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Improving the Customer Experience – How to Make Paying Easy for Your Customer

Carl Taylor | December 8, 2020

A great way to boost web sales is to make online payments as simple as possible. It can help prevent losing a conversion at this step ever again. Here are some proven methods to try.

Enabling online payments is a must nowadays when most transactions are happening online. It adds convenience for both customers and website owners, making the entire buying process as smooth as possible.

Imagine someone going through 15 different steps and entering tons of information just to buy a product or an online course. After spending several minutes on the checkout process, do you think they would continue the purchase?

Chances are, they won’t.

Complicated processes may make your prospects feel frustrated, and you could lose a customer who was on the verge of converting. Even if they go through the whole thing once, they probably won’t return to buy from you again.

Why would you risk losing out on sales like that? It’s a simple aspect of your website that you can improve in no time.

In fact, Automation Agency can step in and fix the issue before you know it. We can help you integrate a payment platform into your website and improve the whole customer experience.

It can be beneficial for your website in many ways, especially for your revenue. An enhanced payment process can increase your conversion rate and recurring sales, for starters.

But how do you ensure your payment process is customer-friendly? Here are several proven ways to do it.

Techniques That Enhance Your Payment Process

The Techniques That Enhance Your Payment Process

#1 Don’t Force Them to Create an Account to Pay

The process between your customer deciding to buy from you and them actually buying your product shouldn’t be too long or complicated. Otherwise, you increase the risk of them abandoning your website without converting. And if you ask your prospect to create an account before they can make a purchase, they may not stick around long enough.

You have a rather simple solution for this.

Make it possible for a customer to buy in guest mode. That means they can choose if they want to register later after they’ve bought your product.

You can create accounts for them automatically using the shipping information they provide. But as you’re not inserting a step before the sale, they’re more likely to buy the product.

#2 Offer Several Payment Methods

Your target audience may have a lot in common, but not everyone will want to use the same payment methods. And it’s not always about what they prefer, but what’s available to them. Keep in mind that your customers may be from different parts of the world. The payment options available to one may not be available to others.

Having several options on your website today is necessary if you don’t want to risk people giving up on your products. If they prefer using PayPal for online shopping, for example, they may leave your website on this last step if they don’t see it among the available options.

Generally speaking, PayPal, credit and debit cards, and checks are the basic choices you should include. If you’re not sure if you need to add more options, you can always ask your customers via surveys. It’s the safest way to find out.

#3 Ensure Your Process Matches Your Ideal Customer’s Preferences

Once again, it’s crucial to know your audience very well.

To know them, start by identifying what devices they use for online shopping. Find out how they make decisions and where they usually are when making a purchase.

Are they always in a hurry? Well, in that case, you won’t opt for a 10-step payment process. You’ll make it as quick as possible and won’t bother them with irrelevant details. You can also offer to save your customer’s information so they don’t need to enter everything again the next time.

Do they typically use their phones to shop? Make sure you take screen size and other factors into account.

Keep in mind your buyer persona when setting up the payment process. Their preferences may not always match yours. What seems like a benefit to you may not appeal to your buyers.

That’s why it’s essential to stay in touch with your audience and ask them what they’d like. It’ll allow you to stay on top of your game at all times.

#4 Keep Them on the Website While Paying

Avoid redirection whenever possible. Keeping the checkout page on your own website has many benefits, especially when it comes to the sense of security.

If you redirect your buyers to another website for checkout, they may face a design that resembles your brand in no way. Your customers may feel like they’re paying someone else for your products. They may even perceive it as more waiting and make them feel impatient.

And if your buyers trust you with their credit card details, it doesn’t mean they’ll trust other websites as well. In this case, redirecting people to another page may raise security issues for them and cause them to abandon the cart.

If you’re having trouble setting up a payment process on your website, Automation Agency can help.  We can integrate a payment platform with your online store and keep the buyers on your site while they’re paying.

#5 Save Their Important Details to Make the Process Faster in the Future

This strategy can increase your recurring sales. You will get more customers to return to your website and purchase again if they’re able to save their billing and shipping information.

It’d be too demanding to enter the same details every time they want to order something from your website. That’s why you should offer the option of logging in to an existing account if this person has bought from you before. It’ll save their time and make the sales more likely to happen.

