Online Payment Gateways: Tips for an eCommerce Website
Whether you’re a webmaster or a business owner, there are a few essential features that an eCommerce website must never lack.
Unless your website has all the essentials, it might not perform optimally. If that happens, your business won’t generate revenue, and you might be forced to close it sooner or later.
The future of your company depends on its online presence. It’s worth mentioning that accepting cryptocurrency as payment has become inevitable.
Therefore, you should do everything possible, such as positioning your resources strategically to achieve the desired goals.
But all that doesn’t matter if you don’t include the essential payment features. Customers will only have pleasurable shopping moments if they can complete transactions without significant hiccups.
This guide intends to share what you must serve your eCommerce website to function optimally. Note that the online marketplace keeps getting more competitive by the day.
As such, you need to up your game and keep up with the pace. Now, let’s get started, shall we? These are the payment method design tips that your eCommerce website must never lack.
Table of Contents
Meaning of Online Payment Gateways
You might have come across this time as an eCommerce owner more than once. Online payment gateways are the services that make it possible for websites to process payment information and data.
The gateways provide two critical benefits to websites and website owners.
Easy Checkout Process
Your customers want the easiest and fastest checkout process when shopping online. Most will leave and opt for your market rivals unless they get that.
Maybe you’ve had the same process before, trying to purchase something online, only to learn that the process is too long.
If your website has the same process, you will likely record at least a 70% cart abandonment rate.
Thankfully, you can fix the problem by integrating online payment gateways. That way, you’ll bag more sales rather than lose them.
Safeguard Customer Information
Your customers would be happy to shop on your website if they believe the information they share is safe.
The good thing about online payment gateways is that they provide encryption to keep critical data safe. Since rampant identity theft cases exist, customers want websites they can trust.
If they issue sensitive information, they want to ensure the exact details are safe from hackers. Most hackers are always looking to steal credit card information from unprotected sites.
The good thing about online payment gateways is that they’re designed to process financial information. Therefore, they encompass crucial encryption features to keep such data safe from unauthorised access.
Why Your Website Needs Multiple Payment Methods
Having a single, safe, efficient payment method and running your online business smoothly is okay. But a good number of customers have realised that they deserve better.
That means they want to use their favourite payment methods without limitations. A card reader, for example, allows you to take credit and debit cards from customers, including Visa, Mastercard, Maestro and American Express.
Services like Apple Pay, Square, and PayPal have gained massive popularity through the years, and they keep doing so. That’s because buyers can easily make payments on various websites without wasting time adding the necessary details.
All they have to do is find access to their most-used account, and in most cases, they don’t have to, provided their devices remember the password and other details. That way, customers have always enjoyed a seamless experience shopping on various websites.
Have you noticed that most shopping and transactions are done through mobile devices? That way, you need to add convenient payment methods for smartphone users.
With all that, customers will always shy away from websites that want them to do more work to get the needed products and services.
Would you like to learn how crypto works for businesses? You might want to check out Dan Hollings’ crypto review.
Do You Need To Add a New Payment Option?
It’s reported that many customers who abandon carts say they don’t trust the website with their payment information.
They must trust a company before they can key in their payment information. Also, most of them claim they don’t get enough payment options. In that case, they could not finish transactions. By adding more specifics and pertinent information throughout the payment process, maintaining transparency, and fostering confidence, transaction enrichment approaches can further improve the client experience.
It’s simple math. For instance, if you lose 70% of shoppers due to a lack of trust and another 8% due to the lack of payment options, you can win them back by fixing the problem.
To do that, consider integrating online payment gateways for a faster, trustable shopping experience.
Once you have the gateways, integrate as many payment options as possible. Doing that will win back 70% and 8% of the customers.
How much revenue will your eCommerce generate in the long run? In less than a year, you’ll be amazed by how good your online business is doing, and that’s why you need to add more payment options to your website.
Here are the best payment options your business should never lack.
1 – Amazon Pay
There might be popular payment methods, and Amazon Pay is one. It is one of the most common online payment methods customers can use.
You must understand that most of your customers already have accounts with Apple Pay.
In that regard, adding it would take your business to greater heights. This payment method will make it easier for all your customers to shop with you without adding their payment information each time they visit your online store.
It’s all about doing the best for your clients. Since hundreds of millions of customers have Amazon Pay accounts, you can imagine the growth your company will record quickly.
Most companies have tested and proven that Amazon Pay is fraud-free, which is why many customers trust it across the web.
