Michael Seaman of Swipesum On The Top 5 Future Payment Processing Trends

An Interview With Francois Marchand, Editor of The Ecomm Manager

Customer Experience: We’ll continue to see the development of software focusing on the user and customer experience. Providing a human touch in a digital capacity is a challenge but with the right technological advances and a customer-centric approach, we’ll shift closer to this ability.

As e-commerce continues to grow exponentially, businesses must stay up-to-date with the latest trends and innovations to remain competitive in the ever-evolving online shopping landscape. In this interview series, about “Top 5 Ecommerce Trends Shaping the Future of Online Shopping” we are talking to e-commerce experts, industry professionals, and thought leaders with in-depth knowledge and experience in online shopping trends. As a part of this series, we had the pleasure of interviewing Michael Seaman.

Michael Seaman is the co-founder and CEO of Swipesum, a comprehensive payment processing and merchant services consultancy delivering innovative auditing solutions to businesses nationwide. Michael and his brother, Stephen, founded Swipesum in 2016 to serve as Chief Payments Officer for businesses nationwide, combining industry knowledge, AI and proprietary software to create a transparent payments strategy that optimizes payment processing fees. In his free time, Michael enjoys time with his three children.

Thank you so much for your time! I know that you’re super busy. Before diving in, our readers would like to get to know you. Can you tell us a bit about your backstory and how you grew up? What led you to this specific career path?

I come from a family of incredibly creative and innovative people. I’ve always tried to follow in their footsteps by developing and creating my own businesses ever since I was a kid. When I first started college back in the mid-2000s, I created my first business (originally an Etsy store) called Snappin’ Studio for custom-stamped keychains and leather.

Over the next few years, the business morphed into something completely different, and shifted gears to a new industry. In 2007, I switched my focus to software and technology and after successfully developing various businesses in this field, I came across an opportunity to work for WorldPay — one of the largest payment processing companies in the industry. I learned valuable lessons and the true ins and outs of the payments industry. After recognizing a fatal flaw in the relationship between payment processors and their customers, I left that role and co-founded Swipesum.

Can you share the most exciting story that has happened to you since you began at your company?

Just this past month we announced our inclusion in Inc. 5000’s List of the Fastest-Growing Companies. We’ve achieved and surpassed some incredible milestones and our ranking as #729 is a testament to this success. I knew I wanted to share the experience of finding out our ranking with all of the people who made it possible. We took a company field trip to a local St. Louis brewery where all 22 of us sat anxiously waiting, watching the countdown on a projector.

Seeing that number pop up on the screen was an incredibly surreal experience. I founded the company because I recognized a significant flaw in the payments industry and was determined to find a solution. Our growth over the last three years and sheer determination as a company feel all the more worth it after seeing that come through.

What are some of the most interesting or exciting projects you are working on now? How do you think that might help people?

In 2020, we launched our AI-powered merchant statement auditor, Staitment. We created the auditing solution so your average business owner could read and understand their monthly processing statement within minutes instead of days. Billing statement management in and of itself is a full-time job, and can take months of analyzing and cost businesses time and money they don’t have. Whether it’s a large fast-food chain that has thousands of locations across the country or a local family-owned business that has 50 locations across the state, analyzing and managing this volume of transactions is a daunting task.

The next phase in our product’s evolution is to create a universal portal to process these large volumes, providing easy control over current payment infrastructure, clear insights into fraud and reporting, instant access to scope and merchant service management. This software essentially becomes a business’s fractional chief payments officer with one simple, easy-to-use portal that allows multiple providers to be fully integrated into one platform. Even banks that sell a lot of merchant services can utilize our tool to become their own payment expert.

You’re a successful business leader. What are three traits about yourself that you feel helped fuel your success? Can you share a story or example for each?

I’ve always been a self-starter. I was an athlete all my life, and with that comes extreme dedication and regimentation. More than anything, my collegiate athletic career prepared me for the sheer determination it takes to become a successful startup leader. I think that while my qualities as a person have helped me to excel in this industry, I’ve also had an incredible team in my corner. I’ve recognized the impact that teamwork can have on one’s success, both in personal and professional lives.

As a leader, you need to know when to lean on your peers and when to take on the responsibility yourself. I’ve built a strong team of independent thinkers and innovators at Swipesum and I believe understanding the importance of teamwork and trusting in that team is another justification of my success.

In this industry, you learn pretty quickly that being comfortable in uncomfortable situations can become a superpower. As a young kid, I learned the importance of stepping outside of your comfort zone and embracing these situations. Whether it was losing a match and taking that loss with stride or approaching venture capitalists to invest in my company, there is no shortage of uncomfortable situations in life. It’s a matter of how you turn these experiences into something beneficial.

Excellent, thanks so much for sharing that. I want to shift gears and talk about e-commerce. What was the original vision for your e-commerce business? What pain point(s) were you trying to solve for your customers?

I founded Swipesum after recognizing the lack of transparency and overflowing streams of misinformation being distributed throughout the payments industry. The payment processing world is complex and can be overwhelming for businesses who are trying to understand the transaction process. This is how payment companies get away with overcharging, hidden fees and other unnecessary add-ons in their billing statements. Hidden fees can eat away at a business’s bottom line, and in this competitive market, it’s imperative to minimize useless fees. We’ve developed a solution, Staitment, that translates misinformation and uncovers these issues, giving control back to the businesses that need it most.

