Offer better transaction experiences to your international customers with Dynamic Currency Conversion

The Irish Tourism Industry Confederation (ITIC) estimated that the Irish tourism industry earned €5.3 billion from international visitors in 2023. And, their 2024 outlook shows that the Irish tourism sector remains robust. Tourism Ireland is also rolling out an extensive programme of promotions around the world—encouraging holidaymakers to add Ireland to their bucket list. Their aim is to increase overseas tourism revenue by average +5.6% year on year to 2030.

With this in mind, there has never been a better time to offer dynamic currency conversion (DCC) to your international customers, allowing them to spend in their own currency. DCC can help you improve your customer experience and opens a new revenue stream for your business.

Dynamic currency conversion: How it works

An easy and simple way to offer transparent payment solutions to overseas visitors, DCC offers many benefits for both your business and your customers.

DCC is a service that enables international cardholders the choice to pay the bill in their own currency rather than in Euro.

The opportunity to offer DCC happens automatically on your card terminal, so the next time a customer pays with a non-euro debit or credit card, you or a staff member can ask them if they would like to pay in their own currency. Your terminal handles all major currencies.

Simply choose the DCC option on your card terminal and follow the steps. Your customer will be able to view the foreign exchange rate, margin and final price so they can choose whether to pay in the local or home currency.

The benefits of DCC for your business and customers

Better customer experiences: DCC improves customer service, options and price transparency

By offering DCC you provide your international customers  an extra service as they can pay in their home currency. This saves customers the hassle of  worrying about foreign exchange rates or handling multiple currencies.

DCC also makes price comparison easier for international customers as it provides full disclosure of the exchange rate. This lets customers assess the competitiveness of the rate at the point-of-sale and, with the exchange rate locked in at purchase, the price can’t change on your customers unexpectedly post-purchase. This removes a possible obstacle to shopping abroad by overseas visitors. and it has the potential to increase your  sales to international customers with transparent and set pricing.

No hidden fees: DCC can help reduce chargebacks and disputes

A reason for accidental card “friendly” fraud – where a customer makes a legitimate purchase but doesn’t recognise it on their account statement – occurring is from customer misunderstandings when they see a transaction they don’t recognise on their credit card. This can lead to a chargeback and a loss of income for your business, as well as a strain on resources when disputing the chargeback claim.

Commonly, accidental friendly fraud can happen when customers are travelling overseas and notice a charge on their account statement they don’t remember making or disagree with as the price may seem higher than expected. This can happen when the price of their transaction in your store is converted from Euro to their home currency and the additional exchange rate is added onto the transaction post-purchase.

DCC removes this pricing ambiguity. With DCC there are no exchange rate surprises for your customers when they receive their statements as they will already know the final price of the purchase in their own currency. Each receipt shows the amount in euros, the conversion rate, and the amount in the customer’s home currency as shown below. This gives both you and your customer peace of mind at the time of the transaction and limits the opportunity for a chargeback dispute to occur.

Add a revenue stream to your business: DCC can earn your business a rebate

DCC is completely free of charge and doesn’t carry any additional fees, but with BOIPA you can also earn a rebate from each DCC transaction you process.

There’s no extra administrative or conversion process you need to follow as BOIPA handles the entire DCC process from beginning to end —  from direct treasury exchange rates and transaction processing, to back-end reconciliation, settlement, funding, and support. You’ll receive confirmation on how much of a rebate you’ve earned in your monthly statement.

Turn on a new revenue stream with BOIPA

If you’re ready to improve your customer experience and turn on a new revenue stream with DCC, contact us today.