When your customers go through the checkout process, you want their experience to be hassle-free and convenient. For this reason, it helps to have several payment gateways on your system. Moreover, if your site lacks a payment gateway they can use, there is a high chance buyer will cancel the purchase.

The Baymard Institute surveyed shoppers asking why they cancel or abandon carts and many shoppers say they cancel or abandon items online because the sites don’t offer enough payment gateways.

Online buyers have a preference for certain payment methods. One buyer may prefer the option to build cashback points with a credit card they like while another may prefer to pay from their mobile phone through ACH. Multiple payment gateways allow you to customize options for online shoppers.

A payment method for one site may not be the best for another site. Here are some questions to ask when deciding on a good payment system for your site:

1. Do you sell tangible items or digital products and services?

2. Do buyers on your site have a certain type of payment gateway they prefer?

Different age groups may like different payment methods.

3. Are your products low-cost high volume or high-cost low volume?

A gateway’s cost per transaction can affect your profit.

4. Do you need a gateway to allow customers to sign for recurring payments?

For site owners who provide subscription services or products, recurring payment gateway helps make the buying process simpler and improve sales. You can set up payment gateways like Stripe and Payflow to access client credit cards at various intervals such as weekly, monthly, or bi-weekly.

These payment systems allow you to keep clients who could forget to renew subscriptions, which means less trouble for you.
Asking these questions will help set up your payment gateway to fulfill client needs. The right match makes the customer experience customizable, decrease issues with checkouts, and creates more profits from sales.

Advantages of Using Multiple Payment Gateways

Here are several reasons why your e-commerce store should have more than one payment gateway.

Makes The Clients Feel Secure

Safety should be a priority when it comes to payment methods. After all, the primary job of the gateway is to encrypt client data and transfer it securely. But apart from securely sending data, providing customers with various payment gateways makes your clients feel better about using your site.

A survey from Baymard University revealed 17% of shoppers cancel purchases because they don’t feel secure using their credit card on that site. So offering several payment methods eliminates this issue. Online customers feel more secure buying from a site with more options to pay as opposed to shops with one or two choices. The result indicates an increase in trust.

When you provide multiple payment gateways, it gives customers the green light to trust you. Companies like Paypal gain your trust through association. The more buying options you offer clients, the more professionalism and legitimacy you show.

1. Backup In Case Something Goes Wrong

If you only have one way for customers to pay, what happens when it fails? Do you have a plan for that?
Multiple payment gateways provide another option when one payment method has issues. A different payment gateway can manage sales in cases of sale overflows and surges.

2. Customers Like Having Multiple Paying Options

Buyers enjoy choosing from provided payment options. Your primary target shoppers may prefer PayPal instead of putting in their credit card numbers. Processors like PayPal increase sales when you offer it as a payment option.

3. Get More Analytical Data

Another benefit of multiple payment gateways is it allows you to collect additional client data. Each payment gateway has different functions that offer a broad array of analytical data. For instance, one payment option may allow you to gather data clients based on their currency, state, or country. Gathering this extra data can lead to more informed business decisions and give you insight on how to improve payments.

4. Increase International Sales

One benefit of an online shop is it allows you to sell to anyone in the world, which you can’t do in a brick-and-mortar shop. However, selling internationally may require extra gateways. After your business starts to increase internationally, it will require you to accept payments in the countries of your target audience. You raise the bar high when you allow foreign clients to purchase.

Of course, these payment options differ from country to country and the accepted currency. In China, customers commonly use Alipay. If you don’t have Alipay, it could cost you a huge client base.

If you plan to sell internationally, different gateways help you handle different currencies. Offering extra options to foreign customers helps raise client trust. You need a payment option that can convert your shop’s currency to local.

5. Various Payment Gateways Offer Flexibility

Can your payment options offer monthly subscriptions and billing? Is it able to adapt to your website and platform? It is unlikely that one payment gateway meets all your needs. Various payment methods ensure you have the ability to handle any situation that arises. You can also adjust the particular payment option to fit your needs at the time.

6. Testing Payment Gateways

Is Paypal more popular than Stripe on your site? Maybe your site visitors prefer Payoneer or Bitpay over the popular options out there in the market.

Do they prefer to pay straight with debit or credit cards and which brands do they use? As a business owner, you have a responsibility to test and configure payment options.

Multiple payment gateways allow you to test options with the best conversions.

Disadvantages of Having Multiple Payment Gateways

The task of managing all the gateways comes with handling contracts and vendors, which takes time. Extra fees and expenses are another con of implementing multiple gateways for payments. Offering multiple payment options may not turn into expected profits.

The cost of using the gateways and net worth could differ greatly resulting in profit loss. Using multiple gateways means pricing in bulk becomes harder. Volume pricing comes with all payment processor decreasing fees as you sell more. But when it gets divided among processors, it takes longer to reach your sales goals.

Features to Look for on Payment Gateways

Multiple payment processors on your site offer numerous benefits to you and clients. However, it still requires gateways to suit company needs. Look for a gateway that integrates with your bookkeeping program and that auto-generates sales reports.

You must determine the popular items on your site, popular trends for seasonal sales, and clients who spend the most money. Collecting such data allows you to promote the right products to the right people at the right time. Programs such as Braintree can help you manage customer refunds, disputes, and chargebacks.

PayPal allows customers to check out on your site or through their site. This may not seem like a big deal, but it has a big impact on the customer. When shoppers buy through PayPal, you don’t have much control over the experience at that time on your site. Instead of your site brand or logo, your customers will see the PayPal window.

Customers who buy this way will not view other recommended items once they click on PayPal, which can reduce extra income from other items. However, most customers prefer PayPal because is it widely popular and they probably already used it and have their information saved. Since more people will be using mobile applications to purchase in the future, it helps to have mobile payment options.

Conclusion

Since payment gateways are an essential component of your customer’s buying experience, they accomplish much more than just handling and sending customer data. They send a message about your business. When you choose a payment gateway, keep in mind that the brand matters.

If you use an unfamiliar payment gateway, the customer may abandon their shopping cart and not trust you. So think of payment gateways as your shop brand that builds customer trust. Without this brand, you run the risk of losing a large volume of possible sales and repeat customers.

Payment gateways send a message about the way you treat clients and your values. Payment gateways are just as a critical part of your e-commerce personality as your website layout, logo, and color schemes. When you choose a payment processor, be certain to choose the best one to fit your buyer’s needs and your budget.

Don’t think of a payment gateway as a means of getting started faster. If you have an excellent store model, you must think of the future as well and you need a way to keep customers coming back. Multiple payment gateways are the way to a shopper’s wallet.

---

Author Bio:

Matija Kasapović is the owner of KasaReviews website where you can find everything WordPress related. From tutorials, guides, tips to reviews and comparisons so you can make an informed decision when choosing the right product for your business.