Is your checkout journey losing your business money?

In this digitalization era, customers are diverted towards the e-commerce marketplace from the physical stores. Nowadays, setting up an online business has become much easier and more profitable than retail outlets, as it reduces the shop rental expenses, no cost on the upkeep of inventory, etc. Customers get various options in one place, providing them with a convenient buying experience. Setting up an online business and displaying attractive merchandise is not sufficient, but the merchants who invest their money in providing the best shopping experience will stand apart from the crowd. Here comes the checkout experience into play.

As the global e-commerce market is expanding exponentially, the concept of the checkout journey is gaining importance equally with digital payments. The checkout journey is a process where customers finalise a product, add them to the cart, and proceed to make the payment with a suitable payment option. Successful transaction completion is not an end but a beginning of the customer experience, so the merchants must provide a smooth checkout experience.

Any bad customer experience means a loss of revenue to the merchants. This applies to both physical stores and online stores. Let's say a customer tries many products but leaving the store with an empty hand is not a good sign for the merchant. In e-commerce sites, also customers buy many products at a single time. If that customer finds any inconvenience in the checkout journey, customers may cancel the whole order, leading to a business loss. What is the point in spending lakhs of rupees on marketing to increase the number of potential customers if it fails to convert them to paying buyers?

India is facing a high abandonment rate depending on the industry, so it's important to do everything to keep the checkout experience simple and friction-free.

Merchants should consider the following points in mind while providing the hassle-free checkout journey:-

• Multiple payment options: Offering multiple payment options so the customers can choose their payment mode as they wish. A merchant can use the payment gateway service of Cashfree Payments, which offers multiple payment options to the users, including debit cards, credit cards, 70+ net banking options, UPI, and wallets, including Paytm.
• Direct Integration: Ugly pop-ups and multiple redirects during checkout may confuse customers. Cashfree payments offer direct integration to merchants so that the entire process, from placing the order to processing payments, takes place within the merchant's website, and the customer isn't redirected to any third-party page.
• Save card facility: Merchants must ensure that the payment gateway allows them to save card details. The card information should be auto-filled during the next transaction. Using the Cashfree Payments Save Card details feature customers just need to fill in sensitive information CVV and expiry date) and then authorise the transaction through OTP. This facility saves time and reduces friction during the payment process, as customers are not required to fill in all the card details.
• Safety and Security: The security of transactions plays a major role in brand building. Cashfree Payments is ISO certified, which demonstrates that the data processed are safe and secured. It uses a data-driven approach to manage risk and block fraudsters.
• Pay Later options: Cashfree Payments hosts a wide range of pay later options for businesses which allow customers to pay in installments over time without the need to pay upfront for the purchases made.

Customer experience is crucial. Here are some reasons why the checkout journey has to be prioritised:-

• Simplifying the checkout process helps retain more old customers and grabs the attention of new customers. Merchants must opt for one-page checkout because more steps and pages make it more complex and time-consuming for the customers.
• Seamless checkouts create a significant impact on customer satisfaction, and their referrals to other new potential customers return to the merchant's website. As a result, they play an important role in upbringing customer loyalty.
• Secure payment methods, bank offers, attractive discounts, cashback offers, EMI options, and reward points on purchases are great ways to gain a competitive advantage.
• In the modern e-commerce environment, brand image and reputation are everything. Brand reputation is all about delivering a consistently positive brand experience end-to-end — from the checkout journey to delivery and customer support.

Knowing about the range of elements that constitutes checkout, its benefits, and its features, it's crucial to streamline the checkout process and make it as fast as possible. Likewise, consumers, today expect a quick and easy purchase process, and catering to their needs will automatically reduce cart abandonment rate and increase conversions.

Cashfree payments have been serving 3,00,000+ growing businesses in India and across the globe to collect payments, make payouts, manage international payments, and more. They also offer an advanced payment gateway like Buy Now Pay Later suite, Rupay credit card, UPI Autopay, customised UPI Suite, and other alternate payment modes for businesses to increase revenue.

(Above mentioned article is consumer connect initiative. This article is a paid publication and does not have journalistic/editorial involvement of IDPL, and IDPL claims no responsibility whatsoever)