Are you a business owner looking to start selling online? Or do you already sell online but aren’t happy with how it’s going?
Well, either way, it’s a good time to take stock of how you can get the most out of your online transactions. Small changes in the online payment process can have significant impacts on the overall profit you make.
This is not only because you may lose more to fees, but also because your customers may get frustrated and end up abandoning their cart.
Here are the top five things you need to consider in terms of your online transactions.
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1. Commission Fees
This is the most obvious and most important consideration. When you look at payment gateways for your online store, you will see that each provider offers different commission rates. Usually, it’s a flat fee, plus a percentage of the purchase price.
While the differences between providers may seem small, they will become very big differences over time.
2. Seamless Checkout Process
Having said that, online transactions are not all about the commission. You also need to ensure that your customers can make online payments with ease. Otherwise, it could affect your abandonment rate.
If customers find the checkout process confusing or complicated, they may end up going and buying a similar product somewhere else. That means you need to make sure your payment provider is offering a reliable and user-friendly platform.
3. Money Security
When choosing a merchant service provider, you also need to look at the security features they offer. These features may seem irrelevant to you if you are operating a small business, but they could save you a lot of money and trouble in the long run.
You don’t want people to be able to purchase things from you with stolen cards, for example, because you may be forced to return the money later.
4. Branding
Your online business has its own brand, but a payment gateway might require you to add their branding to your site as well. You need to think about how this fits with your overall image.
Do you maybe want to try a white label option to keep your site clean?
5. Range of Payment Options
Another thing that may make customers turn away is if your payment processor does not allow for their preferred payment option.
For example, some payment processors won’t accept PayPal, while PayPal (in some circumstances) will force users to create a PayPal account before checking out.
Online Transactions Make or Break Businesses
With so much business now being done over the internet, you need to make sure your online transactions are meeting consumer expectations. Near enough is probably not good enough.
Make sure you test your online checkout system yourself to make sure that the customer experience is up to scratch. Your customers like your products, but they can be easily swayed if they can’t buy them conveniently.
If you’ve found this information useful, why not check out some of our other great articles on tech and business?