Forter launches Smart Payments offering for digital commerce

2Forter has launched Smart Payments, a new offering designed to increase conversion rates and digital commerce revenue.

The company, a trust platform for digital commerce, says the offering optimises the use of 3D Secure (3DS) to meet Strong Customer Authentication (SCA) and local compliance requirements and reduces friction in the payment process. It says Smart Payments executes 3DS only when additional validation is needed and simplifies compliance with government regulations, including Payment Services Directive Two (PSD2) in the European Economic Area (EEA).

"Digital commerce continues to proliferate, surpassing $8.7 trillion in transactions in 2021, yet businesses may not be fully realising their revenue opportunity," says Forter CEO, Michael Reitblat.

"Gaps in decisioning across digital commerce funnel negatively impact conversion rates, leave revenue on the table, and alienate legitimate customers whose transactions are falsely declined."

He says to mitigate the risk of fraud, merchants and regulatory agencies are pushing for SCA, which requires consumers to provide pins or passwords and validate their identity via a device, a fingerprint, or other means. These steps add friction to digital commerce and increase cart abandonment. Forter research indicates that 18% of U.S. shoppers have abandoned a transaction because the process was too long and complex.

Forter Smart Payments applies the company's Identity Graph and machine learning to make informed 3DS recommendations. Forter says it can execute the 3DS authentication if required by a business and ensure a transaction is routed to SCA only when necessary, reducing friction for the vast majority of consumers and maintaining PSD2 compliance for merchants doing business in the EEA. The platform also provides visibility into 3DS recommendations, failure and conversion rates and business impact.

For businesses based in or transacting in the EEA, the requirement for SCA is even more pronounced. These businesses are subject to a specific regulation, PSD2, that requires SCA before a transaction can be completed.

"We have successfully partnered with Forter for several years to reduce digital commerce fraud and abuse," says ASOS global head of Security Operations - Fraud, Sin Woods.

"When they showed us how they could also increase conversion rates while complying with PSD2, we moved forward. The results were immediate; we could reclaim revenue that otherwise would have been lost to abandoned purchase processes. Smart Payments is a game-changer for our business."

Reitblat says Forter is committed to driving business outcomes for its customers. "Understanding that regulations like PSD2 were complicating their conversion process, we have brought new intelligence to 3DS authentication."

"Smart Payments replaces dated processes, and dumb 3DS applied to every transaction, with a solution that delivers a streamlined experience to the vast majority of consumers and more revenue for our customers," he adds.