Trust is one of the most valuable and fragile assets a brand owns. Every customer interaction can influence trust, but it is most affected at the moment of payment. In the past, that moment used to feel routine, but today, it feels risky, even when customers have been doing business with a brand for many years.

For business leaders, this shift from routine to risk has major implications. Payment security now plays a vital role in how customers judge whether a brand deserves their business. In fact, 87% of consumers said they would stop engaging with a company if they were concerned about its security practices.

With statistics like that, trust and security should be top of mind for every business leader.

To understand why this matters, it helps to look at how fraud, data breaches, and customer psychology have changed.

Data Breaches

Over the past decade, consumers watched as well-known brands announced that millions of their customers’ sensitive information had been exposed in a data breach. At this point, most consumers in the US and UK have been personally impacted by a breach or know someone who has.

These breaches reach across all industries, from retail to government, and grow more sophisticated by the day. Criminal networks now exploit weaknesses across digital and voice channels through automation, social engineering, and AI. Contact centers have become a favorite target because they sit at the intersection of customer service, identity verification, and payment processing.

From a business perspective, these attacks pose a direct financial risk, which is a serious burden. Yet, the real risk lies in the customers’ perspective, because if damaged, it’s extremely difficult to repair. These breaches erode confidence and trust in an organization's ability to truly protect sensitive payment information.

Breach Fatigue

Many consumers are no longer surprised by data breaches because they have come to expect them. As a result, they experience what many experts call “breach fatigue.” The term describes the nonchalant feeling some consumers experience when their information is involved in a data breach. They assume their data was already in the hands of criminals somewhere and feel drained by the constant warnings and password resets that follow a breach. To them, the damage was already done.

This mindset now shapes how consumers choose which brands to engage with in the future, because, despite the initial feeling of nonchalance, “breach fatigue” ultimately makes consumers hypercautious and skeptical. For businesses, this means that payment security is no longer just a backend function or a compliance checkbox, but a central factor in conversions, customer retention, and brand reputation. Now, every payment interaction means more than ever.

Trust Moments

Each payment interaction now serves as a moment of truth, revealing a company’s backend security to skeptical, hypercautious consumers. This is especially true in contact centers, which sit right in the middle of human interaction, sensitive data, and operational pressure.

Since trust is no longer the default, customers are looking for security signals, and they’re sent a powerful message by the contact center about a brand’s internal controls when asked to read their card number aloud, repeat sensitive data, or trust an agent with manual processes. Any friction or loss of confidence signals risk, which isn’t something businesses should take lightly since 87% of consumers say they would not do business with a company if they had concerns about its security practices. As a result, trust at the point of payment is critical to customer retention, conversions, and brand loyalty.

Leading with Trust at the Moment of Payment

The idea that trust is an important business currency isn’t new. Yet brands still use the “pause and resume” method, their agents still hear and see sensitive data, and they still routinely fail PCI audits. These outdated payment processes send a clear signal to customers that a brand’s security has not kept pace with the risks they face during the moment of payment.

With so much on the line, the path forward for business leaders is clear. Payment security can no longer live only within IT or compliance. It must be treated as a core part of the customer experience, brand strategy, and growth model.

Why Eckoh?

Eckoh's secure customer engagement platform for human and AI agents delivers industry-leading solutions that keep organizations PCI DSS compliant while driving efficiency, reducing costs, and transforming contact centers into revenue generators.