Bank response codes and how they drive better payments performance

A payment may fail for many reasons. Response codes tell merchants why. Maybe it was because of insufficient funds, an expired card or fraud. Whatever the reason, response codes are generated every time an issuing bank approves or declines a transaction.

Response codes are extremely powerful data points as they tell a merchant precisely why an issuing bank has refused to authorize a transaction. Yet, unfortunately, most businesses are in the dark about what happens after their customers’ press pay. They may see that the payment was approved or declined, but they do not know why. 

Not having access to detailed response codes is a problem for merchants. If they don’t know why the payment has failed, they cannot understand what to do about it. Should they retry the transaction? Was it actually fraudulent? Are they blacklisted by an issuer? Or is there a deeper underlying problem that needs solving?

These are fundamental questions for merchants to answer. If they can’t, it’s unlikely they’ll be able to build strategies that improve their authorization rates. This’ll mean they continue missing out on legitimate sales, impacting revenues and the business’s growth potential. 

And let’s not forget how sensitive consumers are to an inadequate payments experience. Our research finds that 33% of consumers have been permanently put off shopping on a site because their payment was declined. And more often than not, they will simply spend money with a competitor. In other words, a merchant is actively handing their competition a strategic advantage.

Why aren't businesses getting the data they need? 

Typically, a business connects to a gateway, which aggregates for multiple businesses, feeding into one or more acquiring banks. The acquirer uses a processing platform to interface into Visa and Mastercard, which in turn communicates with issuing banks. 

There are many different platforms and technologies between the business and the card issuer in this traditional model of payments. They’re in the transaction’s way, so to speak.

A vast amount of data may be sent in the authorization response. But the processing systems used by banks may be up to 30 years old and cannot retain and pass the data. A data set may be up to 90% diluted. And if merchants only see 10% of the data, it'll impact the accuracy of their decision-making.

That’s the challenge with payments. Data is often tantalizingly out of reach. Either it’s trapped in the web of interconnected systems and silos that make up legacy payment infrastructures. Or it’s consolidated and oversimplified by providers who are focused on serving the needs of smaller businesses that only need the most basic level of insights.

Get the data needed to drive improved payments performance

Merchants that are serious about improving their payments performance — and thus supercharging their sales, revenues and business growth — must prioritize working with a payments partner that gives them access to raw response codes. Download our new guide to learn more. And find out how to optimize authorization rates with access to meaningful payments data.