The Advantages Of Multiple Payment Gateways

When setting up any kind of online store, you’ll need to have a payment gateway in place. Without it, you can’t accept payments from customers. There are so many different options you can use these days, it’s hard to pick just one. Luckily, you do have the option of using several different ones. Here are just some of the advantages of using multiple payment gateways on your site. 

What Is A Payment Gateway?

First, it’s important to understand just what a payment gateway is. Essentially, a payment gateway is any method you can use to accept payments online. One of the most popular ones is PayPal, something that you may well have used yourself online. 

The Advantages Of Using Multiple Payment Gateways

While you can just stick with one payment gateway, it makes a lot more sense to use a few on your e-commerce site. Why should you look into using more than one?

Give Customers Choice

If there’s one thing customers want from you, it’s choice. Every customer has a preferred payment method. If they get to the payment screen of your site and see they can’t use PayPal or Klarna, or any other preferred method, you may well lose them at this stage. 

‘It’s always a good idea to give the customer the choice of a few options’ says tech blogger Matthew Deacon, from Draft Beyond and Writinity. ‘If you let them choose their payment method, they’re much more likely to go ahead and make the purchase.’

Have Backup In Case Of Outages

With any payment method, there’s always the risk of them suffering outages. Technical issues can never be totally avoided, but you can work around them if you have multiple payment options. 

If a customer tries to pay but the payment method fails, you can offer them the option of using a different one. That allows them to still complete the order, and you won’t miss out on a sale because of circumstances beyond your control. 

Offer Security To Customers

These days, customers are very savvy when it comes to online shopping. They won’t enter their card details if they don’t trust the site, or the payment gateway you’re offering. For example, many customers feel that PayPal is trustworthy option, as opposed to others out there. 

If you have a range of payment gateways on your site, then you’ll be able to offer something to your customer that they trust. They can pick the option that they feel is safest, and you can complete your sale. Remember that customers in other countries may not trust the same payment options you do, so a good range is essential. 

Increase Your Global Coverage

One of the great things about e-commerce is that you can sell to people all over the world. If you’re selling to people in different countries, then having multiple payment gateways means that they can pay for products in their local currency. That makes things easier for them as they can see just what they’re paying. 

‘Having a range of payment options also helps you avoid issues like charge backs’ says writer Amanda Chisholm from Research Papers UK. ‘There are some options that don’t allow payments from certain countries due to past issues, so having a good spread keeps you protected and ensures everyone can make payments.’

Increase Your Conversion Rates

As you’ve seen in all these examples, having those multiple payment gateways means that your customers are way more likely to complete their purchase. They’ll find a range of options that they trust, that allow them to pay in their own currency, and are easy to use. 

You’ll need to combine these multiple payment gateways with a well designed checkout, that makes it easy for them to make their purchase. It’s all about conversion, and avoiding customers abandoning their carts. Using these gateways with other conversion methods, you’ll be able to keep the sales rolling in. 

There’s so many reasons why you want to have multiple payment gateways on your site. It’s all about giving the customer choice, and allowing them to pay in a manner that’s easiest for them. If you can give them that, then you’re going to see many more completed transactions on your store front. 

Guest article written by: Jenny Williams is a business analyst and writer, creating related content for Bristol Writing Service and Last Minute Writing. She also writes for the service blog at Gum Essays.