Click to Pay

When Visa launched Click to Pay — its EMVCo Secure Remote Commerce-based payment experience — the global UX guidelines were designed for the North American market.

In CEMEA (Central and Eastern Europe, Middle East, and Africa), we faced a different reality:

  • Different user expectations and payment habits

  • New feature unfamiliarity in emerging markets

  • The need to integrate into existing merchant ecosystems without confusing customers

I worked with Visa’s North America design team to adapt and enhance the global UX guidelines for CEMEA. This included not only content localisation but also designing new UX patterns for specific client needs, particularly around entry points and communication strategies for first-time users.

Notable Implementations

The localized guidelines were directly implemented across major merchants in Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE, including Emirates Airlines, e&, KFC, Americana Restaurants, and multiple leading PSPs and issuers in the region.

Challenge

The challenge was twofold:

  1. Localisation for Impact: Global patterns needed to reflect local payment behaviour, device usage, and language nuances.

  2. Partner Enablement: Partners — from airlines to telecoms — needed clear, actionable UX guidance to implement Click to Pay seamlessly in their environments.

Without these adjustments, the risk was inconsistent implementation, low adoption, and reduced trust in a product designed to simplify online checkout.

Scope & Responsibilities

  • Guideline Design & Content Creation:

    Authored and designed CEMEA-specific UX guideline materials, adapting the global EMVCo standards.

  • New UX Pattern Creation:

    Developed entry-point flows and contextual communication patterns for partners whose customer journeys differed from the standard.

  • Client Enablement & Advisory:

    Led client meetings and workshops to guide design teams through implementation and integration with their existing checkout experiences.

  • Cross-Functional Collaboration:

    Worked with Visa Innovation, Product, and Partnerships teams to align on business goals, technical feasibility, and brand consistency.

  • Market Research:

    Conducted targeted research in select CEMEA markets to validate patterns and ensure user comprehension.

Design Approach

Adapting Global Standards for Local Realities:

  • Retained the EMVCo-based core checkout flow for global consistency.

  • Modified entry point design to account for regional browsing patterns and trust indicators.

  • Added communication touchpoints within partner ecosystems to introduce Click to Pay as a new feature (reducing drop-off for first-time use).

  • Included multi-language content strategies and localized examples in the guidelines.

My work on Click to Pay

  • Led the creation of a CEMEA-specific UX Guidelines Playbook now used as the regional reference for Click to Pay implementations. From ethnographic research to design implementation.

  • Enabled faster, more consistent partner rollouts across multiple markets.

  • Helped maintain brand trust and conversion integrity while allowing merchants flexibility to adapt flows to their own experiences.

  • Strengthened Visa’s role as a strategic design partner for merchants and PSPs, not just a payment network.

This project reinforced the importance of strategic UX governance — not just designing interfaces, but shaping how a product is understood, implemented, and experienced at scale across diverse markets.