How do you see the e-commerce industry evolving in the coming years?

There has been a consistent shift in the way people shop over the last several years, and in my experience, we’ll continue to see a constant evolution of card-not-present shopping. Customers will expect a seamless shopping experience whenever and wherever they want, and the quality of that experience will be the most important driving force for e-commerce. Customers expect a flawless relationship-driven customer experience, even digitally.

If a platform is easier to navigate than its competitor, then it will ultimately be more successful. With digital and instant payments at our fingertips, however, comes the never-ending issue of security, which will continue to be a priority for card brands and payment processors. In the coming years, one of the evolving threats we’ll see is the issue of liability. As people continue to enjoy the luxuries of shopping online and with a click of a button, liability will shift away from the responsibility of card brands and payment processors and almost entirely onto the cardholder.

How do you balance the need for innovation and experimentation with maintaining a stable, reliable e-commerce infrastructure?

Test everything. Without innovation, the e-commerce industry and infrastructure would not be where it is today. It’s a delicate balancing act. You can learn what works and what doesn’t and build on what you know, but without risk, there can be no reward.

At Swipesum, the innovations we’ve made have had a drastic positive impact on the company’s growth and valuation. Innovation and experimentation in the payments and fintech world, for the last several years, has meant building and implementing new software. What’s next is automation and AI.

We balance innovation and experimentation with providing a stable infrastructure by maintaining the human touches. While innovation is always a top priority for us, automation when it comes to the customer experience is one area we’re not willing to sacrifice for the need to experiment.

Ok super. Here is the central question of our interview. What five emerging trends do you believe will have the biggest impact on payment processing in e-commerce? Please explain each in detail.

1 . The evolution of payments companies: Software companies with a strong foothold in the payment processing world are shifting their business models to reflect that of a payments company. What they don’t realize is that the infrastructure of a payments company is more complex than it seems. These businesses lack the necessary ingredients and tools to ultimately be successful. Beyond the software and its capabilities, there is a level of support and expertise that’s expected from payment processors, from customer support and payments experts to auditing and more.

2 . Customer Experience: We’ll continue to see the development of software focusing on the user and customer experience. Providing a human touch in a digital capacity is a challenge but with the right technological advances and a customer-centric approach, we’ll shift closer to this ability.

3 . Cybersecurity: Card brands and payment processors are serious about security. As a business owner, merchant, CTO, or CFO, you expect that the platform, app or digital wallet that you’re entrusting with your transactions are held to the same security standards as your own. With this, we’ll also see card brands working to transfer security liability onto the merchant. Cybersecurity is an emerging trend that directly impacts the future of payment processing.

4 . AI and Automation: We’ve seen the explosion of AI and automation over the last year and in my opinion, this train shows no sign of stopping. I think we’ll continue to see this trend expand over the coming years and transform the way customers interact with the digital buying experience. We plan to further develop our own AI-powered solution, Staitment, over the next few years as well.

5 . Subscription Services: There is a subscription for nearly everything today and companies are continuing to make incredible profit from it. The way we shop has become extremely mobile, and platforms that provide this seamless service (like streaming services, clothing rental and even car washes) and experience will continue to win that customer loyalty. Memberships and subscription services make transactions easy for customers, and companies love it because it’s often out-of-sight, out-of-mind profit.

Is there a past trend that’s now standard practice in payment processing that you would have spent 50% more time focusing on? Which one and why?

Information is instantaneously available at our fingertips. Immediate access to billing statements, expert support and more, is now a basic level expectation of customers, which has led to vendors and suppliers developing instant digital solutions to meet this need. What used to take days to finalize can now take minutes. Businesses at every level are now required to meet this expectation, from large enterprises down to simple startups. If you’re not perfecting this at every level, you’re already falling behind.

Looking ahead, what are the biggest opportunities and challenges facing payment processing for e-commerce, and how do you plan to address them in the coming years?

Businesses now can be in front of their customers with just a click of a button. This opens the door to incredible revenue opportunities and a seamless business-to-consumer relationship. However, while this is one of the most significant opportunities, it can also become one of the industry’s largest obstacles.

It’s clear though that businesses often underestimate the obstacles that come with managing an infrastructure. Creating and maintaining that infrastructure, and providing the perfect omnichannel recurrent billing experience can be an endless challenge, but with the right strategic partnered vendors, anything is possible.

You are a person of significant influence. If you could start a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. :-)

From a young age, I was thrust into the world of sports where you’re constantly encouraged to push yourself outside of your comfort zone. I think everyone should experience moments like this in their life. When I became a father, I was terrified. That level of responsibility and commitment that is so human but was also so new and foreign to me challenged me to become a better person and the man that I am today.

How can we grow and learn if we never push ourselves to experience new adventures and challenges? I encourage everyone to seek out their challenge or their next adventure and dive in head first.

How can our readers further follow your work online?

You can visit https://www.swipesum.com/.

I want to thank you so much for your time and for sharing your expertise with us. I wish you continued success!

About The Interviewer: Francois Marchand is the editor of The Ecomm Manager. Throughout his 20+ years in journalism, communications, and marketing, Francois has created and managed high-value content for Postmedia, Vancouver Film School, and Unbounce. He loves helping business leaders grow their skillsets and knowledge base to stay ahead of the competition. Visit The Ecomm Manager: theecommmanager.com