14 Essential Features for Taking Payments on Your Website

Whether it's because of the larger selection, better pricing, convenience, or something else, a lot more people are buying things online these days rather than in person. Despite the growing number of online shoppers, people are still wary of the drawbacks of online shopping. People are still wary of providing personal and credit card information to online retailers.

If you run an e-commerce business, one of the most important aspects of attracting and delighting your customers will be providing them with a stable, reliable, secure, and smooth online shopping experience. Take a look at the essential features for taking payments through an online payment gateway on your website:

While requiring customers to create an account before placing an order is more convenient for your marketing, it does not always benefit your customers. If you don't give them the option to check out as a guest, you might lose them along the way. Remember, once they've purchased from you and feel a little more connected to your brand, you can always ask them to create an account.

You should also consider giving customers the option of logging in with one of their social media accounts, such as Facebook or Twitter. This can reduce registration friction because it speeds up the login process. Make sure you add that you'll never post without the customer's permission, if applicable.

The disadvantage of allowing a social login? It's the only connection shoppers will have to log in with, and if anything changes about that connection (the social network's terms of service change, or they delete their account on the network), their ability to log in to your site will change as well. So, if you're allowing people to log in using social logins, figure out other ways to request more contact information.

Customers who already have an account with you want to know that their information is secure, even if they forget their login credentials. To give them peace of mind, require several layers of verification before restoring their login information. For example, if a customer forgets her password, your website could prompt her to answer a series of security questions before sending an email to a predetermined email address.

The PCI Security Standards Council (PCI SSC) establishes a set of Data Security Standards (DSS) that apply to all merchants, regardless of revenue or credit card transaction volumes.

It is your responsibility to ensure PCI compliance at the required compliance level, which is based on credit or debit card transaction volume over a 12-month period if you host and manage your own eCommerce platform. PCI compliance is built into the majority of SaaS shopping carts.

While payment processors such as PayPal, Stripe, Google Pay, and Amazon Pay can be used if you have a small website and a low number of transactions, it is much better to integrate a payment process directly into your website.

Some processors redirect online shoppers away from your website to a paysite that does not look like yours, which disrupts their experience, visually disconnects them from your brand, and can be confusing or nerve-racking, prompting them to abandon their cart.

More flexibility and customization are available with an integrated online payment gateway solution that processes your customers' information on your own server. Furthermore, your customers will have a much more pleasant experience.

To ensure a secure connection, an integrated payment page will require an SSL certificate.

To protect customers' personal and credit card information, every e-commerce website requires an SSL certificate. SSL is a standard security technology that ensures the privacy of all data transmitted between a web server and a browser.

Without it, hackers can steal your customers' information, and online shoppers will be hesitant to submit their information on your website. When online shoppers see "https://" at the beginning of your URL rather than just "http://," they will know your website is secure.

In terms of putting online shoppers at ease, you may want to include credit card logos and security seals on your website to reassure them that they are doing business with a safe and trusted site. Make them visible at least during the shopping cart and checkout phases of your site, and consider incorporating them into your website's footer.

The less time customers have to spend looking for a checkout option, the sooner they'll act and buy. We recommend placing checkout calls-to-action at the top and bottom of your web pages, in a bright colour.

If you must divide the checkout process into multiple pages, provide shoppers with a visual indicator of how far they've progressed and how much time they have left.

Shoppers cannot physically inspect or feel a product before purchasing it online, which can make some people nervous and disincentivize them from purchasing. Make your return and refund policy easily accessible to help mitigate this. Consider incorporating it into the checkout process or including it in the website's footer.

Make certain that your policy is concise, informative, engaging, and simple to understand. Declare whether the customer will receive a refund or an in-store credit, set a timeframe for returns, specify the condition you expect the product to be in, and disclose any fees upfront, such as who will pay for shipping.

Online shoppers, especially first-time customers, want to know they can easily contact your company for assistance. If you don't provide a clear path to your contact information, they may be hesitant to buy from you or may not receive the assistance they require to complete a transaction.

Include contact information such as a phone number (with hours of operation), an email address, a street address, and social media accounts. List this information as text (rather than an image) so that search engines can find it in local searches. Some retailers like to offer live chat options as well; just make sure you've integrated it with your customer records so you can create smarter marketing campaigns in the future.

Before allowing online shoppers to check out, direct them to a detailed confirmation page before completing the transaction. This page should allow them to review their cart, change the quantity or remove items, see the final price (including tax and shipping), and see when the items will be shipped.

The best checkout pages are functional, secure, visually appealing, and simple to use and navigate. The last thing you want is for someone with purchasing intent to back out at the last minute because they can't use your system or don't believe in it.

Buyers do not only buy on their computers. They also buy on mobile, so your best payment gateway must be trustworthy and simple to use for mobile users. If you have a mobile app, you may require additional functionality in order to process payments on iOS and Android.

Finally, just in case, create a confirmation email with the order number, product, payment, and shipping information, as well as your return and refund policy. If at all possible, use a real "from" email address (rather than noreply@company.com) that can be answered by a member of your customer service team. You should also make it simple to print the order confirmation page. This is also the time to offer guest customers the option of creating an account.

Setting up your e-commerce business is exciting, even if the details can be daunting. With a little forethought, you'll be well on your way to processing e-commerce transactions on the fly.

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