Supporting sustainable payments

Overview

When working via Payment Page, you can extend checkout scenarios by adding the option to make financial contributions to environmental projects via the specialised partner service of the ekko platform—right after the standard payment scenario steps have been completed. This capability empowers customers to make sustainable choices aimed at protecting the planet alongside their purchases and allows merchants to demonstrate their commitment to sustainability and generating positive environmental impact within their services.

Figure 1. Including the carbon tracking option on the final page of the payment form

While using this capability does not require you to expend any additional technical effort or pay any extra fees, it allows you to participate in environmental initiatives and helps increase customer loyalty and brand value.

Special aspects and limitations

When working with the sustainable payments capability, consider the following special aspects and limitations:

  • The functionality is supported only for the 5th generation Payment Page.
  • The functionality is available to customers at checkout if the initial payment is a purchase or such action as an authorisation hold or a registration of a COF payment.
  • Customers can contribute to environmental initiatives using the payment methods supported both by ecommpay and by the ekko service, regardless of which payment methods are available within the merchant’s project. Methods that can be used for sustainability payments include standard card payments, Apple Pay, and Google Pay.
  • Each contribution is processed as a separate payment—in the same currency used for the initial payment that was processed before the customer was redirected to the ekko service and outside the project through which the initial payment was made. This approach allows utilising the payment methods supported for sustainable payments and prevents merchant services from getting overloaded with additional data related to these contributions.
  • A sustainable payment is processed within a separate Payment Page session, with the payment form custom design by ecommpay and ekko. In addition, the parameters of the project within which the initial payment was made do not apply to processing a subsequent contribution.
  • Customers receive notifications about processing of their contributions directly from the ekko service. If they have any questions about their sustainable payments, they can also be referred to ekko for more details.

To learn more about the specifics of working with this functionality, contact your ecommpay account manager.

Processing scenario

Below is a user scenario of making a sustainable payment enabled by ekko via Payment Page.

  1. On the final page of the payment form, alongside the confirmation that the initial payment or action has been completed successfully, an additional panel is displayed to the customer with the option to proceed to the ekko service in order to make a contribution.
  2. The customer is redirected to the ekko service.
  3. The customer selects the desired contribution amount and is redirected to the payment form (a new Payment Page session is initiated).
  4. The customer is shown the payment form (with custom design by ecommpay and ekko).
  5. The customer selects the payment method, enters the required details, and confirms making a contribution.
  6. The customer is shown the preloader page and then the payment complete page.
  7. The customer is redirected to the ekko service page showing the contribution confirmation and offering the option to enter an email address for an additional receipt.
  8. The customer receives a receipt at the provided email.

As with other payment scenarios, making a sustainable payment may require additional procedures such as the 3D-Secure authentication (details). However, execution of these procedures does not require the merchant's web service to perform any further actions outside of the already established scope.

Setup

To set up the functionality of sustainable payments:

  1. With your ecommpay account manager, discuss and agree upon setting up this functionality for specific projects and whether testing is necessary.
  2. If you need testing, get notified by the ecommpay specialists that the payment form is ready for being used in test mode, test this functionality, and inform ecommpay that everything is ready to launch.
  3. Get notified by the ecommpay specialists that the functionality has been added and fully set up.