Improve Payment Experience for Your Customers

Selecting a payment gateway can be made really easy. Don’t believe us? This blog on How to Select the Best Payment Gateway explains the steps to consider while looking for a payment solution. Although your online payments partner makes its presence felt towards the end of the purchase but it the most critical parameter determining the actual sales on your website. Imagine a case where your customer wants to buy your product but you are not able to process that payment thus resulting in a loss of sale. Hence, it is imperative that you choose the right payment partner as it makes life easy for you and your customers. Here are things to improve in your existing payment process:

Payment flow

No customer wants to go through a long payment process. In online shopping, cart abandonment rates increase with the increase in the number of steps for completing the purchase.

The solution – Redirection or Embedded payment flow? A redirect flow moves your customers away from your store. Here, the experience on the third party payment page may be different than that of your portal. However, for businesses in the initial stages, this can also be a sign of trust as the gateway (CitrusPay/PayU) is better known. In an Embedded flow i.e. payment on your portal itself, you control the look and feel of the payment page so that it mirrors the experience of your portal. Mind you that Embedded form requires dedicated developer effort.

Trust & Security

Building trust with your customers takes a lot of time, be it offline or online. However, in the online world, phishing, data leaking & hacking and others cyber attacks make it difficult for you to build and retain the trust factor with your customers.

The solution – Choose a trusted payment gateway. Check if it complies with the latest security standards (PCI DSS) Display trust marks and security logos in the payment checkout pages in order to inculcate a sense of trust in your customers. Ensure familiar logos like Visa, MasterCard, American Express/other premium cards or any local cards/payment methods are displayed on the checkout pages.

Limited Payment Options

Are you accepting payments only via a particular payment instrument say net banking or a particular mobile wallet? If your site lacks payment options for your shoppers to choose from, chances are high that they will not bother coming back to complete their orders.

The solution – Online buyers like to have multiple options and the same is true when it comes to making payments. Having multiple payments option is a hygiene factor. In order to cater to a larger customer base, enable multiple wallets, premium credit cards, maximum number of net banking options. This also helps in-case of payment failures on a particular payment instrument as the customer can now pay via other options available.

Fixed or Variable amount

Is the amount displayed on your portal fixed or does the customer have to fill in the amount? Are you catering to international customers?

The solution – Having a fixed amount can help in avoiding manual errors from your customers when they enter the amount. Also, avoid unclear pricing or hidden costs when accepting international payments. Look at providing payment options in the customer’s local currency or let them choose their currency from a list. Shoppers from other countries shouldn’t have to calculate how much they will pay and what the exchange rate is.

It is essential that you make the right choices, both in terms of choosing the right payment gateway and how it presents the payment options on your portal. Consider the above points to calm your customers’ nerves and create a great payment experience right till the end at the final “order confirmation” page.