How can you improve your customers' payment experience?

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Online payment is now part of the life of Internet users as well as of companies evolving in the world of e-commerce. If offering online payment to your customers is obvious for an online store, it is not necessarily enough to increase your sales. Offering your customers an optimized, simple and intuitive payment experience is essential. How can you achieve this? Here are 6 best practices to adopt.

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1. Offer a wide range of online payment methods

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Customers are often attached to a particular payment method. When they arrive at the checkout page, not seeing their preferred payment method may lead them to abandon their payment. 

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It is then in your interest to offer a wide range of payment methods, in order to satisfy a large number of customers: credit card, bank transfer, PayPal, payment in installments with Pledg, etc. This will reduce the amount of shopping cart abandonment.

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2. Defer account creation for new customers

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A good online shopping experience, and more specifically a good online checkout experience, is a quick and easy experience. The Internet user is both in a hurry and lazy. If your shopping experience, including the checkout process, requires too much handling and thinking, the visitor to your online store will definitely flee. 

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The creation of a customer account, which implies providing a lot of information, stops the customer in his tracks. It multiplies the obstacles, lengthens the phase that separates him from the order validation. 

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The simplest and most rational solution is therefore to allow the customer to access the payment without creating an account.

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3. Avoid redirects to other sites

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The use of certain payment methods requires the customer to be redirected to a payment platform. Customers rarely appreciate this type of back and forth. They feel that they are being shuffled between several companies.

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Some payment platforms, very well known by the general public, do not scare customers. On the other hand, if you offer a lesser-known gateway, this redirection can lead to shopping cart abandonment.

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4. Provide a good level of security for personal data

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The safest way to do this is to have an SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) certificate. It allows to secure data and to encrypt sensitive information. 

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How do you get these certificates? Turn to your web hosting provider. 

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5. Simplify the payment phase

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The payment phase should be limited to:

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• choice of payment method;
• the communication of payment information: card number, cardholder's name, expiration date, cryptogram. By simplifying the payment phase, you limit the abandonment rate.

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6. Be clear

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To achieve this goal of clarity, here are some tips:

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• highlight the cost of financing the order and the timeline. For customers there is no room for doubt;
• use a prominent CTA button;
• propose properly labeled input fields;
• Integrate a chat functionality at the beginning of the customer journey, so that customers can ask their questions and get an immediate answer.  

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To help you optimize your online payment page, call a PrestaShop agency!

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