It is crucial to make it easy for customers to pay. This will increase conversions and sales. Your checkout page is crucial. This is the last place that people will visit when shopping on your site. This is where they give their credit card information, and then part with their hard-earned money.

Window shoppers are paying customers when they use your checkout page. You can easily add PayPal to your website and forget about it. But if your goal is to make it easy for customers to pay and increase sales, you need to be able to control the entire checkout process.

Here are 8 tips to help you get there:

 1. You can choose from a variety of payment methods

Although it may sound obvious, there are sites that only offer one payment option. An infographic by Milo reveals that 56% of respondents want a variety payment options at the checkout page.

Although it is not practical or necessary to offer every payment option, you should look at your target audience and see what payment methods they use.

This will allow you to capture the majority visitors to your website.

One example of a great combination is to allow direct bank transfer and payments from all major credit card. It all comes down to who you are catering to.

You should use a service that allows you to pay with multiple credit cards, PayPal, and coupons. A good combination is to allow direct bank transfer and payments from all major credit card. It all comes down to who you are catering to.

2. Create a seamless design

You want everything to be consistent from a branding standpoint. To increase brand recognition for your company, you should use the same colors, fonts and design on your checkout page.

While certain online payment providers may provide the frontend for you, you have no control over the design and appearance of your checkout page.

With all the horror stories and online scams, it is normal for people to be suspicious of checkout pages that are different from the one they purchased.

Keep your brand’s design consistent across all channels and especially on your checkout page, to increase brand awareness.

3. Do not redirect people

You have worked hard to bring people to your site. You worked so hard to get people to your website. Why not send them to another website to make payment?

This is the biggest disadvantage to using a service such as PayPal, which redirects users away from your site to a checkout page.

Customers feel as though they are paying money to another business because they don’t have control over the checkout page design.

People will not pay attention to checking out. This is why your business name should be the last thing they think of.

4. It’s easy to fix errors

People make mistakes. It is a fact. Sometimes, a zip code is overlooked, or an email address contains the wrong “@”. Your task is to highlight the error and encourage people to fix it.

Some checkout pages have an error message at top, but most people don’t realize that they must scroll all the way to see the explanation. You want the error message to appear in that field.

A handy tip to make it easier for people who pay is to save their information.

There is nothing more frustrating than having to submit all your information again for longer forms because of a single mistake.

In an infographic from Invesp submission errors were ranked among the top 10 conversion problems during checkout.

5. Ask for the most important information only

You want to keep the information you request as minimal as possible, just like when you build an email list.

A form that contains information that isn’t necessary to make a purchase is the worst thing for a conversion. To make it easier for customers to pay you, there are a lot of fields that they need to fill out.

This is not the 400m hurdles. It’s a sprint, where you want people to get through the checkout quickly and easily.

A report by Forrester revealed that 11% of U.S. adults have abandoned online purchases because they didn’t want or couldn’t register.

Avoid asking unnecessary questions about the payment form to avoid losing customers.

If you do require additional information such as a telephone number, be sure to explain why.

6. Give assurances about security and privacy

Personal information should always be disclosed.

A survey done by EConsultancy revealed that 58% of respondents abandoned the checkout page because they were concerned about security of payment.

It is important to maintain a consistent design, and not redirect customers to third-party checkout pages, in order to build trust with potential customers. You must do more to ensure that people’s data is secure from hackers.

You will typically need a Secure Sockets Layer certificate (SSL) for your website in order to secure credit card information and provide secure connections.

You will also need to adhere to the standards set forth by the PCI Security Standards Council. Payment card companies enforce PCI compliance, while the council manages security standards for all cardholders who store, transmit, or process cardholder data.

Make sure you display your security credentials using SSL and PCI badges.

7. Limit distractions to a minimum

Your checkout page is, as it should be obvious, the final step in the sales cycle. It is the last step. It’s the last step.

Advertisements should never be placed.

This is your objective: to see people through until they make the final payment.

8.  Make clear calls to action

Do not leave anyone guessing as to what you will do next.

Make it clear that when someone adds an item in their basket, they can “Continue shopping” or “Continue checkout.”

These nine steps will ensure that your customers have a pleasant shopping experience and a seamless payment processing process. The success of your business depends on the way you process credit cards. To ensure your online business payments are a pleasant experience, Balanced Processing Partners can be reached online, by email [email protected] or by telephone at (800 354-6256).