How Ecommpay Turned Accessibility Into Their Competitive Advantage in Payments: Ecommpay, Alina Serous

Episode Description

Alina Serous, Head of Digital Marketing at Ecommpay, reveals the shocking accessibility gap that's costing payment companies millions in lost revenue - 70% of payment page visitors leave if they don't find it accessible enough, and 90% of them will never come back. In this conversation, Alina breaks down how Ecommpay turned accessibility into their competitive weapon against bigger players like Stripe and Adyen, why "AI-powered" has become a meaningless hygiene factor in fintech (spoiler: everyone's team uses ChatGPT), and the expensive hyper-personalisation project that took half a year to build for just a 1% increase. Plus, we explore how to compete when your competitors have 100x your budget, the AI tools that actually work versus the hype (Dojo AI for instant analysis), why attribution obsession splits teams, and why B2B fintech needs to steal micro-influencer strategies from B2C's playbook.

Key Takeaways

✓ The Accessibility Revenue Leak: 70% of payment page visitors will leave if they don't find it accessible enough, and 90% of them will never come back. This represents massive revenue loss that most payment companies completely ignore, making accessibility a genuine competitive differentiator rather than just a compliance checkbox.

✓ AI Has Become a Hygiene Factor: "AI-powered" has lost all meaning in fintech. Everyone claims to be AI-powered simply because their team uses ChatGPT. One marketing leader told Alina "we're AI-powered because everyone on my team uses ChatGPT" - the term has become as meaningless as "synergy" or "disruption."

✓ Hyper-Personalisation Reality Check: Spent 6 months building a proprietary hyper-personalisation system for a client with the promise of 10x-100x performance. Result: 1% increase over 1-2 years. Not every buzzword trend deserves investment - sometimes broader messaging works just as well when your audience segments have similar problems.

✓ Engage Before They Explore Alternatives: Ecommpay's David vs Goliath strategy is to capture potential merchants BEFORE they start exploring alternatives where they'll inevitably encounter Stripe and Adyen. Use digital marketing to discover prospects at the very beginning of their journey, speak to specific problems (like in-house support teams vs AI ticketing), and educate them early.

✓ Attribution Sanity Over Perfection: The biggest indicator of marketing success is year-over-year revenue growth. Obsessing over perfect attribution across 6-18 month buying cycles creates division between sales, marketing, and product teams. Focus on: Are we growing YoY? Where are we wasting money? Where can we be more efficient? Combined attribution wins over siloed tracking.

✓ LinkedIn Ads for Brand Building: In B2B fintech, don't expect clicks or direct conversions from LinkedIn ads. You're building brand awareness with narrow segments (not showing ads to "the lady at the bakery store"). Success looks like: better website engagement after campaigns run, increased organic channel activity, and penetration into buying committees. Frequency of 6 in B2B? "Not enough, need MORE" (opposite of B2C).

✓ Dojo AI Practical Use Cases: Morning analysis - ask "How have we been performing this week? What's dropping? What's rising?" and get instant insights. Competitor gap analysis - give it 30 competitors and ask "What messaging gap is nobody talking about?" Results in 2-3 days instead of months. Focus on AI that automates routine work, not AI that replaces human judgment.

✓ MarTech Stack Discipline: Don't ask your team "which tool do you want?" Ask "what problem are you trying to solve?" Then audit existing MarTech to see if you can already do it. 90% of the time, you can utilise what you have to 100% instead of adding new tools. Test new tools for 6-9 months minimum (because buying cycles), then ruthlessly cut what doesn't show ROI.

FAQ: Your Questions About Accessibility, AI Reality, and Competing Against Bigger Players, Answered from Alina Serous

Q. Why is accessibility such a big revenue leak for payment companies?

Research shows that 70% of payment page visitors will leave if they don't find the experience accessible enough, and 90% of those visitors will never come back. This represents millions in lost revenue that companies don't realize they're bleeding. When Ecommpay did their rebrand a few years ago, they went through digital accessibility certification for their products and realized how critical it was - yet almost no one in the industry was talking about it. That's when they launched "Ecommpay for Good" to give accessibility its own voice and position it as a competitive advantage, not just compliance.

