The old adage "if you build it they will come" is not interpreted easily into the internet world.Developers and search engine gurus have been honing their skills over a number of years, and built SEO friendly sites that spiders have been crawling for many years; but is that sufficient in today's market place? Building search engine friendly sites is just a small part of the buying experience for online retailers, and converting a user who is 'just browsing' into a purchaser is the ultimate goal. It seems that well-optimised sites are driving high numbers of qualified traffic through ethical SEO practices; yet browsing users often fail to complete a transaction due to the onset of the "fear" factor at the 12th hour, the time a purchase matters most to the online retailer.
It appears that millions of shoppers have been left high and dry when it comes to making an online transaction - until now, that is. Visa has identified this untapped market of "non-converters", i.e. those that want to shop online but don't, by creating the UK's first pay-as-you-go VISA Voucher. Potential shoppers who successfully surf, search and browse can now for the very first time shop online with 100% confidence in how they spend their money.
Designed to reduce fraud, the VISA voucher is set to revolutionise the buying power of the wary internet user, amidst the growing fear of online fraud and identity theft. Simply purchase a voucher between £20 and £200 for a flat fee of £3.50 (equivalent to a 17.5% admin fee on £20) per voucher and discover your new online retail power. It's a win win situation, both for online retailers, who will broaden their customer base, and for customers who will benefit in the long term. Tthis is because sites that have been well optimised for their particular product, through a process of search engine optimisation, are now not only targeting the "casual browser" but the "qualified purchaser"; this is to ensure the passage of a successful transaction, aided by the introduction of a safer way to complete their transaction.
Research undertaken by 3V Transaction Services Ltd claims that eight out of ten people are aware that they can save money by shopping online, but many surfers either don't possess a credit card or feel uncomfortable performing a transaction despite being a card holder. The pay as you go voucher (similar to purchasing a mobile phone top up) allows anyone over the age of 16 to shop wherever the VISA card is accepted.
So how do you use your new Visa voucher? Quite simply, it's just like using any other credit card, but instead of your expiry date and your 16 digit security code being printed on plastic, they are instead delivered separately by SMS to your phone or to an email address. The fraudulent activity of skimming the card for the users' personal information is simply not possible under this new scheme. Simply spend the amount you purchased, and the fear of anyone finding out your number and running up multiple transactions will simply become a thing of the past.
First launched in Ireland in October last year as a test pilot, Visa received over 60,000 subscribers to the 3V Vouchers; interestingly, the majority of these first subscribers already possessed credit cards. The scheme is now set to be launched in the rest of Europe in 2007.
