The post-purchase experience is becoming a competitive advantage for brands and platforms in the connected economy.
Cart abandonment remains high whenever checkout introduces friction, making “frictionless checkout … the baseline now,” Renata Caine, senior vice president and general manager of embedded finance at Green Dot, told PYMNTS as part of the “What’s Next in Payments” series. Tap-to-pay, stored credentials and passkeys are no longer differentiators; they’re the price of entry.
However, beyond the transaction, brands win “when they offer value in contexts that feel personalized and relevant, but also not intrusive,” Caine said.
Real-time payments, personalized discounts and financing options such as buy now, pay later keep shoppers engaged, as does embedding information like order tracking and returns directly into the receipt or app.
“Anything that delays that will erode trust with your customer,” she said.
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Striving for the Invisible Payment
Caine pointed to the “invisible payment,” using Uber as an example.
“You get to your destination, you exit your vehicle … and all of this other stuff is happening in the background as the payment flow is going through, and the consumer’s doing nothing,” she said. “That’s what people are looking for.”
A user journey could be similar to a user’s experience with high-speed internet, she said. You don’t always notice that you have high-speed internet when it’s working, but you immediately feel the frustration when it lags or causes issues.
“Speed is the new standard,” Caine said, adding that gig payouts and refunds are moments when instant payments reduce anxiety and increase satisfaction. Reliability and dispute resolution must be built into platforms, “not bolted on or an afterthought.”
From the consumer perspective, choice is also an important factor.
“A customer of yours expects to pay how they want, whether it’s via card or wallet, buy now, pay later, or account to account,” Caine said. But “a consumer is not considering that … all of these things have to occur in the background. It just has to work to keep the consumer satisfied.”
True differentiation comes from “embedding speed and reliability into the experience that feels seamless, that feels secure and always available,” she said.
Beyond the initial transaction, high-value additions deepen loyalty.
These can include “real-time payments, personalized discounts, or even financing options like buy now, pay later based on cart value or user behavior,” she said. The addition of relevant information in one place, touching on everything from order tracking to returns, also counts. Additionally, “a seamless, intuitive and pleasing UI is the differentiator with all of these value adds.”
Refunds and chargebacks “have to be instant and intuitive,” she said, adding that dispute resolution must be built into the experience from the start.
Looking ahead, while consumers in the United States are familiar with cards and digital wallets, “account-to-account checkout for eCommerce is still catching on,” Caine said. There are growth opportunities in embedded finance that unlock new account-to-account models, enabling budgeting and investing, subscription management and treasury.
Trust and consent underpin this evolution, she said.
“Respecting users’ preferences and consent is not just about a regulatory exercise; it’s foundational to trust and long-term loyalty,” she said.
Building explicit opt-ins and transparent disclosures is critical. Strong fraud and identity controls must be invisible but effective, allowing consumers to feel safe and not scrutinized.
Caine recommended using artificial intelligence-driven models that can adapt security controls based on context, which could potentially reduce friction for “low-risk users while still protecting against threats,” and “tokenizing digital identity and biometric verification that can streamline checkout and post-purchase flows without compromising security or time.”
For Green Dot and its partners, the mandate is to deliver speed, trust and seamless orchestration from tap to loyalty reward, Caine said. In an economy where the payment itself should fade from view, the lasting impression is the effortless experience that follows.
