For High-Frequency Payments, Should Merchants Choose SMS or In-App Notifications?

Merchants receiving many payments within a short period need timely notifications that can handle consecutive transactions effectively. Based on Connect Hub testing and observed usage, the In-App approach is better suited to this type of workflow than SMS, with an important consideration around how consecutive payment amounts are announced.

SMS vs In-App for High-Frequency Payments

SMS: Approximately 5–10 Seconds

In Connect Hub testing, receiving the SMS generally took approximately 5–10 seconds, resulting in a longer wait than the In-App approach.

In-App: Approximately 1–3 Seconds

In Connect Hub testing, the In-App approach generally took approximately 1–3 seconds, making it better suited to merchants handling multiple customer payments within a short period.

Higher Payment Frequency Makes Timing More Important

When payments arrive in quick succession, faster notifications can reduce the waiting time involved in confirming each customer's payment.

When Another Payment Arrives Before the Previous Announcement Finishes

In Connect Hub testing of K SHOP, we observed that if another payment arrives before the previous audible amount announcement has finished, the app may begin announcing the new amount immediately. This can interrupt the previous announcement before the merchant hears it completely. Merchant app behavior may change as applications are updated, so merchants should also observe the behavior of the app they actually use.

Connect Hub Announces Consecutive Payments in Sequence

For Connect Hub payment notifications, when multiple payments arrive in quick succession, the current payment amount is announced completely before the next payment amount is announced. This gives merchants a predictable sequence of audible notifications when transactions arrive close together.

Which Merchants Should Consider the In-App Approach?

Multiple Customers Pay Within the Same Period

Merchants receiving payments frequently or serving several customers paying within a short period should give greater consideration to notification speed.

Fast Payment Awareness Matters

In Connect Hub testing, In-App notifications generally took approximately 1–3 seconds compared with approximately 5–10 seconds for SMS.

A Predictable Announcement Sequence Is Important

With Connect Hub payment notifications, the current payment amount is announced completely before the next payment amount begins, even when payments arrive consecutively.

If your shop receives several payments one after another, the important question isn't simply, “Did I get a notification?” It is also how quickly the notification arrives and whether you can keep track when several customers are paying around the same time. From our testing and the usage we have observed with Connect Hub, we have found the In-App approach better suited to shops with frequent incoming payments. In our testing, In-App notifications generally took around 1–3 seconds, while SMS generally took around 5–10 seconds. If your shop only receives payments occasionally, a few seconds may not make much difference. But when several customers are waiting to pay, that difference becomes much more noticeable because another payment can arrive while you are still checking the previous one. There is another interesting question: what happens to the audible announcement when several payments arrive one after another? In our K SHOP testing, we observed that if a new payment arrived while the previous amount was still being announced, the app could start announcing the new amount straight away. This sometimes meant that we did not hear the first amount completely. That doesn't mean every merchant app behaves the same way, and bank-app behavior may also change after updates. It is worth observing how the particular app you use behaves in your own shop. With Connect Hub notifications, the behavior is designed to be straightforward when several payments arrive close together: the current amount is announced completely before the next amount is announced. This keeps the announcements in sequence instead of having a new amount interrupt one that is still being spoken. So, in simple terms, if your shop receives payments frequently—especially when several customers may pay within a short period—our testing indicates that In-App is better suited than SMS because notifications arrive faster. When used with Connect Hub notifications, consecutive payment amounts are also announced one at a time in a predictable sequence.