For merchants, learning how to improve the customer experience is an ongoing task. In order to maintain a successful business, the overall customer experience is one of the most important factors to account for within a business strategy. One of the ways a business owner can offer a positive experience to their customers is by offering multiple payment options. In fact, the variety of payment options presented to customers at checkout highly determines the customer’s purchasing experience.
To help increase a positive customer experience, we've put together a list of three important reasons why merchants should offer multiple payment options. Continue reading to learn why multiple payment options are so important.
1. E-Commerce Spending Is Rising
When it comes to shopping, customers continue to want multiple payment options. One specific option that is growing in usage is online shopping. A report done by Statista showed that in 2017, e-commerce accounted for 9% of the total retail sales in the United States and would likely grow to 13.7% by 2021. Meanwhile, the total number of people buying goods and digital services worldwide was 1.66 billion in 2017, and that number is expected to grow to 2.14 billion by 2021.
With online spending continuing to gain recognition, merchants who currently do not offer an online store should look into deploying an e-commerce site. Online shopping will enhance the customer experience for those busy consumers who like to shop from the convenience of home and for those wanting to avoid long lines in-stores.
2. Mobile Wallets Lead to More Sales
Consumers are becoming more comfortable with making purchases on their smartphones, indicating a need for merchants to integrate mobile payment solutions into their business model. Many consumers are converting to mobile wallets not only for accessibility purposes, but also for the enhanced security measures they offer, such as tokenization. By adapting to new alternative methods of payments like mobile wallets, merchants could see more customers, leading to more sales for their business.
“Mobile wallets like Apple Pay, Android Pay and PayPal intend to consolidate all payments across all channels into one easy-to-use, secure, portable payment method,” said IDC Financial Insights research director, James Wester. “It’s intended to make payment anywhere convenient.”
Additionally, merchants looking to convert a potential customer quickly will want to take advantage of mobile wallets, as they store information, like shipping and billing addresses. This makes paying with a mobile wallet as easy as one-click payments, taking away barriers to the bottom of the funnel, where mobile customers are most likely to drop off.
3. More Options = More Customers
In today’s payment environment, customers prefer to have a range of choices to complete a purchase. Businesses only offering one method of payment are viewed as outdated, so it is important as a merchant, you offer the most modern solutions and give customers multiple options for payments. Having a variety of payment options opens the doors for more customers to do business with and could lead to more customers long-term.
When considering the customer experience, it’s important for merchants to offer a variety of payments. Merchants can gain additional revenue for their business by extending an e-commerce option for consumers, incorporate mobile wallet acceptance for their business, and gain more customers with more payment options.
Looking to improve and expand your payment processing capabilities? Learn how First American can help.
