First Data Helps Merchants Boost Card-On-File Sales

First Data, a commerce-enabling technology and solutions company, announced Tuesday (March 19) the launch of Authorization Optimization, a digital commerce tool that optimizes card-on-file transactions to boost revenue for merchants.

In a press release, First Data said the new solution increases authorization rates for card-on-file transactions by as much as 10 percent by applying intelligent transaction tools. With the Authorization Optimization tools, First Data is going after businesses with a high volume of digital payments, including those in the subscription industry and ridesharing platforms that rely on card-on-file payments.

“Nearly $15 billion in eCommerce revenue is missed annually because merchants haven’t had a reliable authorization optimization strategy,” said Nandan Sheth, head of global digital commerce at First Data. “With our new Authorization Optimization solution, we’re providing our enterprise clients with powerful back-end support, fueled by industry-leading data intelligence. This insightful intelligence is used to boost authorization rates, as well as [to help] merchants retain more customers through a deeper understanding of their portfolio.”

First Data’s Authorization Optimization solution is fueled by artificial intelligence, machine learning and a team of data scientists. The company’s insights portal provides merchants with authorization information by card type and issuer, while its machine learning rules engine helps merchants reduce services cancellations while securely updating new payment information. All of this occurs without customer intervention, noted First Data.

The company said the tool has been proven to increase revenue for merchants, pointing to a multinational digital game merchant as one example. By applying the new tools, First Data was able to process tens of millions of dollars’ worth of transactions that otherwise would have been declined. Additionally, the company said the Authorization Optimization solution enables merchants to conduct their own analytics in a single dashboard on a wide variety of data types.