As you know a key part of an e-commerce website is actually making the sale and taking payment at the checkout stage. Which sounds incredibly simple and it both is and isn’t. As long as someone likes your product, wants or needs it and feels like your website seems reliable then there is a high chance they will want to proceed with buying it. But if the basket or checkout processor isn’t a good user experience then you could very well lose that sale.
If you are new to e-commerce then you might be considering which payment processors to use for your website and weighing up their pros and cons such as fees. I’m going to cover creating a great checkout experience and considerations for payment processors in this article.
Basket
The basket stage is the first step towards actually completing the sale on a website so is important to get this right too.
→ Once someone has added a product to their cart it can be really helpful to add some form of notification to confirm that it has been done or an indicator on a basket icon to show number of products in the basket.
→ The main thing is ensuring this is functional (eg. can you add, remove and increase quantities of products, is it a good summary of things added to cart, can they progress to the checkout stage, you may like to include a shipping estimate at this stage too)
Checkout process
My top tip is don’t reinvent the wheel at the checkout stage – this is where things looking reliable, standard and well, secure is beneficial. People are now used to how a typical checkout looks and the main cms/platforms have designed it in a user friendly way.
Now I don’t know about you but I can visualise a Shopify checkout and a WooCommerce checkout immediately and they feel familiar and reassuring. If you try to be too creative you could risk making it less user friendly, that’s not say don’t add any form of branding to the checkout because you can but keep it subtle.
The stages that you do need
→ Cart summary
→ Address input
→ Payment method selection
→ Order review
→ Confirmation page
→ Confirmation email!
Common mistakes to avoid during checkout
- Unexpected or hidden fees is one of the biggest reasons people drop off at the checkout stage. This is where either flat fees or a shipping estimate at basket is beneficial.
- Long or complicated forms can really put people off, a one page checkout can be fantastic for your visitors to quickly complete and checkout. If you do need a multi page checkout then ensure the progress is indicated (and keep steps to a minimum)
- Not allowing guest checkout. Having to login puts an extra barrier in front of the purchase for better conversions it is usually best to allow guest checkouts.
- Mistakes not being well indicated. Highlight well if a field isn’t completed correctly.
- Consider tools that allow people to autofill things like their address with an address lookup to minimise errors and make life easier!
What payment processor should your e-commerce website have?
Having a secure payment process is paramount for customers and seeing well-known names like Paypal, Stripe, Square and WorldPay are reassuring and trustworthy.
Choosing your payment solutions
One of the first things to consider is whether you want to process payments on your website or use a third-party, external payment gateway.
Ways to take payments
Merchant account – A merchant account provides you with a business bank account allowing you to take card payments online directly from customers.
Payment gateway – A payment gateway would often be when you leave the e-commerce site briefly to go to a secure site that takes the payment details (such as WorldPay or PayPal). It’s like a middle man between the customer and your website. The benefit is it’s a secure and fast way to take payment for customers.
Merchant account and payment gateway – A solution like Stripe provides both a merchant account and payment gateway in one
Payment processor – A payment processor is a company that allows you to accept electronic payments from customers by acting as an intermediary between them and a bank / financial institution.
What service/s to use
→ If you can then including multiple options can be beneficial, this might look like offering Paypal (so people can use their Paypal accounts if they wish) as well as an alternative like Stripe.
→ If you have chosen or have an existing CMS or website platform then you will need to look at which ones integrate although the main ones mentioned above should be fine with all the major e-commerce options. Some e-commerce solutions have their own payment processing for example WooCommerce offers WooCommerce Payments and Shopify offers Shopify Payments. These will typically give you a simple way to set up and take payments on your site as you don’t need to separately apply for an setup a payment gateway or merchant account.
→ Then typically you will look at the fees that are taken on completion of a sale, there is usually a base fee and a percentage fee taken.
Considerations when deciding:
- Security measures
- Fees and transaction costs
- Payment options supported
- Integration with e-commerce platform
Should you offer a pay later, split payment option on your e-commerce site?
Using a pay later or split payment option can also help customers and most will recognise names like Klarna.
There is a part of me that worries about people unnecessarily spending and getting in to debt due to services like Klarna. However on the flip side of that I think it offers inclusion in terms of being able to split payments into manageable amounts or be able to buy something they need but pay on their next payday. There is also no judgement on my part about using a service like this to buy something that someone wants and allowing it to be budgeted for in split payments – I’ve certainly done this myself! Because not everyone can afford to pay for something immediately in one go.
Are there any eco-friendly / green / sustainable payment solutions?
There doesn’t appear to be any legitimate widely used solution that I would be comfortable recommending that pitches themselves in that way. That’s not to say don’t consider the ethics of each different solution!
Would you like to learn more about improving your e-commerce website experience and conversion? My Designed for Sales masterclass will help you to spot any issues and think about how you can ensure your website is on brand and not putting your potential customers off! It’s just £15 for a 45-minute pre-recorded video masterclass.
Summary
- It’s so important for conversions to have a smooth checkout process and reliable payment processors. You want this step to be as easy to use as possible!
- Consider optimising the e-commerce checkout experience by using things like guest checkout, one page checkout and address look-ups.
Hey, I’m Kirsty McGill the creative behind Elm Leaf Studio. I’ve been a designer for 13 years now and building websites for most of them.
Elm Leaf Studio is a creative studio that exists to help small, ethically-minded businesses grow and thrive.
When I’m not designing I mostly spend my time running around after a toddler nowadays, and if I get a spare moment I enjoy reading, learning and making art.
