Look at your payment options. Can you expand them?
There are many third-party payment options available, the most popular of which may be PayPal. Make the most of these third-party services and offer multiple payment options if you can.
In the case of one of my clients, once an item is added to the shopping cart and it's time for checkout, the buyer needs to complete all of the mailing and shipping address information and then is offered a single option for payment - through a radio button with a single selection (already pre-selected) - PayPal. It's not clear to the shopper what happens after all of the personal information is provided and the Submit button is pushed - will you go directly to PayPal? What if I've never used PayPal before?
While PayPal is a great way of handling online payments and its security measures are top notch, some buyers might not even know what it is. If you are offering PayPal as a payment option, you'll want to take advantage of PayPal's merchant services and display the credit card logos as well as integrate PayPal into your shopping cart to the full extent possible. You might even want to offer a link to information that tells your customers how PayPal works for those who aren't familiar with it - especially how it works specifically for your site.
Another merchant option is Google Checkout, which is growing in popularity and is free for merchants, at least until 2008 sometime, at which time Google may decide to start charging for the service.
Some people don't use credit cards. What payment options can you offer them? Of course, you don't need a credit card with a PayPal account, but not everyone knows that.
Remember, online sales are very competitive, and you need to offer as many payment options as possible, especially those that are being offered by your competitors. Make checkout and payment an easy and relatively painless process. Know what your competitors are doing.
More Website Conversion Tips in this Series
- Conversion Tip 1: Use your return policies to convert visitors to customers
- Conversion Tip 3: Provide easy access to customer service
- Conversion Tip 4: Offer a toll-free number and make it visible
- Conversion Tip 5: Be your own mystery shopper
- Conversion Tip 6: Make your site secure and make it known
- Conversion Tip 7: Visit your competitors sites often
- Conversion Tip 8: Solicit and welcome feedback
- Conversion Tip 9: Offer special discounts and promote them heavily
