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Dr. Irene Lin, Head of UX Research, Global Design Center, Ant International shares why it’s essential for businesses to understand user experience (UX) to create better brand and payments experiences that drive business results.
About the author
Irene heads up UX Research at Ant International and leads a team of cross-disciplinary designers, researchers, and strategists to craft intuitive, seamless payments journeys to delight customers. She believes human-led, data-focused UX design form the core of brand experiences – and is the key driver that keeps customers coming back for more. Irene holds a PhD in Social Psychology. She has over 15 years of UX experience across academia and global brands, and works closely with business leaders to help accelerate growth through user experience research.
It’s clear that the payment world is continuously diversifying. Generally, there is a global growth in alternative payment methods (APMs), and we are starting to be quite acquainted with all of them. APMs include local wallets, global wallets like Google Pay and Apple Pay, as well as online banking, account-to-account transfers and of course Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL).
How a user actually sees payments
The line between payment methods is rather blurred nowadays. A card can be linked to a digital wallet, allowing users to tap the phone for payment without swiping the card; a digital app can also be funded by the same card or accessed via a QR code; a stored value payment allow users to enter a phone number to make payment through the prior selected payment method. Hence, from the user’s perspective, it’s a much simpler view: it’s physical versus digital, or in many regions where e-wallets are prevalent, tap versus QR payment.
Download our QR code payment guide to learn more.
To the user, it’s straightforward. It’s the action the user takes to pay – tap or scan, type 16 digits or be redirected to another app. So, it’s far more critical to talk about convenience and efficacy rather than being hung up on the technical label of the payment format.
The ultimate goal is to transfer the “workload” from the user to technology. Just look at how far we have come from the last two decades, and it’s perhaps not so hard to imagine that in the future, there could be no specific “medium” for payment at all. And the key to all of this is authentication. Authenticate the transaction and complete the movement of money from user to merchant as seamlessly and securely as possible.
No matter the payment method or journey, context matters
Here’s the #1 thing people often overlook: context.
Think about how the experience differs when you subscribe to a service while you’re watching a movie on a TV screen, versus on a gaming console mid-session, or even paying your parking fee through your AR glass on the street in the future. The context completely changes design needs.
I always reference the simple act of paying in-store. How many times have you used “scan to order” in a restaurant on a work day for lunch, only to be prompted to manually enter your credit card number? It’s frustrating, isn’t it? Because for so many of us, we are using our mobile phones to pay. Our cards are in our physical wallets, and we don’t even bring our wallets out for lunch anymore. This is a classic example of a digital checkout ignoring the user’s physical context.
There is also the debate around offering more payment methods versus having a sleek interface with minimal number of payment methods. In my view, empowering customers with choices is always beneficial, as it gives a sense of in control. Whether it is card, bank, or digital wallet, every individual has their own preference: some favour accumulating points with cards, others prefer spending control via e-wallets, and some are just used to bank transfers.
The key is to provide clear navigation and a consistent, predictable user flow for each integrated payment method, to ensure users won't get frustrated when selecting their preferred option. One important thing to note is how to help the user get back to the payment flow quickly if one method fails due to situations such as an undelivered 2FA (2-factor authentication) code or an expired card.
Why merchants should consider APM growth
Currently, credit cards still dominate globally, but non-card payments are rapidly gaining traction — both offline and online. Especially online. On e-commerce platforms, APMs now capture a significant market share. Juniper Research expects that by 2029, 69% of global e-commerce transactions will be made via APMs.
Understanding this is important because payment isn’t just a core part of the user experience, it directly impacts conversion. Shoppers will be quick to abandon their cart if their preferred payment method isn't available. This becomes even more critical when a merchant sells to a market where payment preferences can vary. In Indonesia, for instance, many users may not have access to credit cards, making local e-wallets or even Cash on Delivery (COD) essential to complete a sale. Without this context, even the most seamlessly designed card payment journey will yield very little result.
For SaaS subscription models, the need for “smart” recurring payments is paramount. For example, a credit card can expire, so having a payment system that automatically updates card information is crucial. Likewise, a wallet may have insufficient balance, so the system needs to able to send an advance reminder to the user or attempt the charge on a backup payment method, in order to prevent customer churn.
Speaking of insufficient wallet balance, this is where Antom’s Revenue Booster can help.
Creating trust with less redirects and more communication
Many wallet journeys are still full of redirects, and redirects are the absolute conversion killer. Every extra step or redirect page between checkout and the final “payment done” screen is a chance for a shopper to give up and leave. In the early days of digital wallets or online bank payment, a user often had to jump across several different screens to verify the payment. Users still tolerated that back then, but these days, that level of friction is a deal-breaker.
It's the constant balance between security and usability. Users always want payments to be fast; they may not explicitly praise good security when nothing goes wrong – they just expect it. But the moment security is compromised, the consequences are significant for both customer and the merchant.
Communication is vital. Firstly, safety controls and guarantees. Users need to understand the measures in place to protect their personal data and financial information. Secondly, transparency about fees and payment status. Users should always be informed about where their money is being deducted from or if it hasn't been deducted yet, and what’s the actual amount being deducted. Thirdly, actionable information upon payment failures. Instead of generic error codes, explain why a payment failed and guide users on how to resolve the issue.
After all, trust is paramount in payment. There is where a payment experience can innovate and differentiate itself from the rest.
An AI-future built on tokenisation, fraud detection and process optimisation
Checkout will become more and more personal, thanks to new AI-powered design. Checkout pages will adapt to users in real-time: based on past behaviours and preferences, it could show personalised vouchers, recommend products, alongside the preferred payment method with the best promotions and exchange rate (if any) right at the top.
There will be bigger leap with agentic commerce, moving us towards a world where AI agents will shop, place orders, and make payments on our behalf. Forget about visiting a website, selecting your payment method, typing in your address, etc. You may just need to say “I want to buy a birthday cheesecake for my kid and have it sent home tomorrow afternoon.” And your AI agent gets it all done in a blink. All you need is to verify and approve.
Of course, this seamless experience is built on a foundation of tokenisation, fraud detection and process optimisation – areas where AI is already creating impact. From a UX perspective, that’s a very exciting future to look forward to!
