A payment funnel is a journey a customer makes on a website moving from the product page to the payment processing page. Some websites like Amazon have shortcuts that allow the customer to skip straight to the payment page and make their purchase based on currently held information. Not every busines can do this, but it’s an ideal system that is worth aiming at.
Checkout Form
The checkout form needs to be as simple as possible when it comes to paying for items. Forget about surveys, creating accounts for new customers, or asking for any additional information. When it comes to paying for an item, only the most essential information is required from the customer, their payment, and delivery details. And try to be friendly if there happen to be errors.
Things like surveys are important and useful for your brand, but there’s a time and place for them which isn’t at the checkout. Customers might have already decided to buy an item, but that can change, especially if there is resistance at the checkout. The same goes for new customer accounts, so allow customers to buy from you as a guest and then follow up later with an email.
Consistent Branding
When it comes to online sales, trust is a high priority, these days, customers are well aware of the threats from scammers, and they’re not misguided. If you want to deliver the best customer experience, make sure you build trust on your website with consistent branding throughout. This can be done by making the payment page authoritative and similar to other pages on the site.
Amazon, probably one of the biggest e-commerce brands on the planet, is a master at creating confidence and building trust through branding. The Amazon Buy Box is a prime example. Anywhere you go on the site, you can find an Amazon buy box that is consistent and trustworthy and takes you directly to the payment page, where you can check out with essential information.
Language and Currency
Customers appreciate a payment page that takes account of their currency and geolocation. Depending on where a customer is buying from, they can have different expectations around language and currency. Some customers might expect some delay here, while others will feel represented. Aim to make your shopping cark as friendly and accessible as you possibly can.
A geolocation system on your website can help to identify customers’ regions and optimize the payment page for their currency and language; this is definitely worth investing in if you want to improve your customer experience and retain customers over the long term. Customers who feel well-represented are likely to return to the website and have more confidence in buying.
Payment Methods
Payment methods are also a key factor in securing sales on the payment page. Again, you want to make paying for goods as frictionless as possible so cater to customers by offering them the most popular payment methods in their region. In mainstream economies, credit cards are often used, but PayPal, debit cards, and cryptocurrency are used frequently in international regions.
Make sure you give customers the option of paying by debit card, credit card, PayPal, or something else to secure their purchase on the payment page. Geolocation software can be useful for identifying the region, currencies, and preferred payment options and is worth investing in to improve the quality of your payments page. Always use popular payment modes.
Total Cost
Customers feel reassured when they get to the payments page and the total price is displayed; this means that the amount coming off their card is exactly the same as the amount they see on the screen, there are no hidden costs. If you want to make your customers comfortable at the checkout and build trust, break down their items and display the total cost clearly at the bottom.
If you have hidden fees or chargebacks, it can backfire on your business. It might be an oversight or something you haven’t looked into properly, but hidden fees from credit cards affect your reputation and influence the way customers interact with your business. Similarly, chargebacks are inconvenient and time-consuming for customers; they affect your reputation.
Final Thoughts
Arguably, one of the most important features of the website is the payment page, where customers need a frictionless journey to secure their goods or services. The payments page needs to be trustworthy, secure, and user-friendly, to ensure that customers have confidence in using their cards and don’t change their minds about the sale due to excessive requirements.
