Darren Choong
Even amid the recent slump in tech, the metaverse remains the talk of the town – especially in the town of high-rollers and big bets, Las Vegas.
The metaverse was one of the main topics of discussion at Money20/20 USA, a four-day event heralded as fintech’s biggest conversation.
Held from 23 to 26 October 2022 at The Venetian, Money20/20 USA was also our maiden appearance on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean.
Paying in the metaverse?
With some in the tech industry betting big on the metaverse as being the future of the internet and of our digital world, we were especially keen hear from industry experts and their insights into the various facets of the metaverse, the user experience and payment journeys.
What is the Metaverse?
According to the Pew Research Center, the metaverse is “the realm of computer-generated, networked extended reality, or XR, an acronym that embraces all aspects of augmented reality, mixed reality and virtual reality (AR, MR and VR).”
The metaverse can be seen as the combining of our digital and physical worlds with the use of virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) technologies, according to Wired.
And we weren’t disappointed!
The ambiguous nature of the metaverse has led to the development and experimentation of various use cases, from virtual spaces and digital events to commerce and gaming. Another fascinating use case is in the education space.
As the metaverse provides immersive digital experiences, it could be the perfect platform for learning. New ways of user engagement could be developed so that more people spend more of their time online in the metaverse.
This was part of the discussion between PwC’s Global Metaverse Leader Roberto Hernandez and TerraZero CEO Brandon F. Johnson at Money20/20 USA.
For example, financial learning tools, once viewed as boring and tedious, could be developed to be more interactive and engaging for users in the metaverse.
As a nascent technology that could take decades to fully develop and become mainstream, there will always be many new and different ideas and use cases to test in the metaverse.
It is no surprise then that the metaverse could be a multi-trillion-dollar industry by the end of this decade. This mind-boggling figure was highlighted by Citi’s Future of Finance Analyst Sophia Bantanidis from their Metaverse and Money report, which estimate the economic value of the metaverse could be between $8 trillion and $13 trillion by 2030.
As such potential value would inevitably create greater demand for transactions to take place in the metaverse, the sheer volume of transactions could be massive.
A seamless, sophisticated, and secure way to make payments will be key to the metaverse becoming the future platform for e-commerce and digital retail. This was echoed by various speakers at Money20/20 USA.
Another consideration for payments in general would be the increasing adoption of cryptocurrencies, central bank digital currencies (CBDCs), gaming tokens, and stablecoins as additional forms of payment, especially for a younger generation valuing more choice beyond fiat money.
Solution
Payment Testing
Discover why you must ensure payments are validated and secure to provide the best customer experience.
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Pay attention to the user experience
Whatever the future holds for e-commerce and retail, one thing’s for sure: the user must be at the heart of it all.
And this includes payments.
The payment journey must provide an exceptional user experience.
This was highlighted by Checkout.com’s Chief Marketing Officer Leela Srinivasan and Attentive President Amitabh J. during their panel discussion on ‘Customer Experience: The Ultimate Marketing Tool’.
What are false declines?
False declines are what happens when a user makes a legitimate purchase using a valid credit card, but that purchase is declined when it should have been approved, as per Big Commerce.
In Checkout.com’s retail report, 56% of consumers were found to abandon a purchase if they could not find their preferred payment option, while 44% of consumers would abandon a purchase when met with a false decline.
These stats clearly show that e-commerce platforms and online retailers are paying the price for a poor payments experience, negatively affecting their sales and conversion rates. These issues will soon extend to the metaverse, once it matures as a platform for commerce.
What’s worse, a poor payments experience can drastically impact the entire customer journey for e-commerce and retail brands.
Insights
What is Conversion Rate Optimization?
Find out how you can improve your conversions by improving your customer experience.
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With the sheer (and growing) amount of payment methods, e-commerce and retail businesses need to listen to their customers and truly understand their needs and preferences. Businesses need to consider the usability of their payment systems.
Simply put, if your payments don’t work, consumers will easily opt for a competitor instead.
Pay your dues with
payments testing
Fortunately, these issues can already be resolved with usability testing and user research.
More specifically, payments testing can help businesses, retailers, and e-commerce platforms avoid such issues in their payment journeys, and provide a customer experience their users deserve!
It was great to be among the over 8,000+ participants from 2,800+ companies at Money20/20 USA and to hear from the various speakers on the topics of the metaverse, customer experience, payments, and more.
If you would like to improve your payment journey, reach out here and one of our payments testing experts will be in touch.
