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7 Valuable Tips to Make E-commerce Payments Easier For Customers

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7 Valuable Tips to Make E-commerce Payments Easier For Customers
Mohab Growth Hacks 0

7 Valuable Tips to Make E-commerce Payments Easier For Customers

It’s common knowledge that a better user experience on an e-commerce website leads to swift transactions, conversions, and sales. Yet, we have identified many e-commerce websites where making payment is not so easy and swift. Sometimes, a bug prevents users from quickly getting redirected to the payment page after they enter their payment information. This may frustrate even a genuine and loyal customer. If it happens more than once, the customer is not likely to come to your website again.

The checkout process is extremely critical, so e-commerce vendors should be extremely careful in this last and final stage of closing the sale. They should make sure that there is nothing that might prevent, distract or lead to bad user-experience on the checkout page.

If the entire customer experience is swift and smooth, a window shopper is likely to become your customer. However, if it is not the case, even a genuine customer may bounce off. Some vendors think that their responsibility is over once they slap a popular gateway on the payment page. If you do not have the full control on your entire checkout process, you are not likely to increase conversions and sales.

Let’s discuss a few ways to make the payment process easier for your customers.

  1. Creating an account should be optional

Several websites make it mandatory to create an account before a visitor lands on the eStore and decides to make a purchase. They do not allow users to purchase in guest mode. Largely because their marketing agencies tell them that it’s very important to retrieve the contact details of visitors. I agree, but there are several ways to collect this information and forcing them to create an account should not be mandatory.

According to Smashing magazine, there are many people who do not wish to set up an account with e-commerce sites, because of the fear of getting their inbox filled with spam and promotional emails. Another reason why people do not like to create an account is that while shopping at brick and mortar stores, nobody forces them to create an account before they make a purchase.

Sometimes it is the length of the form that distracts a customer. So make sure that your customer information form is as short as possible. Have you seen Facebook’s sign up form? It has just 4 entries in it.

  1. Consistency in web design

Maintain consistency across your website including your checkout page. It is not only good for branding but it will also prevent the skeptical people from leaving the website. People become skeptical after going through the horror stories of scams taking place all across the globe.

  1. Convince the customer about security and privacy

According to a study by eConsultancy, more than 60% of the participants abandoned the E-Commerce sites on the checkout page, primarily because they had some concerns about payment security. In order to assure such people, you should maintain a consistent design and shouldn’t redirect people to a third party website. Use secure socket layer certificate on your website and make sure that you comply with PCI Security Standards Council (PCI SSC). It enhances the customer confidence.

  1. Make it easy for people to correct the errors 

While filling up their personal and financial information on the payment page, users might mistype and enter incorrect details. Usually, the error message flashes on top of the page and users are not able to see that. Instead, if only the particular field is highlighted, it will make it easier for the user to fix it.

  1. Ask for the information that is essential

Make sure that you do not ask unnecessary details and keep it to the bare minimum. According to a report published by Forrester, more than 11% of adults in the United States abandon an e-commerce site, when they are faced with a long form to fill up.

  1. Do not redirect your customers

Psychologically, people love branding – it includes the site layout, design, look and feel. They might feel a little uncomfortable, when they are redirected to another website to just complete the funnel. They might think that it will take additional time to complete the procedure, even if it is a part of same funnel.

  1. Prevent distractions on the checkout page

When the customer is at the end and the most critical stage of buying cycle, there shouldn’t be any distractions as customers have very little attention span these days.  A little distraction can take them off to somewhere else and they might change their mind.

Final thoughts
So, if you are really serious about shopping cart abandonment, make it easier for people to pay. As a thumb rule, follow this: “I have to turn window shoppers into paying customers.”

6 years ago
The top 5 business skills that you must hone as a small business leader
Mohab Ecommerce 0

The top 5 business skills that you must hone as a small business leader

Running a small business is not an easy thing. For starters, you are always wearing multiple hats and switching roles from a sales director, to a marketing guru, to an HR person to a visionary leader. That is because running a successful business and driving it towards growth requires more than a good idea. Great and effective leadership can make or break a small business. While some of us are born natural leaders who take to running a small business like fish takes to water, there are others who learn on the go. Whichever category you fall in, it’s necessary to understand real leadership skills since that is what is going to help you respond to changes, adapt to new requirements, pull the pack together and rise to new heights of success.

So here you go – in no particular order, here is a list of 5 skills that will see a small business owner through all challenges and will come in handy in growing their businesses.

Communicating well– Ensure that whatever you communicate is clear, precise and consistent. It is not enough to have a great vision unless you clearly communicate it. A true leader should be able to communicate the business’s vision to employees, investors and customers alike. Employees and investors should also be aware of goals and objectives of the business. A series of miscommunicated objectives can be detrimental to your business. It is also important to let your employees know about what is going on and what is expected from them. And to achieve this clear communication is paramount.

Being a good listener- Most of what we know and learn comes from listening. Being a good listener is one of the most important skills you can possess as a small business leader. Listening to your employees will let you stay in touch with what is happening at the operational level. And will also contribute to employee satisfaction. Listening to your customers will let you know the pulse of the market and how they feel about your business. Developing this skill will also encourage you to ask for opinions, feedback and ideas. Enabling you and your business with different perspectives and newer ideas. Needless to say keeping both internal and external customers is important for a small business.

Not fearing failure and bouncing back – This is probably the biggest armour you will need. There is no great business leader who has not experienced the lows of failure. The faster you can accept and get out of the trough of depression, anxiety, disappointment and frustration, the better. Be ready to handle failure – as and when it comes. Mistakes are bound to happen. But running a business without making mistakes is impossible. So why fear them? A good leader will not fear making mistakes; he/she will, in fact, turn them into a valuable lesson. How you bounce back from them matters most. Accept your defeat with humility, learn from them and move on. Take ownership of the mistakes and let employees own the successes.

Sales –As a small business owner, this is probably the single most important skill that you need to learn as a business owner. After all, its sales that drives a business. Essentially, sales skills are nothing but excellent communication skills. It’s about understanding your buyer, it’s about listening more than talking, it’s about skillful persuasion and getting others to agree to what you are saying, it’s about learning the art of negotiation and building self-confidence. Understanding the whole sales process and honing the skills needed to crack a deal should help you for as long you are in business.

Accountability – A small business has fewer people taking care of a varied set of functions. This may make setting expectations tougher and sometimes ambiguous. As a small business leader learning to set clear expectations and communicating what is expected out of each contributor is essential. This will help set accountability in place. And being accountable as a leader for the business will help you lead from the front. Leading from the front or by example is something you are always told is expected out of leaders. This is true for small business also, be accountable and an inspirational leader.

Your skills as business leader is important since finally its you who can make a huge difference in how your business is being built and where it goes from there. What you make of yourself as a leader and your business is all up to you.

6 years ago