As a global travel leader, Headout is about creating unforgettable moments. With a stress-free payment experience, its customers can focus on the adventure, not the checkout.
Looking to maximize revenue by preventing declined payments, Headout brought Checkout.com on board. The partnership led to a 5% acceptance rate uplift in online payments through the use of global acquiring, payment gateway, Network Tokens, Intelligent Acceptance (IA), and Fraud Detection Pro from Checkout.com.
Headout invests significantly in inspiring customers to take guided tours in dream destinations: Rome, Dubai, Singapore, and over 150 more. Using a combination of social media marketing, influencer and affiliate strategies, plus a host of other customer acquisition tactics, Headout needs to translate that advertising spend into revenue.
Before partnering with Checkout.com, Headout experienced significant declined payments for customers transacting online. Instead of a tour confirmation, those travelers saw a “payment failed” message. These failed payments not only resulted in lost transactions but often led to the loss of valuable customers too.
Each payment failure cost more than just the network fee for the attempt – it represented a lost investment in driving the traveler to the checkout page, which ultimately resulted in zero revenue from the transaction.
This makes failed payments the critical payment performance challenge Headout was facing. The solution? Boosting the acceptance rate to ensure more successful transactions and, consequently, more revenue.
At first, Headout was hesitant to trust a new payment services provider (PSP) with its payment traffic, as its existing system was well-established, and it was concerned about potential disruption to its ability to process payments online.
To address these concerns, Checkout.com offered a phased approach. Headout first sent 10% of its payments to Checkout.com to test Intelligent Acceptance’s impact on its acceptance rate, then 50%. Throughout the process, Checkout.com’s payment integration specialists provided full technical support, while minimizing risks. Thanks to data transparency, clear communication, and superior performance, Headout now entrusts Checkout.com with 100% of its card and digital wallet payments.
Intelligent Acceptance delivers measurable improvements to acceptance rates with transparent impact reporting highlighting its effectiveness. A/B testing and past transaction analysis help quantify the impact, while Checkout.com’s unified API enables smooth integration with minimum engineering effort from Headout.
Network tokens securely store customer payment details, providing a smooth checkout experience and better fraud protection.
Checkout.com’s effective fraud management tool, Fraud Detection Pro, uses machine learning to detect and respond to old and new types of fraud, protecting both Headout and its customers.
Working together, Checkout.com and Headout achieved a number of significant improvements to the travel company’s payment performance. Here are some of the highlights:
“Given its impact on performance and revenue, Headout is proud to have Checkout.com as its primary PSP and looks forward to strengthening this partnership based on trust, reliability, and opportunity for growth,” Uttam Garodia, Chief Financial Officer, Headout.
Payment is the final and most crucial step in converting user intent into revenue. Checkout.com has already helped Headout maximize this by reducing payment failures, improving its acceptance rate, and enhancing the transaction experience. But what’s next?
As Headout scales globally, Checkout.com will remain a key partner in expanding it to new markets with localized payment solutions, further optimizing its payment acceptance and fraud prevention, and introducing alternative payment methods to enhance customer choice. So Headout can make sure every journey begins long before takeoff.
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