How ICICI Bank Looses e-Commerce Transactions

Today, ICICI Bank lost an opportunity to fulfill a payment for my evening shopping at Snapdeal.

 I saw a really good deal, with 80% off and decided to go for it. While checking out, I selected the Internet Banking payment option and choose ICICI Bank. However, after the first factor authentication, it's risk profile software, somehow decided to send me a SMS OTP (One Time Password)  on my registered number, which happens to be a prepaid Airtel mobile. Being the end of the year, with SMS traffic on it's peak, the SMS failed to reach me on time and the transaction timed out.

Fortunately, Snapdeal did not loose the transaction, and I could re-order from the shopping cart. I eventually had to pay by my virtual Visa Card.

A few lessons I learned from the CX (Customer Experience) :

• It's a good idea not to empty the shopping cart before the transaction is fulfilled. I remember, Flipkart cleaned the cart out in past and I lost the full cart.
• Banks should use more intelligent risk profiling, for example, I had logged into my ICICI Bank account about 15 minutes ago, using the same, IP, browser and the machine. If ICICI had taken a note of it, it could have avoided sending me an OTP and for second factor could have used the  usual means of debit card matrix. 
• Be aware that SMS is not reliable, so either use USSD or send a backup OTP by mail. HDFC and Amex do this.
• Having a mobile wallet would make immense sense for e-commerce sites. Flipkart has it.