One of the reasons (around 7% of the orders) for shopping cart abandonment is the unavailability of payment options on the checkout page.
When it comes to online shopping, consumers demand swifter, simpler, and more seamless experiences; to win today’s eCommerce battlefield, every part of your customer journey you offer should be flawless, including the checkout.
Until a couple of years ago, the eCommerce industry offered limited payment options, say credit cards and debit cards.
But, in this ultra-connected age of digital wallets, especially PayPal – a popular e-wallet that brands have adopted, followed by Google Pay, the absence of multiple payment options becomes the make-or-break factor for online shoppers.
Now, brands are trying to integrate a maximum number of payment options, of course, to avoid last-minute cart abandonment and the loss of conversions; who would want to see the visitors leave at the final step of their checkout?
Well, nobody.
If you think it’s just the conversions that you’re missing out on due to the inaccessibility of multiple payment options, then you’re wrong.
Among all the essential features of 2022, offering multiple payment options is also a norm; the notable reasons for having more and more payment gateways in your online store are:
- Increased conversion rates
- Brand trust
- Decrease in cart abandonment rate
- Attracting bigger audience
- Easy checkout
Here in this online payment walkthrough, we’re going to explore how beneficial it is to offer multiple payment options; at the end, we will also touch on some of the known methods available to budding e-commerce business solutions.
Let’s go.
Advantages Of Multiple Payment Options
There are some business-boosting reasons why every e-store should consider offering multiple payment gateways to their customers.
Increased Conversion Rates
If your loyal customers find all their preferred modes of payment, then –keeping other factors aside- your conversion rate will not be affected, at least in the case of your target audience.
Conversions bring revenue; what’s the point of having an online store with no revenue potential?
Therefore, if you want your target audience to turn into paying customers, then don’t put them off by offering limited payment methods at the end of their purchasing process.
Brand Trust
In this modern world of e-retail, consumers value trust; 81% of customers prefer brands they trust.
Brand trust measures how much confidence customers have in a business. It reflects whether the brand delivers on its promises and how far the venture stays true to its values.
So, if you want your e-shoppers to continue buying your products, leave great reviews, and recommend your brand to their friends and family? Then be a trustworthy brand for your customers.
One of the ways to build credibility among your customer is to offer multiple payment facilities. It reflects how valuable your customers are and their payment preferences. In this way, your brand is seen as transparent and trustworthy, and you will be able to reach the target customers and keep most of them.
Offering a cohesive mix of safe, secure ways to pay will not only make your shoppers feel valued but protected as well, and eventually, your revenue will increase in tandem.
Also, businesses (if they don’t already) can remain competitive by offering additional payment methods – to give their eCom store a leg up on the competition.
Decrease In Cart Abandonment Rate
The average global shopping cart abandonment rate varies between 60% and 80%, with an average of 72.8%, while 20% is the best rate for an optimized checkout process.
There are various reasons for a high cart abandonment rate, including the outdated cart page, slow or complicated checkout processes, lengthy registration process, and most importantly, limited payment options.
After shipping fees, lack of payment methods is the next reason for cart abandonment.
Today, what do consumers expect from brands?
It’s obvious – to meet their needs head-on, and by offering multiple payment options, you can position your brands as a forward-thinking business, keeping the customers’ interests at heart. In turn, your brand profile will improve and increase sales.
Also, by offering multiple payment options, businesses can avoid the delay in sales that could occur if any of their payment providers experiences an outage or technical error.
With several options, shoppers can switch to the next best available payment option if they experience an outage and move forward with their purchase.
So, get some well-known payment options onboard and let them serve as each other’s backup. If one fails, customers can always use the other one.
The simple solution – don’t force your customers to give up on the purchase, at least not at the last moment of their investment.
Attract a Bigger Audience
Your target audience is not just product-centric; they undertake the reliability and convenience in almost everything they experience about your brand, including the availability of payment gateways. By offering a wealth of seamless payment methods, you can attract the entire mix of your consumers.
Even with the checkout process planning, you need to consider that different generations and demographics of shoppers like to pay differently. To accelerate the growth of your audience, you need to cater to all of them.
Accommodating users’ preferences could be used to attract new clientele and ensure more transactions and significant revenue.
Data Security
The rise in online shopping since the onset of the pandemic also ensues a surge in cyber-attacks, impacting consumers’ trust in payment channels; surprisingly, 57% of shoppers are more concerned about data theft and fraud like never before.
And, 19% of them abandon websites at checkout because they suspect the website is unreliable and distrustful for their credit card details.
Having multiple payment options does create a sense of security and trust among netizens. Integrating with popular yet trusting names like PayPal adds value to the eCommerce store.
So, the equation is simple: the more the payment options, the more legitimate and trustworthy your e-store is perceived.
Your customers’ data and privacy are your responsibility on these payment gateways. Data security becomes a top priority.
So, whatever the payment options you’re integrating with your e-store must be compliant with PCI and in line with data-protection privacy laws like GDPR.
Easy & Mobile-friendly checkout
Not just desktop-based sales, but smartphone shopping has also gained traction — three out of every four dollars make online purchases through a mobile device. This change expects entrepreneurs to integrate their eCommerce sites with mobile-only payment methods that grow in popularity.
Last but not least, providing multiple different payment methods makes the checkout process quick and easy for all your e-customers, as their preferred payment gateway is just a tap away.
Having more and more options help your customers to click through as they please; the more hassle-free the checkout and payment, the better the customer experience, and thus they will be encouraged to buy again and refer to their family and friends.
Make sure the availability of multiple payment options does not create confusion among shoppers, as it clutters the checkout page. However, to deal with this, group all the methods by the payment type to help.
Best Payment Methods of 2022
Some e-stores offer only one payment method. However, more than 56% of users expect multiple payment options on the checkout page.
And, bear repeating, before deciding the payment gateways, get to know your audience.
With the multitude of payment options available, it’s challenging to track how shoppers prefer their payment obligations to online businesses. Here are some of the tried and tested popular payment options for e-retailers:
- Google Pay
- Visa and Master cards
- Payoneer
- PromptPay
- Pay Solutions
- SiamPay
- NETS
- 2C2P
- Apple Pay
- GoPay
- OVO
- Dana
- LinkAja
- PayPal
- Bitcoin
When your site is up and running with the selected payment options, closely monitor your sales sources and examine which options perform the best.
We suggest you begin with direct bank transfers and accept all credit cards right from the get-go. But again, it all depends on who your audience is.
A quick recap
Multiple payment options provide positive outcomes for both businesses and customers.
More than one payment option offers your online customers a sense of convenience, affordability, satisfaction, and security.
And for businesses, offering multiple payment options translates to greater revenue from improved conversion rate, decreased cart abandonment rate, and long-lasting customer loyalty, as satisfied customers are more likely to come back and buy more.
Suppose you’re experiencing problems with your CMS while integrating payment protocols. In that case, it may be the right time to switch – from your old, complex CMS to Zaapi, which is a free website building tool, facilitating hundreds of eCom-preneurs with well-established eCom solutions.
This mobile-friendly website builder has a fully-featured secure payment gateway that supports safe and secured payment methods. With Zaapi, no more hassle of adding payment options to your website.
Happy selling.
Photo Credits: Ivan Samkov
