Introducing the Draft EMV^® Click to Pay Customer Experience (CX) Guidelines

In this EMV^® Insights post, Clinton Allen, Chair of EMVCo’s Secure Remote Commerce (SRC) Working Group, discusses the new draft EMV^® Click to Pay Customer Experience (CX) Guidelines to support merchants in simplifying online checkout and making it more consistent, convenient and secure for their customers.

View the draft EMV^® Click to Pay Customer Experience (CX) Guidelines here.

The evolution of Click to Pay

Following extensive engagement with industry stakeholders, EMVCo published Version 1.3 of the EMV Secure Remote Commerce (SRC) Specifications[1] in December 2022 to support more flexible online checkout options for merchants and consumers. E-commerce solutions based on the EMV SRC Specifications are indicated by the Click to Pay icon and known as Click to Pay solutions.

A key update within Version 1.3 was the introduction of the ‘Merchant Orchestrated Checkout Model’, where the payment experience and interaction are developed by the merchant or their payment service provider, enabling the merchant to integrate the user experience and manage customer recognition.

This marked a significant technical achievement as merchants can now deliver a seamless payment experience that supports global, regional and domestic payments systems through the integration of a single solution.

The impact is potentially transformative. The complexity and inconsistency of digital payment environments has been a long-standing industry challenge that leads to consumer frustration and cart abandonment, while also contributing to online fraud.

By significantly reducing integration complexity, Click to Pay solutions mitigate friction to promote a more convenient and secure checkout experience.

Promoting consistent Click to Pay solutions

Although the ‘Merchant Orchestrated Checkout Model’ is flexible to support different payment experiences, a level of consistency across Click to Pay solutions remains critical. To address this need, and following industry feedback that identified demand for additional guidance on the user experience, EMVCo has produced the draft EMV^® Click to Pay CX Guidelines. The guidelines will  be part of the EMV SRC Specifications and EMVCo is now reviewing these guidelines with EMVCo Associates.

The EMV^® Click to Pay CX Guidelines aim to accelerate the development and implementation of consistent Click to Pay solutions that can help to lower cart abandonment and reduce fraud, compared to traditional guest checkouts and wallet-based proprietary checkout buttons.

The interactive guidelines offer easy-to-follow sample screens and key use case flows, linking to the software development kits (SDKs) and application programming interfaces (APIs) needed to build the solutions. This approach makes it easier for Click to Pay solution providers to understand how the CX should be implemented at the technical level to deliver an optimised experience.

Developing the EMV^® Click to Pay CX Guidelines

To ensure merchants and solution providers have the confidence that the EMV^® Click to Pay CX Guidelines have the desired impact in supporting a more consistent, convenient and secure checkout experience, EMVCo has committed to a highly collaborative and consultative development approach.

The draft guidelines have been produced by specialist payment CX designers, and throughout the initial development process EMVCo has worked closely with a number of industry stakeholders from across the wider payments ecosystem. This includes direct contributions from the merchant community to understand key requirements and considerations, as well as to identify opportunities for improvement and refinement.

Constructive industry dialogue will continue to shape the ongoing enhancement and evolution of the EMV^® Click to Pay CX Guidelines. The draft guidelines will be made available to all industry stakeholders for review and are currently accessible to EMVCo Associates. They will then be published for EMVCo Subscriber and then public review respectively.

As collaboration and engagement are integral to our efforts to enable consistent and trusted online checkout experiences for consumers around the world, EMVCo actively encourages and welcomes feedback, input and comments from all interested stakeholders.

[1] The EMV^® SRC Specifications provide a common baseline for the development of e-commerce payment solutions. E-commerce solutions based on the EMV SRC Specifications are indicated by the Click to Pay icon and known as Click to Pay.