You work incredibly hard to offer great products or services. The last thing you want is to lose customers at the point of sale, whether at your store, online or anywhere else. That’s why it’s critical to make sure the payment process is as easy as possible for your customer.
Here are a few simple and proven ways to make payments easy for your customers, and reduce shopping card abandonment.
- Accept all types of payments
Customers are accustomed to and expect to have a variety of payment options. In addition to using their preferred credit card brand and being able to swipe (with a traditional card) or insert (with a new chip card) their card, consumers also expect to be able to pay using their mobile phones. Seventy-five percent of consumers appreciate the speed of checkout when being paying with a mobile device.
Seventy-five percent of consumers appreciate the speed of checkout when being paying with a mobile device.
- Employ the latest technology to make payment processing fast
The ability to accept all payment types is the first step, but you also need to make sure your equipment is able to handle these payments efficiently and easily. Payment hardware and software technology have come a long way in the past few years and it’s important to stay on top of the latest advances and make sure your equipment is up to date.
Payment hardware and software technology have come a long way in the past few years and it’s important to stay on top of the latest advances and make sure your equipment is up to date.
- Train your staff
Your staff needs to have a complete understanding of how to use the payment equipment, how to answer customer questions regarding payments (in particular, about new payment options like mobile wallets), and what steps to take if there is an issue during the transaction. Most of the newer payment technology, while very advanced, is easy to use.
Still, an ongoing training program is a wise investment of time.
Most of the newer payment technology, while very advanced, is easy to use. Still, an ongoing training program is a wise investment of time.
- Pay attention to your online purchasing experience
Your website should not only work and look great on a desktop, it should be just as functional on a mobile device. Consumers should be able to easily research product options on your site, and access detailed descriptions and reviews so they can make a buying decision confidently. Your site should also make the checkout process easy, by giving customers the ability to sign into an account or quickly checkout as a guest.
Your site should also make the checkout process easy, by giving customers the ability to sign into an account or quickly checkout as a guest.
Additionally, be sure to include a privacy statement and badge verification on your site, to let customers know their payment data is safe. Investigate your web hosting capabilities for incorporating intelligent shopping carts and a website structure that makes searching for products easy. Being able to provide competitively priced– or free– shipping is a bonus for online shoppers and something that more and more consumers expect.
- Provide a seamless experience among all sales channels
A new buzzword in retailing is omnicommerce, which is a strategy that makes the customer experience the same and continuous across all sales channels– whether in-store, online or on a mobile device. This means a consumer can start the sales process in one channel and finish it in another. For example, they can find a product online, order it, and request an instore pickup.
For example, they can find a product online, order it, and request an instore pickup.
Omnicommerce also includes the ability to help consumers throughout their buying experience. This includes offering recommendations based on both current and past purchases, as well as their search history, providing online access to accurate inventory data at their desired store location, and much more. For more information in providing a seamless eCommerce experience, check out our research.
You’ve done the hard work and found potential customers. Don’t lose sales with an unfriendly customer shopping, checkout, and payment process. Take a look at all the ways in which your customers can purchase your products, and make sure you’re doing everything you can to make that process as simple and seamless as possible.
