Ecommpay urges merchants to use AI for lost revenue

Ecommpay has published a white paper urging merchants to use artificial intelligence on payments data beyond fraud prevention, arguing that payment service providers can help identify lost revenue in transaction data.

The report says many eCommerce businesses are using AI too narrowly and overlooking broader uses for payment information across marketing, demand forecasting, corporate strategy, and customer experience.

Ecommpay has built an AI-based performance analytics engine focused on three common causes of payment declines: 3DS authentication failures, fraud and suspicious transaction flags, and client-behaviour errors. It says analysis of declines raised authorisation rates for a sample of retail eCommerce brands by an average of 11.95 percentage points over two months.

Across five sectors, the tool increased authorisation rates by an average of 7% over the same period. The figures cited were 11.95% in retail, 6.43% in professional services, 6.1% in travel, 5.85% in games, and 4.5% in foreign exchange.

Role of PSPs

The report argues that payment service providers are well placed to interpret transaction data because they can combine merchant information with signals from issuers and acquirers, including authorisation responses and chargebacks.

"Merchants have the data but often lack the context," said Daniella Sjarki, Business Growth Specialist at Ecommpay.

"That's where PSPs come in. We can combine merchant data with issuer and acquirer signals such as authorisation responses and chargebacks to identify where revenue is being lost and recommend fixes.

"Merchants need to move beyond understanding what happened to learning why it happened, so changes can be made to optimise future transactions, improve the customer experience, and drive business performance."

Ecommpay's position reflects a broader shift in payments as merchants look for ways to lift conversion rates and reduce failed transactions without relying solely on anti-fraud tools. Authorisation performance has become a commercial issue for online businesses because failed payments can directly affect sales, repeat purchasing, and customer trust.

Industry views

The white paper also includes comments from payments and commerce executives outside Ecommpay.

"AI has enormous potential in payments beyond fraud management, particularly as a diagnostic and optimisation tool. Payments generate vast amounts of transaction data, but identifying why authorisation rates are changing, where false declines are occurring, or which parts of a payment strategy are underperforming has traditionally required specialist consultants and years of payments expertise. When AI is trained on that expertise and combined with a merchant's transaction data, it can dramatically accelerate that process," said John Lunn, Chief Executive Officer and Founder of Gr4vy.

Andre Moeller, Head of Payments, Risk and Fraud at Volkswagen AG (E-Charging), highlighted AI's role in separating signal from noise across large payment datasets.

"AI can help distinguish normal variation from meaningful patterns across large volumes of payment events, enabling teams to prioritise the changes with the greatest impact on conversion and trust," he said.

Wider use cases

Ecommpay says data generated by payment flows can support decisions beyond checkout performance. In its view, merchants can use those insights to understand changing customer behaviour, improve forecasting, and refine the design of online journeys.

Founded in 2012, the company is headquartered in London. According to its corporate description, it offers acquiring, payment methods, payment processing, and orchestration through a single API.

Returning to the report's central argument, Sjarki said many merchants still lack the expertise to extract value from transaction information on their own.

"Transaction data is incredibly valuable and can help merchants improve long-term business success, but most do not have the expertise to bring this to fruition. With a 360-degree perspective, powerful AI tools, and access to transaction data from banks and merchants, PSPs can help merchants transform their businesses and boost revenue," she said.