How to Improve Your Payment Acceptance Rate

By Congli Huang

Failed payments and abandoned carts happen, but with careful planning these incidents can be reduced. Whether you’re expanding into a new market or simply looking to improve your rate of accepted payments, it’s important to research and consider the user experience when building or updating the payment area of your website.

Citcon: improve payment acceptance - 3 steps

So what is payment acceptance, exactly? This term describes successful purchases, where the payment method is accepted by the seller, the purchaser has the funds in their account, and the purchase is successful. It sounds simple, but there can be many things that complicate it. 

Create a Great User Experience to Improve Your Payment Acceptance Rate

When it comes to user experience, or UX, the way your site is designed plays a big role in how your customers view it. Having a website optimized for the user experience can help prevent negative experiences like abandoned carts and failed transactions. 

Citcon: improve payment acceptance - design aspects

Consider the following aspects of your page design to give customers the ideal UX when purchasing from you. These UX design tips can also help you improve your payment acceptance rate.

Improve Your Payment Acceptance with These UX Design Tips

Simple, clear design

Make it very easy for customers to see how they can pay, and what types of payments are accepted. Customers grow frustrated if this is not immediately available, and they start a purchase only to find out they have to use a method of payment other than what they planned on (for example, they planned to use PayPal but you only accept credit or debit, and they do not have any of the cards you accept.)

Sensible formatting

Because many customers are used to inputting their information in a credit format, payment forms often mimic this layout. It’s also a good idea to make it clear which fields are required. If a customer receives an unexpected error message after believing they’ve completed the form, feeling defeated, they will be more inclined to abandon their cart.

Related Read: 4 Common Ecommerce Payment Challenges and How to Fix Them

Allow auto-complete and tokenization

Auto-complete allows for information saved on the customer’s computer to populate in the form, and tokenization keeps their credit card number saved in an encrypted format for easy re-purchasing. Both help customers feel recognized and save time, preventing them from abandoning their cart.

Clear pricing

Citcon: improve payment acceptance - linked options

Make it obvious what the prices are no matter where the customer is shopping. Program your site to dynamically update with the correct tax information, shipping costs, and currency. Additionally, if you have a promo code option, have this included in the form. A popular recommendation is to have a linked option, instead of a box, so when the customer clicks the link, the box appears. This prevents customers from seeing the promo box and feeling like they are missing out, but makes it easy for them to input a code if they have one.

Progress bar

Implementing a bar showing how far along the customer is in the purchase process allows customers to know how much longer they will need to spend on the transaction. If a customer sees they’re almost to the finish line, they may think twice about abandoning their cart.

Fast-loading pages

Waiting ages for a page to load after making a purchase or filling out a form can be a cause of irritation for your customers. It might even cause them to question your site’s legitimacy. Keeping the process as short as possible, including page load time, will in turn keep customers satisfied.

Keep mobile UX in mind

Citcon: improve payment acceptance - optimize mobile and desktop

Many customers use their phones for all Internet access, and people in many areas do not have computers to make purchases. Make sure your site is optimized for both mobile and computer desktop or laptop access, so you don’t lose out on potential purchases.

Provide up-to-date shipping and tracking information

Not only should the cost of shipping be clear, it should be easy for customers to find when their item shipped and to track it. If you are using a specific service, make sure that’s clear along with providing the number. Link the tracking if you can so all the customer has to do is click to see their item in transit. This will give your customers peace of mind. 

These are just a handful of the many factors to be considered in UX design. If you’re unsure where to start, check top-ranked sites for UX and customer experience and incorporate elements from their design (in your own style and branding, of course).

Offer a Variety of Payment Options to Increase Your Payment Acceptance Rate

While design can certainly improve customer experience and increase completed purchases, it won’t matter if you don’t accept the customer’s preferred method of payment. There are ways to ensure you can meet the needs of almost every customer, by offering a variety of payment options. 

Read on for advice on payment acceptance solutions: 

Accept multiple payment options

This can be done through several different methods, and the design process with various currencies is also a key factor in this task. Not only should you be able to tell people the correct price, you must be able to accept their payment as well.

Find the right balance with fraud detection

Citcon: improve payment acceptance - fraud detection

It’s true. Fraud detection will keep your customers happy and your company’s reputation intact. However, having too strict of fraud-detection methods in place can negatively impact your payment acceptance rate and turn away valid customers. Thus, creating the right balance is key.

Inform customers when the transaction is complete

Make sure it’s very obvious to customers when their purchase has been accepted and is complete. On many sites, this happens via a landing page that loads after the purchase is complete, a confirmation email, or both. This reassures customers that they’ve securely purchased their items.

Analyze customer data

Consistently reviewing how, when, where, and why your customers are making purchases can help inform all areas of your business, including your payment area on your site. For example, if you notice an increase in customers using a specific payment method, you may place the logo more prominently on your site to showcase that you accept this popular payment method.

Use a global payment gateway

Another popular payment acceptance solution is utilizing a global payments platform. A global platform allows you to accept payments from a wide variety of customers without overloading your own customer support. The provider will integrate with your system, allowing you to add a ton of new payment options quickly, which increases your acceptance rate from both local and international customers.

Related Read: 10 Questions to Ask a Global Payment Gateway Provider

Citcon Can Help You Boost Your Payment Acceptance Rate

A global payment provider partner like Citcon can give you access to a diverse range of platforms required so that you’re business can successfully accept more payments. Interested in finding ways to optimize your payment acceptance rate? Start by conducting a cart abandonment audit.

Cart abandonment audit

Download your free copy of the Ultimate Guide on How to Conduct a Cart Abandonment Audit so you can identify different cart abandonment triggers and take necessary steps to correct them.

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