Benefits of Multiple Payment Options for Businesses

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Ecommerce continues to expand worldwide in popularity, and the need for businesses to touch a global customer audience is more significant than ever. The COVID-19 pandemic further accelerated the shift from offline to online. According to IBM’s U.S. Retail Index, the pandemic accelerated the shift by roughly five years. This means that there are more online stores today than ever.

With the growth of eCommerce, if you want to keep up with your customers’ needs and requirements and do business across the border, you must consider including multiple payment options. Offering diverse payment methods provide several benefits for both your business and customers alike. If you run a small business, especially with an eCommerce portal, then offering various payment options gives you an edge over others.

According to a study by Baymard Institute, the average eCommerce cart abandonment rate is 69%. However, businesses can increase the conversion rates by up to 35% with few payment optimizations to the checkout process. For that reason, several eCommerce businesses are focused on incorporating diverse payment methods as a way to improve their conversion rates and attract more customers. 

Here are a few benefits of providing diverse payment options.

Benefits of Diverse Payment Options To the Consumer

• Easier checkout process:

Complicated checkout processes tend to turn online shoppers off.. If the checkout process is not simple, they may move away from your portal to another. The simpler the checkout process is, the happier the customer will be and more likely to complete their purchase. One way to improve the checkout process is to provide payment options your consumers prefer.

 

• Convenience of payment:

Everybody likes to have choices. If you have limited payment options, it is unsatisfying. Imagine you have spent hours searching the website for new clothes or a new watch at the right price and finally, you have found it.

But when you go to the checkout page, you realise that it accepts payments only from American Express cards, and you have a Visa. This would frustrate you compelling you to leave the page.

Hence, by offering multiple payment options, you ensure that the customer has their preferred payment method at hand and gets to choose which one to use. For example, if you offer an e-wallet, various debit and credit card, or UPI payment options, they can quickly select the payment method that is right and more convenient for them.

 

• Multiple options lead to customer delight:

Providing various payment options gives your customers the feeling that you have kept their expectations in mind. Today, a business’s success depends not only on delivering the right products to customers but also on delivering seamless shopping experiences. When your customers see various payment options, they will likely be delighted to come back again. This way, you can gain an edge over your competitors, who may only offer traditional forms of payment that force the customers to leave the page.

 

Benefits of Diverse Payment Options for Your Business

• Reduction in cart abandonment rate:

Your customers will be more likely to follow through with their purchase which is the ultimate goal for any eCommerce seller. Shopping cart abandonment is a real problem faced by online business owners.

Several recent studies put the cart abandonment rate at over 75%. As per the Baymard Institute survey, 8% of 1,799 respondents stated that they abandoned a shopping cart during checkout because of fewer payment options that did not match their requirements.

Payment preferences are a big point of friction for customers and can make all the difference in deciding whether to make the final purchase. Offering diverse payment options will push the customers to follow through with their purchase rather than leaving the cart.

 

• Expanding the consumer base:

When running an eCommerce business, you may be aiming at your local area, but you have the chance to get customers from all over the world. So, the more payment options you provide, the larger the consumer base you will appeal to. If you are keen to do business and ship globally, you can showcase your business to the whole world just by adding multiple payment options to your checkout page. But just like each person has their chosen payment methods, different countries have their own preferences as well.

 

• Have a competitive edge:

When you offer multiple payment options, you set yourself apart from your business competitors. By supporting all the leading payment methods, you will appeal to a higher customer base and stand apart from companies offering one or a few different options.

 

Conclusion

Offering multiple payment options can make more of a transformation than you may think for both the customer and your growing business. Your customers will appreciate your business, and you will discover a pathway to increase sales and meet your revenue goals every month.