Guides
Payment KPIs: the metrics to track for checkout, approvals and costs
Payment KPIs show where money is lost between checkout and bank account. The core set is checkout conversion, approval or authorisation rate, the share of soft and hard declines, 3-D Secure success, chargeback and fraud rates, effective cost per transaction and time to payout. Track each by provider, country, method and card type, because the averages hide most of the problems.
Which payment KPIs should you track?
Define each KPI the same way across providers before comparing them.
| KPI | Formula | What it tells you |
|---|---|---|
| Checkout conversion | Paid orders divided by checkouts started | Overall checkout health |
| Approval rate | Approved authorisations divided by authorisation attempts | Issuer and provider performance |
| Soft decline share | Retryable declines divided by all declines | Room for retries and routing |
| 3DS success rate | Successful authentications divided by challenges | Friction in strong customer authentication |
| Chargeback rate | Chargebacks divided by settled card transactions in the same period | Dispute exposure under scheme programmes |
| Fraud rate | Fraudulent value divided by total value | Fraud loss and PSD2 exemption eligibility |
| Effective cost | Total fees divided by processed value | Real cost per method and provider |
| Time to payout | Days from capture to funds in your bank | Cash flow |
How do you segment payment KPIs?
Segment by provider, country, payment method, card brand and type, issuer, device and amount band. A 2-point drop in approvals for one issuer can disappear in an overall average.
How do you improve weak KPIs?
Retry soft declines on a second provider, route by card and country, use network tokens and account updaters for stored cards, request 3DS exemptions where allowed, and clean up decline reasons in the checkout copy.
How does OrsunPay help track payment KPIs?
OrsunPay is a payment orchestration platform: you keep your own contracts with licensed providers (for example Stripe, Adyen or Worldpay), and OrsunPay is not a payment institution, acquirer or merchant of record and does not hold or transmit funds. OrsunPay reports approvals, declines, retries and routing outcomes across your connected providers in one view, so you can compare them on the same definitions. For OrsunPay pricing, see the pricing page at /pricing.
Frequently asked questions
What is a good approval rate?
It depends on country, sector and card mix; compare against your own history per segment rather than one benchmark.
What is the difference between conversion and approval rate?
Conversion counts paid orders against started checkouts; approval rate counts approved authorisations against attempts.
How is the chargeback rate calculated?
Usually chargebacks divided by settled card transactions in the same month; each card scheme defines its own monitoring rules.