You may also want to check if the cards you’ve authorised have special programs for their users. Some may have enabled different checkout options that make the process easier and quicker.

#6 Make it Easy to Fix Errors

People often make typos, which can prevent them from buying your product. Customers can end up wasting time trying to figure out where they went wrong. A solution to this is to set up auto-correct for details like zip codes or city names.

Also, it may be frustrating to have to enter everything from scratch if you accidentally refresh the page or you make a typo in your email. Make sure it’s easy for them to erase and correct the desired detail so as to avoid repeating the entire process.

It’s worth reminding you to make your forms simple to avoid misunderstandings. Your customers should know exactly what information to enter and in what field. It’ll help you avoid declined payments, too.

#7 Reassure Them About Security

How do you make your online customers feel safe when entering their credit card details? There are many ways to reassure them on the fact that shopping on your website is safe.

One thing that makes customers feel safe is having a consistent design. Unfortunately, this is one aspect many online shop owners tend to forget. It’s important to keep the same fonts, colours, and the whole design through every step of the payment process. If your customers suddenly end up on a page where nothing indicates they’re still on your website, they may leave without purchasing.

Let your prospects know their personal and credit card information is secure and encrypted within your online store. They need to trust you if you want them to return. Make sure the SSL certificate is visible, along with any other measures you’ve taken to protect your buyers’ privacy.

#8 Leverage Process Indicators

People like tracking their progress, even if it’s a simple thing such as online shopping. If they know in advance how many steps they need to complete to buy your product, it’ll make the process feel safer for them.

But an even better solution is having a progress bar. There, your customers can see exactly where they are and what’s coming next.

One of the best advantages of a progress bar is that your buyer can click to return to the previous step if they want to make a change. If there’s no progress bar, a customer may give up on the purchase if they realise they’ve made a mistake in one of the previous steps.

#9 Don’t Ask for Billing Information First

It makes complete sense that you care about making sales, but you still need to make everything about your customers. That goes for asking for their shipping and billing information during the payment process, too.

Which one do you think is more important to your customer – shipping or billing?

They’re already focused on the moment of receiving the product. That’s why the shipping details form should always go first. Allow your prospects to learn about how they’ll get the desired item and only then enter the payment info.

By asking for billing details first, you’re sending the wrong message. Your customers may think you only care about the money and not their needs.

#10 Don’t Distract Your Customers With Confusing CTAs

Since your main goal is a conversion, don’t let too many distractions keep your customers from completing the final step. Your checkout page plays a significant role here, and it should be as straightforward as possible.

Many people leave a website at this point if they’re not sure how to complete the purchase. It’d be a shame to lose customers just because your checkout page isn’t fully optimised.

Make your buyer understand where they need to click and how they’ll finish the process. Having a confusing CTA that leaves your prospect wondering what to do next only leads you to lose money.

Between adding items to the cart and moving on to checkout, you only need a ‘Continue to Checkout’ button. Nothing more, nothing less.

Boosting Your Sales With the Right Payment Process

Are you ready to enhance the payment process for your online store?

Whatever you’re selling, your checkout can be the make-or-break point where you either gain customers for life or you lose them before they buy.

Of course, there are so many other factors that influence whether you’ll make a conversion. But you shouldn’t let the payment process stand in your way when you can quickly fix it.

We can do it for you. Automation Agency can help you implement a suitable payment platform that will make the whole process easier for your customers. It’ll fit their needs and preferences and be transparent, fast, and trustworthy.

Our team takes all the critical factors into account when setting up your payment process. Both you and your customers will appreciate its efficiency and security.

Are you ready to test our strategy? You can send a task to our Concierge Service right now and get things started. If you’re not sure that Automation Agency is the right choice, you can take the Right Fit quiz on our website and find out.

About the author 

Carl Taylor

Carl Taylor is the Founder & CEO of Automation Agency. For the past 10 years Carl has been building businesses and marketing them online through the use of Sales Funnels, Email Marketing Automation, Landing Pages, and Wordpress Websites. Carl is also a #1 author and highly sought after speaker and consultant whose work has impacted thousands of businesses across various industries worldwide.

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