payments space, PayTech companies are facing stiffer competition and more pressure than ever to innovate and stay head of the curve.

The key to market differentiation

In order to retain their competitive edge, and successfully capitalize on market growth opportunities, it is crucial that PayTechs be able to provide value beyond just core payments. The key to market differentiation boils down to customer experience.

This is why Asia’s leading digital payments providers, such as Singapore-based Grab, Indonesia’s GoTo, Vietnam’s MoMo, and the Philippines’ GCash, are focusing on holistic customer experiences. By making customer experience a top priority, these companies are providing increasingly relevant pre- and post-payment services to evolve into “one-stop shops'' for their users, increasing customer satisfaction and long-term loyalty.

Here are four things that payment tech companies can do now to drastically improve their customer experience for the future.

1. Make registration frictionless but secure

Having customers jump through hoops with endless know-your-customer (KYC) questions and registration forms is so pre-2020. Today’s customers have grown accustomed to fast and frictionless experiences—including in their registration and onboarding processes.

PayTech companies need a better way to verify their customers’ identities, and one way to do so is to use video for KYC processes. The ability to conduct robust and remote KYC is key to quickly expanding your customer base and increasing transaction rates without compromising on mandatory compliance processes. Ensuring KYC compliance is essential for meeting regulatory standards and safeguarding against fraudulent activities, all while providing a seamless customer experience.

Another tried-and-tested way to improve security is to use SMS for two-factor authentication (2FA) via one-time passwords (OTPs). Companies can implement 2FA for account logins, send time-sensitive SMS alerts and notifications, and add an additional layer of confirmation before conducting certain transactions.

Companies can take this even further by implementing single sign-on (SSO) as a way to conduct silent authentication and verification. This means that your customer only needs to sign in once on their device to access all app and payment features. This makes the experience customer-friendly by reducing frustration and optimizing efficiency. Incorporating KYB (Know Your Business) checks alongside SSO can also ensure that you're dealing with legitimate business clients without adding extra steps for the user.

2. Tighten data security and compliance

Seventy-three percent (73%) of digital customers believe that it is the responsibility of businesses and organizations to take their online security seriously, not the other way around. As cybercrime surges, PayTechs that are able to add additional layers of security without compromising on customer experience will gain a competitive edge.

Because most payment tech solutions are conducted over mobile devices, companies should look into ways to prevent SMS fraud, including application firewalls, IP rate limiting, and geo restrictions, and proactively preventing SIM swapping. These measures help ensure that your users are who they say they are, and are key to preventing fraud caused by SIM cloning attacks and other more sophisticated phishing attempts.

Also, remember to register your company with any relevant SMS registries for added security. Singapore, for example, has schemes, such as the Full SMS Sender ID Registry Regime, to protect against SMS spoofing. Staying up-to-date with regional compliance requirements will also be key to ensuring that you aren’t just playing catch-up when it comes to regulation. This will put your company at the forefront, not on the back foot of any regulatory changes in the PayTech landscape.

3. Provide comprehensive, real-time, omnichannel support

Today’s digital consumers expect to be able to connect with companies and service providers across any channel, at any time. More importantly, their conversations need to be seamless and integrated—switching from voice call to chat app should not require customers to repeat their case all over again.

This issue is even more crucial for superapps that don’t just provide digital payment services, but also user-to-user engagement, such as ride-hailing and food delivery. The use of call-masking and embedded VoIP calls ensures that your customers do not need to expose their personal contact information in order to connect with customer support or have real-time conversations with service providers.

4. Actively seek and integrate customer feedback

The best way to understand the needs of your customer base? Ask them! Consistently and proactively ask for feedback about your product, service, and engagement quality to find opportunities for improvement and potential new product development.

PayTechs can reach out via SMS or popular chat apps to engage with customers for better insights and user-driven enhancements. It’s important to note that Asia’s chat app landscape is highly diverse: WhatsApp may be popular in Singapore, but KakaoTalk dominates in South Korea, the Vietnamese market primarily uses Zalo, and Viber is the platform of choice in the Philippines. This makes it important to ensure that whatever communications solutions you’re using can accommodate a wide range of channels without adding friction to your internal processes.

Customer experience remains the winning strategy

In a fast-evolving environment like payments, the key to retaining loyalty in a highly competitive market remains the quality of your customer experiences. Superior experiences that are secure, private, and seamless will drive customer satisfaction and strengthen relationships, leading to increased customer adoption, retention and transaction volumes. Schedule a demo today to learn more about how 8x8 Communication APIs can help.