Many times, a customer has the balance and the intent to buy, but the transaction is denied. In e-commerce, one of the most common reasons for this is outdated card data. Whether due to expiration, loss, theft, or replacement with a new card, the saved data becomes invalid, leading to a preventable payment failure.

For the merchant, this means lost revenue. For the customer, it’s a frustrating shopping experience. This is where RTAU becomes a fundamental piece of your strategy.

What is RTAU (Real-Time Account Updater)?

RTAU is a technology that automatically updates saved card data in your database in real-time. It connects your gateway directly to card networks (such as Visa and Mastercard) to check for any changes to that card even before processing the payment.

If a customer receives a new card because the previous one expired, RTAU identifies the change and updates the information without the user having to type a single digit.

How Does RTAU Work in Practice?

Imagine a subscription service or an e-commerce with “one-click” purchasing.

• The Problem: The customer’s card expired last month. Without RTAU, the next charge will be declined. You will have to send billing emails, risking the customer canceling the service (churn).

• The Solution: With RTAU enabled, the system identifies the new number or expiration date before the billing attempt. The payment is processed with the new data, and the sale is approved without interruptions.

Direct Benefits for Your Business

• Reduction of Unnecessary Declines: Avoid failures due to obsolete data and maintain your cash flow.

• Better Customer Experience: Eliminate the need for customers to manually update data every time they receive a new physical card.

• Revenue Continuity: Essential for recurring and subscription models, where any billing failure increases the cancellation rate.

• Increased Approval Rates: Transactions with updated data are more likely to be successful with issuing banks.

Apply RTAU with Token Tree

Outdated data shouldn’t be the reason you leave money on the table. Token Tree offers integrated RTAU technology to ensure your customer base is always ready to transact.

Our solution operates invisibly, ensuring technology works to keep your conversion rates high while you focus on scaling your e-commerce.