Q. How does Ecommpay actually compete when Stripe and Adyen have 100x the budget?

Ecommpay focuses on finding the right target audience whose specific problems they can solve, then capturing them at the very beginning of their journey - before they start exploring alternatives where they'll inevitably encounter bigger competitors. The key differentiator: in-house teams of experts, account managers, and client support who guide merchants through their journey, versus bigger players who often leave smaller merchants to AI ticketing systems. Merchants who've worked with larger providers tell Ecommpay: "If only we knew about you when we were choosing." That's the aha moment - engage earlier and earlier.

Q. What's the hyper-personalisation project failure story?

While working agency-side, Alina advocated heavily for building a proprietary hyper-personalisation system for a client's website and downloadables - different messages for different companies visiting. They spent almost 6 months delivering it with promises of 10x-100x performance improvements. The result? Only a 1% increase - and that was measured over 1-2 years, not just a month. The lesson: not everything needs to be jumped on. The client's audience (mostly workwear companies) had similar problems anyway, so broader messaging worked just as well. Sometimes buzzwords don't deliver.

Q. How does Alina actually use Dojo AI in daily marketing work?

Two main use cases: (1) Morning analysis - Dojo AI connects to all Ecommpay's marketing systems, so Alina can ask "How have we been performing this whole week? What's dropping? What's on the rise? What are the next steps?" It knows all her data and provides instant analysis. She reviews it, dismisses wrong insights, and actions good ones. (2) Competitor messaging gap analysis - Feed it 30 competitors and ask "What is the messaging gap that nobody's talking about?" Dojo AI finds gaps, Ecommpay validates if it's their strength, then starts communicating on that. Results in 2-3 days instead of 2-3 months.

Q. Why does Alina say attribution obsession is "a pain in the ass"?

In B2B fintech, buying cycles are 6-18 months with multiple stakeholders. Trying to track perfect attribution across that complexity creates division - sales blaming marketing, marketing blaming product, product blaming sales. The biggest indicator Alina focuses on: Are we growing year-over-year? If yes, that's the signal. Then drill into: Where are we wasting money? Where can we be more efficient? But if you spend all your time trying to attribute every deal perfectly, you're splitting teams instead of growing together. Combined attribution beats siloed tracking.

Q. How should B2B fintech marketers think about LinkedIn ads differently?

Stop expecting clicks and conversions. LinkedIn ads in B2B fintech are brand building with narrow audience segmentation - you're showing ads to specific buyer personas, not "the lady at the bakery store who has no idea about running online businesses." Success metrics: After campaigns run, do you see better engagement on the website? More activity on organic channels? Higher dwell time on ads (people reading, not clicking)? In B2B, frequency of 6 makes B2C marketers panic ("change the creatives!"), but in B2B you're thinking "not enough, need MORE" because you need to reach multiple people in the buying committee.

Q. What B2C techniques should B2B fintech companies adopt?

Micro-influencers and community building. B2B is so regulated and afraid to step out of the box, but B2C has proven that working with people who have their own audiences (hundreds or thousands, not millions) builds trust through voices people already know. Don't try to sell - work together to educate. Ecommpay's "Ecommpay for Good" program partners with organizations that can amplify their accessibility message to relevant audiences. It's not one-off campaigns, it's building communities of people who care about the same mission and benefit from the partnership.

Q. What advice would Alina give herself on day one at Ecommpay?

Two things: (1) Believe in yourself - push through with your ideas earlier. Some things she tried to action back then are very valuable today, but she didn't have the confidence to push harder. (2) Document everything. Write down every idea, even if the business isn't ready for it yet. With experience, you become more of a visionary - your intuition might be correct, but the business needs 2-3 years to catch up. If you document it, you can pick it up at the right time and be ahead of everyone else instead of starting from scratch.

