10 Tips For Processing Payments For Your eCommerce Store
Running an ecommerce store is more difficult than it may seem. You need to find ways to build brand recognition and trust among internet users without having the benefit of face-to-face contact. Additionally, you want to make it as easy as possible for customers to order your products and ensure your most popular items are always in stock.
You may not have a place to store your inventory, but you need to manage it nonetheless. When finding ways to make running your business easier, you may be surprised at how ePOS can manage your inventory, help you build relationships with your customers, and simplify the transaction portion of the customer experience. Keep reading for ways you can make shopping with your ecommerce store a breeze.
1. Keep Items in Stock
Picture this: You decide you want to buy a sport coat online. You do some research to find one in your favourite colour that will fit just right, and are delighted to find it on sale. You enter your address for shipping but forgot to get your credit card out, so you have to go looking for your billfold. After a few more minutes, you have entered your billing info, turned down a couple of additional offers at checkout, and completed your transaction. Now you are imagining how dapper you will look in your new apparel. Next day, you get an email informing you that your sport coat is on backorder and it will be at least two weeks before it can be shipped. Frustrating and disappointing, right? Don’t let this be your ecommerce store. Stay on top of your inventory so your customers are always satisfied when their orders come in right on time.
2. Make Sure Pricing is Accurate
When your pricing at checkout does not match the advertised price, it sends a couple of different messages to your customers. Neither is positive. Let your customers know your ecommerce store is organised and trustworthy to do business, by making sure all of your pricing is consistent from website to checkout.
3. Allow Customers to Check Out Without an Account
Some customers just want to finish their order and move on without setting up an account. Others just prefer that their personal information not be stored with your site. Give them the option to check out as a guest so that they do not have to spend the extra time creating an account, or worry about where their information is being stored.
4. Allow Customers to Save Their Information
Conversely, some customers prefer the ease and speed of being able to check out in a hurry. Give them the option to save their information on a secure server, so that when they shop with your ecommerce store again, checkout is even faster and more convenient.
5.Accept All Forms of Payment
Finding the perfect sport coat and not being able to order it because you don’t have the right payment method is about as disappointing as the dreaded backorder email. Make sure your it is as easy as possible for your customers to spend their money at your store by accepting as many forms of payment as possible.
6. Keep Your Look Cohesive
When your checkout page is completely different from your store site, it makes customers question the legitimacy of the site. Phishing and skimming scams are rampant on the internet, so you want your customers to feel secure shopping with your store. Make sure your customers know what to expect from start to finish so they do not have to worry that their personal and financial information may be stolen.
7. Allow Customers to Add Items to Their Cart During Checkout
Can you imagine if you were at the grocery store and had to start your shopping over because you forgot to grab milk until you got to checkout? Don’t do this to your customers. Make sure they can go back and add items to their cart even after beginning their process. If they have to start over just to add that pair of earrings they forgot they wanted to their cart, you may lose that sale. Worse, they may give up once they see that their cart has emptied, and not buy anything at all.
8. Keep Calls to Action Clear
When customers are ready to check out, make sure they can easily find the button they need to click, and that it is clearly stated. Additionally, make sure there is a button clearly labeled and placed so they can go back to shopping if they so desire.
9. Don’t Ask for Too Much Information
If a customer is creating an account with your store, you have a little more freedom to ask for information beyond what you actually need. However, when they are simply checking out as a guest, only get the absolute minimum information you need to process the order. This will keep the process faster and simplified, and avoid raising suspicion about why you need additional information.
10. Show What’s in the Cart
Make sure that at some point during the checkout process, customers can see what is in their cart to confirm they are finished shopping. This will spare them the trouble of toggling to and fro trying to remember what they are purchasing.
