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So, you’re a fintech or tech platform that offers in-app payment capabilities? Whether your payment functionality is native to your platform or an embedded experience, it’s essential to modern transactions. Contemporary consumers aren’t interested in leaving your platform to make their payments, and these customers value convenience and speed over anything else. While offering payments is a crucial step to your success, there are a number of missteps you can make that will deter customers, increase user dropoff, and even go so far as to damage your brand’s reputation. In a world where we conduct countless digital transactions every single day, a seamless experience is completely non-negotiable.
We’ve rounded up a list of payment-related mistakes that you need to avoid for user satisfaction, peak performance, and all-around growth.
Lacking Payment Options
If you understand modern user psychology, you know that any unnecessary effort on the user's part has the potential to send them running. For example, if they are preparing to check out on your platform, and they learn that you don’t accept Apple Pay, where all of their information is stored, something as simple as having to walk to another room in their house to get their physical credit card might make them abandon their transaction entirely. You’d be surprised how common it is for users to drop off in the face of a minor inconvenience. Further, not offering a wide variety of payment options might stifle your potential growth in new markets. We understand that fees and red tape are involved when it comes to offering various payment options, but it’s critical that you offer the market standard at the very least.
Not Showing Price in Local Currency
If you’re a brand with plans for global growth, considering an international customer’s experience is key. Users want to see themselves in brands, and their user experience needs to make them feel that your products or services are for them. Most modern payment platforms allow customers to see your prices and their totals in their local currency. This is a key feature, a feature that must be available at all parts of the transaction, from browsing to checkout. If someone can’t gain a clear and instant understanding of what your services will cost them, they may drop off immediately. Or, if they persist and are hit with the converted prices upon checkout, the sticker shock might send them running. We’ve seen a lot of growth in this area recently, with platforms seamlessly switching between currencies depending on a user’s geographical location. Many brands still require users to select their currency at checkout manually, and–unfortunately–many still don’t offer multi-currency functionality. This is an area that can either damage your business or set you apart.
Needing to Leave Your App
A massive detriment to your business is if your customers must leave your ecosystem to make payments on a third-party platform. What we mean by this is that you need an embedded payment experience. It can absolutely be done through a third party, but that experience must be seamless. Even if your users do have to leave your ecosystem momentarily, this needs to be seamless and undetectable to the user. If the navigation to and from the third-party payment vendor is clunky or confusing, you will lose customers at the most critical juncture of their user journey. In addition, customers may question your app's legitimacy or worry that they’re being scammed.
Hidden Fees
Everyone is used to fees. Most consumers shop in the global marketplace constantly, incurring fees like shipping or credit card processing, for example. However, this becomes unacceptable for users when additional, unexpected, or noticeably expensive fees are tacked on at the last minute. Be sure to really consider what fees your user will incur as a result of the platforms, vendors, and processors you have selected. Consider if these fees are reasonable, common, and if they’re significant enough to surprise or deter users. If your fees are, for whatever reason, more expensive than your competitors, you need to be sure they are efficiently communicated throughout the entire process. But more importantly, you may need to reconsider your model and fee structure to better align with your users' expectations. When it comes time to pay, any unfavorable surprises will lose business.
Lacking Transactional Communication
While this one may not impact your users’ decision to make their initial purchase, it has the potential to frustrate them after the fact or impact their ongoing relationship with your brand. It’s important to ensure that your users are receiving all of the data they need, including their receipts, tracking information, and all transactional details that they might need for future reference or for peace of mind that their purchase was successful. If your users have the option to checkout as guests, for example, they still need easy access to their transactional information. From troubleshooting to record keeping, clients don’t always view the records you send them. Still, in the case that they need that information, they will inevitably be frustrated, confused, or upset if it’s inconvenient or impossible to get what they need.
Mandatory Account Creation
Speaking of checking out as a guest, making it mandatory for all users to create an account in order to make payment can add an extra layer of complexity that might discourage them from proceeding. Any unnecessary extra step can negatively affect your sales.
Old or Suspicious-Looking Payment Technology
In a world where online financial scams run rampant, a suspicious-looking user interface may dissuade users from entering their payment information. You need to ensure you’re working with modern payment technology partners or modernizing your in-house payment experience to ensure you're not scaring customers off.
Uncommon Use of Words
Wording matters. While today’s users are savvy, uncommon wording might stand out as confusing or suspicious. How you label your form fields, process descriptions, and calls to action needs to align with the terminology your users are used to. While this may not dissuade users in and of itself, it might lead to confusion or suspicion, and that is not the user experience you want to offer.
For countless reasons, a user might need clarification or satisfaction with your payment experience. It’s important to limit user drop-offs by understanding your users, the ways they’re used to transact, what your competitors are doing, and where you have opportunities for improvement. Today’s consumers move fast and transact often, so the standard for simplicity, efficiency, and overall modern experiences is higher than ever. If you can’t offer your user the best possible payment experience, you need to partner with someone who can.
Get in touch today to partner with Mozrt.