7 Effective Ways to Make Your Payment Process Easier for Online Customers
In recent years, preference for online shopping has sky-rocketing due to increased access and convenience. This is why it has become essential to make your online payment and purchasing process as simple, streamlined, and accessible as possible. These are just some of the ways online businesses can improve their payment process for online shoppers to encourage conversion of sales.
Offer a range of payment methods
Offering a variety of payment methods is a fundamental step in improving your online payment process: incorporate as many different payment methods as possible to increase convenience and accessibility for customers from around the world using a range of payment options. If a customer chooses to purchase with your business, only to be unable to pay with their preferred method, they are likely to look elsewhere for another company which will be more accommodating.
Deliver a consistent design
While improving the checkout page is vital, online businesses also need to develop every other step the customer will take before arriving there. This means delivering a seamless and consistent design from landing throughout the entire website experience. This will reassure customers of your authenticity, as well as augmenting increased brand recognition.
Ask for essential information only
One common mistake online businesses make is asking for too much information from customers – no one wants to fill out countless forms just to make a simple online purchase, so keep the information you require to a minimum to avoid driving potential customers away. If you need extra information to complete a purchase, such as a phone number or email address, make sure to explain why this is essential to the process.
Allow payments without requiring an account
In the same vein, requiring customers to create an account in order to make a purchase will also deter many visitors. Lucille Hill, a marketing writer at Brit student and Next coursework, says: “When making a simple online purchase, customers will not want to have to sign up for an account with your website and create yet another online profile with yet another username and password to have to remember. This is a huge conversion killer as it is simply far too intrusive for a customer’s first interaction with you.”
Ensure privacy and security
Online shoppers are always going to be wary of scams and security risks so ensuring each customer’s privacy and security is essential to the online payment process. When customers are required to provide sensitive information, such as personal details and financial data, it is vital to provide assurances of your company’s security measures. This generates trust in your brand and secures conversions. There are a range of ways to do this depending on your payment process, but it can be as simple as ensuring the checkout page is consistent with the website, as mentioned above, or not redirecting customers to new pages. You should also have a Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) certificate displayed clearly on your website.
Have clear calls to action
To reduce instances of customers abandoning their carts before checkout, ensure your website and payment process demonstrate a clear and simple call to action so there is no room for uncertainty and hesitation. Jeffery Childers, a business writer at 1 Day 2 write and Writemyx, explains: “Use clear and unambiguous phrasing and simple design elements to guide customers through the entire process.”
Make errors easy to fix
It can be all too easy for online shoppers to make simple mistakes in the payment process, such as mistyping their address or missing out important payment details. It should be easy and intuitive for customers to fix these mistakes, by being clear about what error has occurred, what needs to be changed or fixed, and why this is necessary.
These are just some of the many ways online businesses can improve their payment processes for customers – you should also consider minimising distractions and conducting market research to understand what your consumer base needs and wants.
Michael Dehoyos is a content marketer and editor at Dissertation writing service and Write my dissertation. He assists companies in their marketing strategy concepts, and contributes to numerous sites and publications. Also, he is a writer at Origin Writings.
