In today’s consumer market, options abound – and for good reason: It’s a response to demand. Consumers are increasingly willing to invest in services that save them time and effort, as long as they are given the choice and the benefit is made obvious to them up front.1
The precarious balance for a business is finding that sweet spot between providing customers convenient options and business expense. We’d like to point out one service convenience that can actually make you money, and that is Dynamic Currency Conversion (DCC).
Customer benefit
For a small currency conversion fee, DCC gives customers purchasing abroad a choice to pay in the local currency or their own currency associated with the use of their payment card, and the exchange rate is locked in at the time of payment.
The cardholder sees the price of goods purchased and all related fees in their own currency, eliminating any exchange surprises when their payment card statement arrives. Because DCC and its service fee for the currency conversion must be disclosed at the time of purchase, the customer can decline the service and proceed directly to payment in the merchant’s currency.
Merchant benefit
Applicable for both in-person and online sales, the business earns a rebated commission on every qualified DCC transaction for an additional revenue stream. By disclosing all the fees and rates up front, DCC also narrows the chance of chargebacks when the cardholder receives their payment card statement.
Available in 66 currencies for most international Visa® and Mastercard® transactions, the Elavon value-added service does all the conversion at checkout and displays a receipt itemizing the full transaction.
Execute DCC correctly for a win-win
Here are some guidelines to comply with card brand network requirements and ensure customers have a great experience. It’s really just this easy!
- Contact Elavon to enable DCC on your Tetra or Converge payment system.
- Disclose the conversion service fee mark-up to the cardholder in advance of checkout.
- Don’t automatically default to DCC for transactions. Ask the customer first and let them choose.
- Train staff members on the proper use of DCC.
Want to learn more? We’re available to answer any questions, so don’t hesitate to give us a call.
