According to Baymard, an average of 69.82% of customers abandon their shopping carts. The reasons that they do so are numerous. However, many of them have to do with the payment system the site uses. You may not, however, know how to choose the right one. If so, read on. This article will provide you with some steps for choosing a payment system for online marketplaces.
Not having enough payment methods, not trusting the site with credit card information, and a long, complicated checkout process were all among the reasons. Therefore, it’s clear to see the importance of having an appropriate payment system provider.
Research the Target Market of Your Ecommerce Site
It’s important to choose payment systems that function well. However, the quality of systems won’t matter if your target audience doesn’t use them.
Research has shown that different groups prefer different payment methods. For example, PaymentEye has reported that most of Paypal’s users are millennials. At the same time, Amex is popular among seniors.
Therefore, if your target demographic is seniors, your payment gateway should include an Amex option.
In sum, be sure to research what payment method your average customers prefer to use. Then, include the most popular payment service providers they use on your site.
Consider Which Payment Methods Are Popular
In a similar vein, it’s a good idea to learn which payment methods are popular with all demographics.
Concentrating on your core audience is most important. However, you don’t want to miss out on any unintended customers if possible. If you can, try to prioritize using payment services that include a general audience along with your core audience.
For instance, Paypal isn’t just popular with millennials. There are over 392 million active users and 20% of them are older than 55. In addition, 54% of customers will purchase from a store when it uses Paypal.
Therefore, including it on your online payment page is important even if you cater to seniors.
Learn the Countries Each Payment System Supports
Another thing to note is that many payment systems don’t accept payment from certain countries. Paypal, for example, is available in over 200 countries. In contrast, a method like Stripe serves only 45 countries.
Make sure that your business’ home region is included in a system’s list of service locations. Do the same for your target demographic.
Test the Ease of Payment Service Providers
As mentioned, customers often abandon their carts when the checkout process is too long or complex. For this reason, test each payment gateway you’re considering. Check it for specific qualities when choosing a payment system for online marketplaces
The speed of the checkout process is one thing to measure. Before you enter all the dummy information, set a timer. Note how long you take to complete making a payment.
Also, inspect the text on the payment gateway site. Ask yourself if it is clear and grammatically correct. If you can, do this for multiple language versions on the site.
Along with these, test the general functionality as well. The best online payment service pages should be able to process payments with no issues.
You should still consider payment methods on the first three criteria in this list. However, prioritize using the payment methods that pass most of the tests over others.
Look at the Transaction Limits on Payment Systems for Online Marketplaces
Most payment system for online marketplaces have a minimum and maximum amount per transaction. For example, a Stripe payment must be between $0.50 and $999,999,999.99. Paypal’s maximum limit is even less at $60,000.
A vast majority of eCommerce websites will probably not have any problems with these limits. However, yours may be one that offers items lower than $0.50 and/or higher than $60,000.
In such a case, your customers may run into issues with Stripe or Paypal transactions for these products. This can lead them to become frustrated and abandon their cart.
Therefore, it’s important to learn the transaction limits for each payment system that you consider. If you have too many products priced beyond them, you may want to not include those particular systems.
Plan for the Fees
Most payment service providers will charge your business a fee for each transaction. They also often charge for things such as installation, account setup, and service usage.
Be sure that you learn what these are ahead of time. Then, make a plan on how to handle them.
Sometimes, you can pass the fee to your customers. However, customers tend to not like surprise fees. Therefore, if you use this method, it’s best to let your customers know what you’re charging them.
In other cases, your business might not be able to handle the fees of one or many services. When this happens, it may be best to only choose the best possible payment gateways. Another option is to risk offering credit card payment options alone.
Check for PCI DSS Compliance
It’s your responsibility that your customers’ information is protected. Thus, it’s important to check each payment service provider you use for the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS).
This is a standard created by the PCI Security Systems Council. It checks each payment gateway for the proper security protocols. These include anti-virus programs, reliable passwords, data encryption, and more.
If your customers use an unsecured payment method, they are likely to lose their data. In the best-case scenario, you’ll merely lose their trust. In the worst-case scenario, they may take legal action against you.
While Choosing a Payment System for Online Marketplaces, Consider Ours
Overall, when you’re choosing a payment system, always keep your customer in mind. Make sure that you are providing for all that they need in a payment method. If you don’t, it will have a negative effect on your business’ profits.
While you’re looking for a payment system for online marketplaces, consider letting us simplify your website’s payment process. We offer software that makes it easier and cheaper to send invoices, take payments, and securely track customer data. Sign up with us today and get a free month trial of our services.
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