Payment conversion is the percentage of visitors who complete a purchase on your website or app. Optimizing payment conversion can boost your revenue, reduce your costs, and improve your customer satisfaction. However, many online businesses make some common mistakes when trying to optimize their payment conversion. Here are some of them and how to avoid them.
One of the most important factors that influence payment conversion is the availability and convenience of payment methods. Different customers may prefer different payment options, such as credit cards, digital wallets, bank transfers, or cash on delivery. If you only offer one or a few payment methods, you may lose potential customers who want more choices or who don't trust your preferred method. Therefore, you should test different payment methods and see which ones perform better for your target audience and market. You can use tools like Google Analytics or A/B testing to measure the impact of different payment methods on your payment conversion.
Worth noting here that working with an agnostic gateway that can plug you into different acquiring banks will help your conversion regardless whether you A/B test the method. Apple and Google pay are just “facilitators” for a card transaction to happen, it’s still a card transaction with extra security measures. We’ve found that the same card details can be accepted at different acceptance rates across multiple acquirers.
Displaying unexpected fees or charges during the checkout process can cause distrust and lead to cart abandonment. Transparently communicate all costs upfront.
More and more customers are using mobile devices to shop online, especially in emerging markets. However, many online businesses still have poor mobile payment experiences, such as slow loading, complex forms, small buttons, or incompatible payment methods. These can frustrate customers and make them abandon their carts or switch to competitors. To optimize your payment conversion for mobile devices, you should design your payment pages to be responsive, fast, simple, and secure. You should also offer mobile-friendly payment methods, such as QR codes, SMS, or in-app payments. You can use tools like Google PageSpeed Insights or Mobile-Friendly Test to check your mobile payment performance.
Failing to analyze user behavior or feedback can lead to missed opportunities for improvement and Regularly gather and analyze user data and feedback to identify pain points.
Not offering local APM’s or mobile centric payments methods is something I still see today from retailers. Customers expect to checkout in less than 30 seconds in the retail world. But I also see brands offering methods like Apple Pay too late in the process. Offer Apple Pay as early as possible as it already captured the delivery address, name, contact details etc etc.
Another common mistake that can hurt your payment conversion is not providing clear and transparent information about your products, prices, fees, taxes, shipping, delivery, refunds, and policies. Customers want to know what they are paying for and what they can expect from you. If they encounter hidden fees, unclear terms, or misleading information, they may feel deceived, confused, or angry and leave your website or app. To avoid this, you should provide clear and transparent information on every step of your payment process. You should also use clear and consistent language, fonts, colors, and icons to communicate your information. You can use tools like Grammarly or Hemingway to check your writing quality and clarity.
Another mistake that can affect your payment conversion is not offering customer support and feedback during and after the payment process. Customers may have questions, doubts, issues, or complaints about your products, services, or payment methods. If they can't find answers, solutions, or assistance, they may lose trust, confidence, or satisfaction and cancel their purchase or request a refund. To prevent this, you should offer customer support and feedback through various channels, such as phone, email, chat, or social media. You should also respond quickly, politely, and effectively to your customers' needs and expectations. You can use tools like Zendesk or SurveyMonkey to manage your customer support and feedback.
The last but not least mistake that can damage your payment conversion is not following security and compliance standards for your payment methods and data. Customers want to feel safe and secure when they share their personal and financial information with you. If they suspect that your payment methods or data are not secure or compliant, they may fear fraud, identity theft, or legal issues and avoid your website or app. To ensure this, you should follow security and compliance standards for your payment methods and data, such as PCI DSS, GDPR, PSD2, or SCA. You should also use encryption, authentication, verification, and anti-fraud measures to protect your payment methods and data. You can use tools like SSL Checker or Compliance Checker to verify your security and compliance status.
It’s worth asking a few qualification questions during your next go to market round for a payment provider ???? - Can we A/B test payment methods against each other? - How easy is it to monitor abandonment rates and decline data? - If needed, can we move the payment method buttons around the site? (Website dependant)