Papa Johns: cutting payment costs by up to 40% with Pay by Bank
Papa Johns, one of the world's biggest pizza brands, is known for its tagline, "Better ingredients. Better pizza".
They are currently adding to this philosophy with "better technology," focusing on delivering the best quality food to customers in the easiest, simplest way possible. Payments are a core part of this buying experience, so Papa Johns partnered with TrueLayer to add Pay by Bank to its checkout.
Eamon Lindsell, the Senior Product Manager for Digital Technology at Papa Johns, wanted Papa Johns to be at the forefront of what customers will expect for payments in the future.
“By integrating TrueLayer’s Pay by Bank solution, we’re improving our customers’ digital experience and increasing customer retention, all while reducing fraud, eliminating chargebacks and lowering our cost of payments by more than 40%.
Eamon Lindsell, Senior Product Manager for Digital Technology
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The challenge
For Papa Johns, payments are the vital final step of a successful order in the online customer experience. The team recognised that relying solely on traditional methods like cards and PayPal meant accepting certain limitations and costs:
Rising fees and franchisee profitability: Online payments have traditionally been dominated by two major card players, which come with high costs. Fees continued to increase, creating a market cornered by a few major players. Reducing costs significantly was a huge opportunity for Papa Johns. Franchisee profitability is at the forefront of everything they do, making a cheaper payment method vital to return profit back to franchisees.
Failed payments and customer churn: Card payments face numerous issues leading to failure, such as expired cards, incorrect CVV numbers, or insufficient funds. A bad payment experience carries a significant risk: 40% of customers say they will never return to a brand after experiencing payment issues. Papa Johns needed a robust solution to mitigate these issues and act as a recovery method for failed transactions.
Slow refunds: Using traditional card methods meant Papa Johns was able to offer refunds within three to five business days at best, sometimes seven days. For customers who might have an issue with their order and need their money back quickly, instant refunds are crucial for customer service and satisfaction.
Pay by Bank is a payment method that lets customers pay for things directly from their bank account via their bank app, without the need for card networks. Find out more with our Pay by Bank guide
The solution
Papa Johns started exploring Pay by Bank, viewing it as part of the future of payments. Papa Johns chose TrueLayer’s Pay by Bank solution due to its reputation for providing a seamless customer experience and agile approach. Pay by Bank allows customers to pay directly from their bank accounts, bypassing traditional card networks, offering a faster and more secure way to pay, often using biometric verification.
When choosing a partner, Papa Johns needed one that could be flexible enough to tailor the solution to their business and customers, not just provide a "cookie-cutter version". Eamon Lindsell found the TrueLayer team supportive and focused on the customer experience.
““The flow, the dedication to customer experience and the improvements made even from the first conversation we had with TrueLayer, to when we actually implemented, just showed a dedication to that customer experience.”
Eamon Lindsell, the Senior Product Manager for Digital Technology
The integration process was highly efficient; it took just over a month from starting the development work to going live, which Eamon described as "probably one of the most seamless integrations" he had seen.
The results
Since launching Pay by Bank, Papa Johns has seen significant commercial benefits and improvements in customer experience:
Cost savings and profitability: By integrating TrueLayer’s Pay by Bank solution, Papa Johns is lowering its cost of payments by more than 40% compared to traditional card payments. These savings are crucial for increasing franchisee profitability.
Exceptional conversion rates: Papa Johns has seen a 90%+ bank conversion rate when customers select Pay by Bank at checkout, which is "best in class compared to existing payment methods".
High customer adoption and retention: Pay by Bank usage has increased 10–15% month over month, happening completely organically without prompting or incentivisation. The customer base using the method also shows strong loyalty, with an 88% returning user session conversion rate. In short, customers who have used Pay by Bank return and shop again.
Failed payment recovery: Pay by Bank acts as an effective recovery method for transactions that fail using other methods. If a customer's card fails (due to expiry, wrong CVV, etc), offering Pay by Bank allows them to pay successfully using their banking app, which relies on biometrics or passwords, removing the need for additional card information.
Instant refunds and security: Pay by Bank enables instant refunds, which dramatically improves customer satisfaction and provides a much better message from the customer support team, compared to the three to seven business days required by traditional card methods. From a security perspective, Papa Johns has seen very little fraud so far, and customers trust the option when seeing the bank logos.
Future-proofing the checkout
Papa Johns now views Pay by Bank as a competitive advantage, expecting it to be a minimum expectation for customers within the next two years. Eamon and his team are currently looking for ways to further streamline payments and bring the flow earlier in the journey. Having implemented Pay by Bank on the web, Papa Johns is now planning to roll it out on their app, where it anticipates even more benefits from customers switching between the banking app and the Papa Johns app.
Eamon’s advice to other merchants considering Pay by Bank is simple: "Just get started".