What are the most common mistakes that companies make when it comes to payment methods?

The variety of different payment methods, both physical and online, is constantly increasing. Whilst some people prefer to make purchases with their smartphone, others continue to stick to the more traditional means of payment: cash. Therefore, companies must adapt to the newer payment methods to ensure that they are offering as many options as possible, whilst ensuring that traditional methods remain available.

There are still recurring issues with the payment methods offered by a large number of brands, and it is crucial that these are detected and fixed as soon as possible. At Easy Payment Gateway, we remember that half of the users say they would abandon a purchase if the company does not offer their preferred payment method at checkout, meaning that the quality of the transaction process is key for brands, and can be the difference between securing and losing a sale.

With this in mind, discover the main mistakes that companies make when it comes to payment:

• Asking for too much information. The fast pace of modern life means that time is one of our most precious assets. This is why we must try to ensure that all of our daily actions can be completed as quickly and simply as possible. Experts explain that companies tend to ask for too much information from the user during the online checkout process. This can make the payment process seem long and tedious, causing some customers to abandon their purchases during the checkout phase. To avoid this, they advise that businesses should only request data that is absolutely necessary or opt for the tokenisation process, which means that customers only have to enter their bank information the first time that they make a purchase from the website, improving the customer experience in the future.

 

• Little variety in payment methods. As a result of the rapid technological advances that we have seen over the last few years, an extremely wide variety of payment options have become available. Many people feel that methods such as cash, or even credit cards, may be replaced by options such as biometrics in the future. Little by little, the new methods are growing in popularity thanks to the security and simplicity that they offer. For this reason, at Easy Payment Gateway we recommend including these alternative means of payment, especially those which are increasing in popularity. Even though biometric payment methods may seem like a thing of the future, they are already being implemented worldwide and will continue to grow in the coming years. In spite of this, there are many shops that only offer cash or credit card payment, a mistake that can lead to a significant loss of sales. For this reason, Easy Payment Gateway provides 240 enabled payment methods, of which 190 are considered alternative.

 

• Failing to consider local payment preferences. Businesses must consider a wide range of aspects when it comes to offering their products or services in the international market. Examples of these are, finding a good partner who will take care of shipping, or even finding a way to put your website into a foreign language. What many fail to consider is the importance of offering local payment methods. Mobile payment is more common in some African countries than in some European ones. This example demonstrates the importance of analysing the market into which we plan to expand, in order to find out which are the most commonly used means of payment so that we can offer them to clients.

 

• Having an unattractive, or unprofessional design. Aesthetics are fundamental in the online world, so most companies invest in an attractive design for their website. Payment experts stress that some companies tend to neglect the aesthetics of the payment window. If the user accesses a well-designed page with a blue colour scheme (for example), but the payment window is covered in red tones, this may generate a sense of distrust in the user. It is even more vital that its design is responsive so that it displays correctly on any type of device. Considering that all of the marketing and advertising effort pays off and culminates at the time of closing the transaction, we should not downplay the importance of the payment window.

We live in the era of immediacy, and we look for quick, intuitive solutions that, in addition, are adapted to our own personal preferences. Just as companies implement this idea in most of their processes or communications, it is essential that they also do so in everything related to payment methods.