When it comes to helping merchants maximize revenues, a key opportunity lies within the checkout experience. It is often here that the point of friction becomes so great that consumers would rather abandon their purchases than push through to the end.
Value-added resellers (VARs) and independent software vendors (ISVs) can help merchants analyze the amount of friction in the checkout process both in-store and online and then engineer processes that increase the number of customers that convert. Moreover, VARs and ISVs that accomplish it will differentiate their businesses and build stronger customer relationships.
The Importance of the Checkout Experience
To optimize the checkout experience, keep an important principle in mind: Consumers crave control. And standing in line while cashiers fumble through clumsy processes and inform customers that they can’t use their preferred payment method misses the mark.
While it’s easy to think of purchase abandonment with e-commerce and virtual payment processing, a staggering 74 percent of people will abandon a physical line before it is their turn. In fact, the same study showed that 70 percent of respondents will wait only 15 minutes in a physical line. The key takeaway is that in-store or online, merchants without an optimized checkout experience risk shoppers abandoning their purchases and losing revenue.
How to Increase Conversions with Payments
Optimizing payments across channels can help a merchant increase conversions on an e-commerce site and sales within the physical location, all while reducing checkout friction. These tips can help you provide solutions that give your clients an edge.
- Enable multiple payment methods
If a merchant doesn’t accept a customer’s preferred payment method, they may take their business elsewhere. Today’s consumers are incredibly savvy and comparison shop to find a merchant who enables the way they want to pay.
In-store, consumers expect the option to use contactless payments, including mobile wallets, as well as credit, debit, and cash, in addition to other payment methods. Regardless of where consumers pay, they also want the ability to use gift cards and earn or redeem loyalty rewards during the checkout process. Help your clients optimize their solutions to meet their customers’ demands.
- Offer self-service payments
Self-service checkouts help maximize revenues, reducing both the friction to the checkout experience and the risk of purchase abandonment. It’s no wonder that 60 percent of consumers prefer using them, and more than half would choose to shop at a store with self-checkout kiosks over one without being given the choice between stores of equal quality.
Kiosks, like other points of sale, need to accept the types of payment methods customers want to use. Depending on the business, kiosks may take only credit or debit cards, or they may accept contactless payments, cash, or alternative payment types.
- Address data security
Provide your clients with payment solutions that allow them to assure their customers that checkout, data, and their privacy is secure. Viewing the PCI Software Security Framework (PCI SSF) as a roadmap for secure systems, not just boxes to check for an annual assessment, will strengthen your clients’ security.
Provide your clients with technology that helps them protect their payment environments, including a firewall, point-to-point encryption, tokenization, and antivirus. Also, advise them on the best ways to meet other PCI standards, such as restricting access based on a need-to-know basis, tracking and monitoring all access to the network, and training employees on a comprehensive security policy.
In addition, keep in mind that the look of an online payments page is key to communicating security to customers. If the online payments page looks much different from the rest of the website or doesn’t align with the brand, a person may be hesitant to enter their account information.
Craft Exceptional Experiences and Grow Revenues
Traffic alone to a store or website doesn’t pay the bills. If customers are leaving without buying, you have a prime opportunity to provide solutions that help them maximize revenues. Removing friction from the checkout experience, coupled with implementing convenient payments, will be the winning combination for conversion.
