Online payments have become integral to every business these days, there are platforms dedicated to various payment methods and credit cards play a huge role in these business models.
Credit cards, like most of us know, are thin rectangular pieces of plastic or metal issued by banks or other financial institutions. They allow the owners to borrow funds and pay for goods and services, they are also important to online transactions as the number on the back of credit cards along with your chosen password is used to pay for things online.
When you decide to integrate online payments into your website you want your customer experience to be on point. Online payments, when done well, increase your customer spending leading to more profit for you. They also help to keep customers recurring as you can save their credit card information and help build your customer base.
Many people complain about the complicated payment processes on websites and it can discourage them from spending their money there which is something you do not want as the owner of an online business.
This guide will give you tips on how to improve the transaction experience on your website and keep your customers satisfied. Payment is a crucial part of the customer experience and making it as seamless as possible is the key to growing your business.
Provide A Wide Array Of Payment Methods
This should be your first step as an online business trying to improve payment experience not just because it is one of the best practices to follow but because it caters to a wide range of customers. Customers want to use their preferred method to pay and if that method is absent they will most likely leave your site and move on to another one. This is detrimental to any online-based business.
Various payment methods like credit cards, debit cards, PayPal, bank transfers, etc will offer your customers options and reduce cart abandonment issues because if by chance one method doesn’t work, they can move on to another method provided on your site.
Do Not Require An Account To Be Created
The importance of user accounts cannot be overemphasized to an online business owner. People that have accounts can view their order history and manage it, they can also get special offers and the site owners in return have access to their contact information and valuable data for improving the business.
This doesn’t mean signing up for new accounts should be mandatory. When visitors come to a site and they see a mandatory sign-up page, they are immediately put off and move on to another site. First-time users mostly want to buy their stuff and get out but once they see a sign-up sheet they think of getting bombarded with emails and other things. They should have a seamless purchasing process as they will become more frequent and later create an account.
Avoid Redirection And Keep Payment Information Secure
As much as possible, avoid redirecting your customer to another page for their payment. It makes it seem like they are interacting with another company and they might pull out of the transaction. Try to make the process within the site for trust purposes. Many of these software packages come with the ability to encrypt payment data and it is also recommended that you have a secure sockets layer (SSL) certificate for your website. And also include robust security infrastructure in your website and also advertise it on the site, visitors will be more comfortable sharing their information knowing that it is protected.
Do Not Request For Too Much Information
Visitors to your site for the first time will not be comfortable sharing information that is not necessary to the payment process so limiting the data you ask for is proven to reduce the rate at which customers abandon their carts.
You might get the urge to ask for other information like phone numbers but don’t give in to the urge as customers will immediately become suspicious and leave. Also, asking for more information adds more steps to the payment process and you want it as short as possible.
Just let them have a hitch-free payment process and they will most likely come back and sign up, providing you with the information you were seeking.
These are just a few tips to provide smooth payment for your customers. When they have these great experiences they are most likely to be converted to permanent members and will also tell others about your site.