Breaking the Genetic Code of Payment Pages

Payment pages are the “barriers” of the Internet – barriers at a meter’s height.  Just as you’ve started to accelerate, a payment page halts your progress and asks for your wallet and credit card details. Most of the time we take a sharp U-turn, but sometimes we carry on forward and complete the purchase. It depends on the momentum, the pressure, and the attitude as well.

After building, optimizing, and monitoring many payment sites on the Web, I’ve gathered a few notes which may reduce user stress and improve conversion rates.

If you are a provider of a service or product that is sold online, then conversion rate statistics may have become one of your primary sleep deprivers. Nobody knows as much as we do how difficult it is to bring buyers to a purchasing position. It is even more difficult to see them leave empty-handed.

Over the years, companies who have transformed the task of conversion improvement into a state of both science and art have risen above the rest.

There are several basic points that need to be taken into consideration. First, however, you must make sure to measure the success percentage (by defining goals in Google Analytics).  You also have to recognize that the average percentage of visitors to your site that eventually buy something will be in the single-digits – 6% being the industry average. There is no one hundred percent and not even close to it.

Let’s quickly discuss another matter before we dive into detail.  Unlike long registration forms, or detailed surveys where the user experience is the primary factor affecting the completion percentage, the user experience of payment pages does not have such an influence on the ratio. The most complicated and painful action, so to speak, from the users’ perspective is not the clicking, or filling out many obligatory fields, but rather the very act of pulling the wallet from the pocket and typing in the credit card number. In other words, the conscious act to pay for the product is a key problem. So, in fact, the most critical component influencing the conversion percentage is the maturity of the buyers’ decision to purchase.

In order to make sure that the credit card processing page itself does not derail the process or create incomplete entries, it is recommended to observe these simple rules:

1.  Limit the amount of information and the number of outgoing links from the credit processing page.
Maintain “clinical cleanliness” with everything that has to do with the purchasing page. Any link that does not promote the interests of the purchase is not relevant. Even the permanent links in the upper bar are not essential in the payment page. Build a path with one exit – through the “Place Order” button.
It is possible of course to add a quote from a satisfied customer, a reward you received from the guru of your field, or good reasons to purchase, but it should not be exaggerated so as to risk derailing buyers from their path.

2.  Do not exaggerate with cross-sale and up-sell offers.
When we are in line at the supermarket, we don’t feel threatened from the product display near the register, which “offers” us to add batteries or candies to our cart. On the other hand, we are on the defensive when buying on the Web. The multitude of additional offers during the purchase raises the suspicion that the purpose of the website is to push us additional products. Therefore, suggest up to one or two products when completing the original purchase. No more.

3.  Emphasize your security seals in the upper part of the purchase page.
If you are among those that utilize the services of one of the data security services such as VeriSign or McAfee, display their seals proudly. If you support an encouraging return policy, place your reimbursement seal above and neutralize the concerns of those with doubts.

4.  Allow, and visually emphasize, alternative forms of payment.

Credit cards dominate in most of the Western world; however, in order to carry out the purchase with a sense of security, many customers seek the distinctive marks of their preferred alternative form of payment.

PayPal is a critical way to successfully process American buyers. Bank transfers are important to Germans and, without support of the Carte Bleue credit card, many French abandon the transaction. Make sure that the means of payment you offer correspond to the acceptable means of payment in your target countries.

5.  Guide the client through to the end of the process – and after it, too.
The purchase is not complete at the end of the process and can easily be cancelled afterwards, whether by refund request from you or even denial of the transaction by credit card companies (known as a ‘chargeback’).  Therefore, the buyer must be brought to a state of mental peace even after concluding the processing. End the purchase with a festive upbeat announcement – customers need to understand that the charging of the transaction has succeeded and that the product is heading their way. Follow up the announcement with an email with details of the order, your contact information, the invoice, and an explanation regarding the manner and date of the product’s arrival.

6.  Offer as much support as possible throughout the purchase process.
Providing readily available customer service during the purchase process can save you a customer.  Always offer support, be it by live chat, e-mail, by providing relevant phone numbers and hours of service, return call service, and more.

7.  Thinking global is looking local.
Display the price of the product in the local currency and make an effort to present the payment page in the buyers’ local language. We all feel more comfortable in our natural surroundings.

Eldad Ben Tora

VP of Product Management