Since then, Washstation has evolved significantly. Top of the priority list was bolstering the company’s sustainability credentials, and investing in technology so the customer experience was upgraded for a smartphone age. Laundry was a sector that hadn’t been digitised and had a lot of catching up to do, says Mitchell. “When I lived in London, I used to rent cars on the Zipcar app. I’d find a car, get into the car, leave the car where I was told to leave it, and just walk off. Everything was done on my phone. At the same time, people are still putting coins into laundry machines.”
Payments are one of the most frequent interactions businesses have with their customers. It is imperative that payment technology is flexible, so customers can use their preferred method, and seamless. When there are issues, good customer support is paramount. One survey by the open banking platform Tink found that 88% of UK customers are prepared to abandon a transaction if faced with friction, and 77% expect payments to be instantaneous. Almost two thirds (63%) of those aged 18-34 expect to be able to pay for everything on their mobile phones.
One of the first things Mitchell and the team did was to pivot away from accepting cash, and they also abandoned Washstation’s laundry cards that users had to top up before they could use the machines. By January 2020, the company had its own app that students could pay through, and added functionality such as the ability to remotely reserve a machine. The business also moved to a new gateway payment provider that could accept mobile payments and waited patiently for additional and much-needed functionality to be introduced – but it never came. “The level of account management we were getting wasn’t great,” says Mitchell. “It was hard to find the person who was responsible for you and get an answer on things.”
So, Mitchell’s team decided to switch back to Elavon, a payments provider they had been with previously, and they’ve been impressed by the difference. A subsidiary of U.S. Bank, Elavon has been working in payment processing for more than 30 years and has more than 2m business customers across 36 countries, of all sizes and in all sectors. It processes more than 6bn transactions, worth almost $550bn (£430bn), every year. “The pricing structure is more competitive and we have named account managers that are so responsive,” Mitchell says. “They seem to have their hands on the right information at the right time. I can’t find fault with them.”
Elavon has also been open to innovation, which has allowed Mitchell and her team to explore more capabilities. “Customers don’t have any idea how their payments are getting processed, but one of the amazing things we’ve been able to do is automate refunds. Elavon has some really smart people, and have been so amenable to some of the creative things we’ve wanted to do and they have worked with our development team to make that happen.”
As for what the future holds, there are plans in the pipeline to expand into the leisure sector, such as campsites and holiday resorts. But above all, she’s focused on making Washstation’s customer experience the best it can be. “There’s nothing more satisfying than knowing that the service that you’re providing is as frictionless as possible.”
