Do network tokens improve approval rates?

Yes. Mastercard cites Checkout.com merchants seeing a 10.3 percentage-point approval increase with network tokens versus cards on first attempts (FY2025), and Visa reports a six-basis-point global gain plus up to 60% lower fraud. Results vary by issuer, region and whether lifecycle updates are enabled.

Approval uplift in numbers

Mastercard cites Checkout.com merchants seeing a 10.3 ppt increase in approval rates with network tokens versus cards (first attempts, financial declines excluded, FY2025 data), and a 7.2% increase in gross sales. Visa states tokenization can reduce the rate of fraud by up to 60%, and credits tokens with $650 million of fraud avoided in a year and a six-basis-point global approval gain.

Why tokens approve more

A network token is known to the issuer, carries a cryptogram, and is updated at the source. When the card is lost, expired or reissued, the issuer updates the token mapping, so the merchant’s stored credential keeps working without an account updater call. For each transaction, the cryptogram proves the token is used in its intended domain. If the token service is unavailable or the issuer declines the token, the requestor can retry with the PAN where it still holds one.

More detail in our #PayDecoding episode on Network tokens.