The good news is you only need a few minutes to add Amazon Pay to your website. You can complete the process with an Express Integration option alongside their APUI. Try this payment option and give your customers the experience they deserve.
2 – PayPal
PayPal is slightly more popular than Amazon Pay. Thus, for your eCommerce to thrive, you should also integrate it.
The chances are that more than 90% of your customers are familiar with PayPal. Maybe they’ve heard of it or have used it before.
When writing this guide, PayPal has at least 254 million users, which is enormous compared to other online payment methods. Adding this payment method will make shopping on your site more accessible for millions of customers.
The company claims that more than 16 million businesses use it, and buyers who use PayPal to complete purchases convert at around 82% higher than other payment options.
With that alone, you can see that PayPal is one of the giants, and your business might not do well without it. The good news is you won’t waste time and money adding PayPal as a payment option to your website.
However, you might be compelled to work with a developer without using an eCommerce solution. You should be ready to pay around 30 cents and 2.9% for every transaction processed via PayPal.
3 – Google Pay
Amazon Pay and PayPal are both excellent. But Google Pay has always given them a run for their money. Google currently provides its payment method, which is known as Google Pay.
The company claims hundreds of millions of users have their card payment information saved to their Google accounts.
In that case, you can provide our customers with a convenient shopping experience by adding Google Pay as one of your payment options.
This is true since online shoppers will readily use Google to browse your online store. If they find products they like, they can make purchases with a few clicks of buttons.
Through encryption, Google Pay provides online shoppers with the safest and most convenient checkout process.
It’s also optimised for both desktop and mobile phone users. In that case, you’ll provide convenience to as many of your customers as possible.
With Google Pay, you can also choose to set up loyalty programs, deals, and digital gift cards for customers. In that case, all your customers can ignore the plastic and paper cards.
For the best experience, Google Pay works with PayPal and Visa checkout. It can give you an added reach to many customers across the globe.
4 – Apple Pay
In the US, 64% of the population uses Apple devices. Did you know Apple Pay is a mobile wallet your customers can use to complete transactions?
It has a one-click payment option for online stores that accept it. In that case, by adding Apple Pay to your website, you’ll attract hundreds of millions of users in the US and other parts of the world.
Mobile users can also use their Apple Pay through touch identification, which means they can check out in less than one second.
That’s the kind of convenience your customers are looking for. You’ll be ahead of your competitors if you can give them that.
Apply Pay relies on tokenisation to keep your customers’ credit card information safe and secure from hackers.
This implies that after a user has provided their card information to the service provider, the device interacts with the issuing bank to craft a randomly generated token (or number) to represent the card.
That means the hackers will not be able to access the information. Your customers can work faster, knowing that their card information is safe.
It’s safe to say that you can win the trust of your customers by adding Apple Pay as one of the payment options on your website.
You might have to use their API to make your website accept Apple Pay. But this only works if you already use one of their payment providers or compatible platforms.
5 – American Express
American Express might not be as popular as other payment methods mentioned. But it has some features your customers might find helpful when purchasing your products or services.
The good thing is that many consumers trust American Express as one of the best payment gateways.
Though it might not be as common as other cards, it stands out regarding satisfaction rates in the whole industry. American Express is one of the payment gateways that target high-income consumers, which is okay.
In that case, if you want to attract some top visitors, you can’t afford to ignore the importance of American Express. One checkout option can increase your sales when you least expect it.
The company claims it provides 24/7 customer support, strong fraud protection, and flexibility to function with many payment processors.
Did you know that American Express can support more than 120 currencies? That’s enough to serve most of your customers in different parts of the world, let alone those in Canada and the US.
This checkout option lets you stay ahead of the competition and grow enough revenue.
However, it would help if you understood that American Express costs more than the other options we’ve already mentioned up there.
For instance, the prices commence at $20 per month for up to one hundred transactions and will go up for additional transactions.
Final Thoughts
Unless your eCommerce provides the best gateways, you won’t gain the competitive edge you deserve.
After some time, your business will dwindle for not putting up with the stiff competition. You can integrate the payment options above to provide your customers with the best shopping experience.
Most of them are easy to add to your website. But if you feel stuck, consider getting assistance from an experienced developer to help with payment method UX.
Author Bio: Patrick Watt is a content writer, writing in several areas, primarily business growth, value creation, M&A, and finance. Other interests also include content marketing and self-development. Say hi to Patrick on Twitter @patrickwattpat.
