5 Design and UX Trends for Improving Retail CX
May 22, 2023 • 2 Minute Read • Diana Pun, Associate Creative Director
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The Crucial Role of Payment Systems in the Customer Experience
Dec 26, 2023 • 3 Minute Read • Thomas John, Commerce Practice Lead
To consumers, a frictionless and intuitive checkout process can be the difference between abandoning their cart and making a purchase. How can online retailers lower cart abandonment rates and increase customer value through a better customer experience (CX)?
The convenience of digital commerce has conditioned consumers to expect more from payment experiences across the physical and digital spectrum, including in-store, online, and social channels. Even as brands have invested recently in functions like search, merchandising, and personalization, consumers still face friction in the last part of their transactional journey - the all-important checkout process.
Failing to offer a smooth and intuitive checkout experience is likely to harm your customers’ experience and impact their satisfaction with your brand. This results in higher rates of abandoned carts, reduced lifetime customer value, and fewer repeat customers. The payment system you choose profoundly influences how your customers perceive your brand. We'll explore three key areas in which payment factors directly impact the customer experience and explore ways to enhance these features for heightened customer satisfaction.
Offering Multiple Forms of Payments
Brands create a more convenient experience when they allow customers to select a payment method at checkout. This freedom gives customers control over their shopping experience and helps reduce friction. In an IDC shoppers report, 15% of shoppers abandon a retailer and shop elsewhere if the payment and financing choices available are limited.
Now is the time for brands to embrace the strategy in the new CX battlefield: The Payment Experience. Your strategy to mitigate friction should include some of the following considerations:
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New financing options like Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) via services like Klarna and AfterPay, are increasingly impacting consumers’ brand choices.
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Incorporating innovative new payment technologies, such as biometric-based verification, digital wallets (Apple Pay, Google Pay, etc.), and digital currencies (especially those backed by central banks), can be a differentiator for your brand.
Unlocking Seamless & Easy-to-Use Payment Experiences
Your customers expect a consistent experience throughout their journey with your brand. If they're browsing your site and encounter inconsistencies during checkout, they may doubt your website's legitimacy and not complete the purchase. Imagine browsing a sleek, modern website for trendy clothes, only to encounter an outdated and limited checkout page. Such inconsistencies breed a reluctance to complete purchases.
Ensuring a cohesive design and functionality across all pages, including checkout, fosters customer confidence and encourages seamless transactions.
Even when providing diverse payment options such as Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) and services such as Klarna and AfterPay, it's crucial to ensure a cohesive end-to-end experience. These solutions offer robust integration capabilities into your system, enabling the capture of necessary transaction data for completion. Additionally, accurately tracking and storing approval data from these systems is essential for a successful settlement process and seamless and efficient transactions.
In a recent Baymard Institute user experience study, 26% of shoppers who abandoned their carts did so because the checkout process was too long.
Want to optimize your storefront easily? Implement effective usability practices.
Incorporate a responsive design, enabling tap-friendly fields for mobile users, or integrating quick selection options like accordion controls for smoother payment method choices. These strategies can significantly enhance your checkout process and overall user experience.
Secure Purchasing: Instill Trust in Your Brand
Ecommerce growth has not shown signs of slowing down in the past couple of years. With the opportunities this brings for accessing payment information, fraud and cybercrime have increased in lockstep with online transactions. Something that your customers are very well aware of.
Your customers want to be assured that their information is safe with you.
Simple Ways to Increase Confidence In the Safety of Customer Information and Transactions:
- Display security certification badges or symbols from reputable and well-known authorities. These badges act as visual cues to reassure visitors that your site meets certain security standards or has been verified by trusted entities.
- Require multi-factor authentication or use address verification systems with your payment providers to protect against fraud abuse.
- Regularly update and maintain robust encryption protocols across your website and payment gateways. Encryption ensures that sensitive customer data remains secure during transmission.
Optimize Your Checkout to Stand Out in the Marketplace
In today's market, CX holds significance for businesses seeking to differentiate. Customers are saying that they value how they pay, and it's influencing how they shop.
You cannot overlook CX when you're optimizing or considering your payment mix. There's a growing need to enhance the checkout and payment experience with seamless options and consistent website designs. Applying methods to enhance trust requires robust security measures. By adopting and prioritizing these elements and features, your business can offer the speed, convenience, and security necessary to win the hearts of customers and transform them into loyal advocates.
Want to elevate your CX game for lasting customer loyalty? Our team can help transform your business and captivate customers, whether prioritizing seamless payment options, enhancing checkout experiences, or integrating robust security measures–because how they pay is how you win.