Episode Timestamps

[00:00] Intro: The accessibility revenue leak costing millions

[00:33] Alina's introduction: Head of Digital Marketing at Ecommpay

[01:23] How did payments find you? The accidental journey into fintech marketing

[02:49] The hardest thing about marketing: Everyone has an opinion on what you do

[03:37] Biggest misconception: Agency side restrictions vs in-house regulatory reality

[05:30] Why trust is everything in payments (and takes seconds to lose)

[05:53] Completing an MBA in marketing while working full-time at Ecommpay

[07:06] Would you recommend an MBA to your team? When does it become necessary?

[09:24] Working with CMO Miranda McLean: "An absolute living legend"

[11:50] How Miranda transformed Ecommpay's vision and industry positioning

[13:01] What actually sits under "Head of Digital Marketing" at Ecommpay

[14:38] The attribution challenge: How do you track everything in B2B?

[16:16] Accessibility as competitive differentiator vs "the right thing to do"

[17:41] The inception of Ecommpay's accessibility focus during rebrand

[19:16] Competing against Stripe and Adyen with much smaller budgets

[20:52] The "aha moment": Merchants saying "if only we knew about you"

[22:54] Attribution reality check: Focus on YoY growth, not perfect tracking

[25:24] When did AI stop being a buzzword and become actually useful?

[26:50] Practical Dojo AI use case: Morning analysis and instant insights

[28:56] Personalization at scale: How much is implemented vs still on roadmap?

[30:28] MarTech stack discipline: Proving ROI on tools without stacking 200+

[32:23] AI-powered fraud detection: Making it tangible when everyone claims AI

[34:25] Marketing failure story: The hyper-personalisation project (1% over 2 years)

[37:38] Expensive lessons: The Boxing Day campaign budget disaster story

[39:08] LinkedIn tax: Are expensive LinkedIn ads still worth it in B2B fintech?

[41:08] LinkedIn as brand building, not direct response (dwell time matters)

[42:30] B2C vs B2B frequency caps: Completely opposite rules

[44:17] Market consolidation: Do mid-market players have a future?

[46:33] Tactical quick win: Competitor messaging gap analysis with Dojo AI

[48:07] Day one advice: Believe in yourself and document everything

[50:07] 2026 predictions: AI is overhyped, B2C techniques are underused

[53:00] Who should people follow? Ecommpay and the "Ecommpay for Good" program

Guest Bio

Alina Serous is Head of Digital Marketing at Ecommpay, a global payment processor serving enterprise clients with bespoke payment solutions. With over 8 years in digital marketing, Alina made the transition from agency work (where she worked across tourism and B2C brands for almost 5 years) to in-house fintech marketing when she joined Ecommpay.

Originally studying tourism as an undergrad, Alina realised her fascination was less about the industry itself and more about how it was marketed and sold - leading to her smooth transition into marketing. She recently completed her MBA in Marketing while working full-time, focusing on how marketing integrates with broader business strategy and operations.

At Ecommpay, Alina manages the entire digital buyer's journey - ensuring visibility at every stage online, recording and attributing every digital step, and optimising engagement, conversion, nurturing, and customer retention. She reports to CMO Miranda McLean and has been instrumental in positioning Ecommpay's accessibility initiatives through the "Ecommpay for Good" program, which partners with organisations like Purple Tuesday to raise industry awareness.

Alina is known for her practical, no-BS approach to AI tools (focusing on what actually works vs hype), her honest stories about expensive marketing failures, and her strategic thinking about competing against much larger players with limited budgets. She's passionate about educating internal stakeholders on why marketing decisions are made and believes that internal education is often more important than external marketing.

Find Alina:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alinaserous

Ecommpay: https://ecommpay.com

Ecommpay for Good: https://ecommpay.com/en/ecommpay-for-good