For most businesses using Twilio, building an IVR system is simple. Automate menus, route calls, personalise experiences — all in code. But when it comes to taking payments, the process usually stops short. Compliance, security, and integration complexity make “voice-to-pay” feel like a project measured in months, not minutes.
That’s why we built Shuttle’s Voice Payment Layer — a way to turn your Twilio IVR into a fully compliant, payment-ready experience without touching a single line of PCI-sensitive code.
The Challenge with Voice Payments in Twilio
Twilio’s programmable voice platform gives you total control over customer journeys — until you try to handle payment data. As soon as a card number enters your flow, you fall inside the scope of PCI DSS regulations. That means:
- Your infrastructure becomes part of the PCI audit perimeter.
- Voice recordings must be redacted or disabled when card details are spoken.
- You need a secure vault to store and transmit payment data.
For most teams, that complexity means outsourcing payments entirely — or avoiding them altogether. But that leaves revenue trapped in conversations.
The Smarter Way: Offload PCI Scope to Shuttle
Instead of embedding payments directly inside your Twilio flow, Shuttle intercepts the sensitive part of the journey. When a customer chooses to pay, the IVR temporarily hands control to Shuttle’s PCI-compliant payment layer — a hosted, isolated environment certified to process card data securely.
The process looks like this:
- The IVR prompts the customer to enter card details using their phone keypad (DTMF).
- Those tones are captured and tokenised by Shuttle — not by your Twilio code or infrastructure.
- Shuttle processes the transaction through your chosen payment processor.
- Once payment succeeds, a simple webhook notifies your Twilio flow to continue the conversation.
In short: Twilio handles the experience. Shuttle handles the compliance.
Deploying in Minutes, Not Months
Because Shuttle operates as an external layer, setup is fast. Most Twilio users can go live in less than a day. Here’s the high-level setup process:
- Create a Shuttle account and configure your organisation. Each client or brand can have its own environment.
- Connect your payment processor — Shuttle supports over 40 global PSPs.
- Insert a “payment step” into your Twilio IVR flow using a simple webhook or API call.
- Map the callback — when the payment is approved, Twilio resumes the call flow automatically.
No card data ever touches Twilio. No extra hardware. No compliance paperwork. Just a secure, repeatable pattern you can roll out across every IVR workflow.
DTMF, Payment Links, and Fallback Channels
Shuttle isn’t limited to DTMF capture. It also supports Payment Link fallback — sending the customer a secure, branded link via SMS or chat when voice entry isn’t practical. This makes the same payment layer usable across multiple channels with zero code duplication.
Example use cases:
- A customer starts to pay via IVR but requests to finish by link.
- An agent in a Twilio Flex interface triggers a link payment from the same account.
- An AI voice assistant automatically follows up with a payment link if DTMF fails.
Every channel — one consistent, compliant payment layer.
Multi-Merchant, Multi-Processor, Fully Programmable
Whether you manage payments for one brand or a hundred, Shuttle’s architecture keeps your clients and processors neatly segmented. Each environment has isolated credentials, reporting, and users — ideal for BPOs, consultancies, or platform providers building voice commerce at scale.
Best of all, the layer is processor-agnostic. Switch acquirers, route transactions by region, or support multiple currencies — all without changing your Twilio logic.
Example Flow: Voice Channel → Shuttle → PSP → Confirmation
At a technical level, a secure Twilio IVR payment flow looks like this:
- Voice Channel: Twilio IVR or voice bot receives the payment intent.
- Shuttle Payment Layer: Handles PCI-compliant DTMF capture and tokenisation.
- PSP / Gateway: Executes the payment transaction.
- Confirmation: Shuttle returns status to Twilio; IVR resumes naturally.
This modular approach ensures that your voice payment journey is secure, auditable, and future-proof.
Why Twilio + Shuttle Is the Perfect Pairing
Twilio makes voice programmable. Shuttle makes payments programmable. Together, they give developers and CX leaders the flexibility to design seamless, compliant payment experiences inside any call flow — without vendor lock-in or heavy certification costs.
For enterprises, it’s a faster route to monetising the voice channel. For integrators, it’s a repeatable pattern that scales across clients.
Start Adding Payments to Your Twilio IVR
If you already use Twilio for IVR, adding secure payments is easier than you think. There’s no new gateway, no complex integration, and no PCI headache — just one layer that handles it all.
Learn more about Shuttle’s IVR & Voice Payments and see how quickly you can turn your contact centre into a revenue centre.
