Reasons Why Merchants Should Offer Multiple Payment Options
Many payment options are available today that customers can use to pay for products and services online. Many business owners consider having one payment gateway enough to run their eCommerce site. While this concept works for some businesses, they may lose sales or even not grow their customer base beyond existing ones.
That’s because many customers abandon their carts when they don’t find their preferred payment method during checkout. Offering multiple payment methods on your website can significantly impact your customer’s purchasing experience. Learn how to use PayPal and other payment gateways to speed up the purchase process for your customers and reduce shopping cart abandonment on your site.
Here are other important reasons you should offer multiple payment options on your eCommerce site:
1. Retain Existing Customers
As a business owner, it’s always easier to retain your existing customers than to acquire new ones. However, while your current customers might have always used the available payment method on your site, it doesn’t mean they will continue to use the same one. Their preferences may change to a more convenient option for their new financial habits or current situations. They may also like new payment methods more than the ones they have used for years.
Failing to offer these customers the new payment methods they want to use might make them shop from another store with their preferred payment method. It’s always advisable to research the payment preferences of your existing customers, so you can improve your payment options and keep them shopping with you.
2. Attract New Customers
Today, almost everyone shops online. This means your customer base will include both older customers and millennials. However, younger customers prefer digital wallets to make payments while shopping online. On the other hand, older customers like using traditional payment methods such as bank transfers and debit cards.
The best way to attract these customers is by providing multiple payment options, including new and traditional payment methods. This is a great way to appeal to a wide range of customer payment preferences and ensure a superior customer experience. Adding multiple payment options can help you attract domestic and international customers if your payment gateway supports multiple currencies.
3. Increased Sales and Repeat Buying
Offering multiple payment options on your eCommerce site can positively impact your sales. With most of today’s customers making purchases online, offering a multitude of payment options makes a great way to increase your sales.
Apart from attracting new customers, providing multiple payment channels helps enhance the shopping experience for your customers. That means fewer customers abandon their carts while shopping on your eCommerce site, increasing your sales. A satisfying shopping experience can increase the likelihood of shoppers coming back to make additional purchases, leading to more loyal, repeat customers. This boosts your sales, improving your bottom line.
Endnote
With online shopping growing in popularity, the competition for customers is getting more fierce than ever before for online businesses. Minor details such as adding multiple payment options to your online store can give you a competitive edge over other businesses. Be sure to choose a payment gateway service that supports a wide range of payment methods to best meet your business needs.
This article has been published in accordance with Socialnomics’ disclosure policy.
