Attracting visitors to your website is challenging, especially in the current competitive landscape. That’s why redirecting customers to another website to pay is not advisable — it increases the risk of losing them permanently.
Using payment redirection is typically the result of working with an external payment service. It gives customers the option to leave and never return, which is the biggest drawback. But, there are other factors that could negatively impact a business’ sales, as well. Here’s a breakdown.
1. Customer Reactions
It’s essential to provide customers with a seamless, frictionless checkout process as well as clear and concise instructions to complete payment. This ensures clarity and satisfaction and helps to create return customer relationships.
To better understand how payment redirection affects customer reactions, consider this scenario: A customer is shopping on an ecommerce website. They add an item to their cart, click the payment button, and suddenly get redirected to an external website with a different design, logo, and URL.
In this scenario, the customer may get the impression that they’re paying another business — not the one they intended to buy from. This confusion can be discouraging and could escalate into frustration and result in abandoned carts.
Additionally, when using payment redirection, merchants have no control over the emails sent to their customers. Instead, customers receive messages from the payment provider, which makes it more challenging to establish personalized communication.
The following is a look at some of the customer reactions a business might face when using payment redirection:
Inconvenience
Customers may become frustrated and abandon their transactions if the redirection to an external service is inconvenient or adds unnecessary steps to the checkout process.
Redirecting customers to an external website can introduce friction in the checkout process. Customers may wait for the external website to load, create a new account, or navigate through a different interface. This can create a poor user experience and some customers may abandon their cart and leave a website without completing their purchase.
Security Concerns
If customers are unsure about the security of the external service or the website’s overall security, they may hesitate to proceed with the transaction.
Brand Loyalty
If customers have a solid attachment to a brand and prefer to do business directly with that brand, they may be disappointed or annoyed by being redirected to an external service.
User Experience
It would help if you also examined how many steps your clients must take to make a payment. Choosing a payment solution that you can embed on your website will simplify the entire process. Customers only need to enter the necessary information and click the payment button. That is sufficient to complete a payment without the need to navigate to another website, finish the transaction, and then return to the online store.
Payments With Redirection in Short
- Customer clicks the payment button
- Waits for redirection to another website to pay
- Starts the payment process
- Fills in the payment form (sometimes there are few clicks needed before they see a payment form)
- Hits the confirmation button
- Needs to complete more steps to end payment (optional)
The checkout stage is the final step of the buying process, so it’s better to use this stage to showcase your business name and other corporate identity elements rather than the payment provider ones.
2. Control Over the Design
It’s essential to remember that a poorly designed payment system can lead to decreased sales, even if a business offers the best products or services. When customers attempt to pay and are redirected to a completely different page, this can cause confusion or apprehension about being on the wrong payment page which often leads to cart abandonment.
At times, third-party payment providers may allow businesses to modify the checkout design slightly. Typically, the available adjustments are as simple as altering the color of the header or the payment button. So, even with an excellent and well-designed website, the positive impression a business makes on their website may fade once customers start the purchase process.
Imagine being able to tailor the entire payment form to suit business preferences and requirements. This can be achieved by using payment gateways that offer customizable forms, which can be seamlessly integrated into a business’ website. With complete control over the code, merchants can make any necessary adjustments to ensure that the form perfectly matches the design and functionality of their site.
When the business owner has control over the checkout design, they can ensure that the payment process is seamless and easy to use with clear instructions and minimal distractions. They can also tailor the checkout process to their customers’ preferences, such as offering multiple payment options or allowing customers to save their payment information for future purchases.
Additionally, it can help you improve security and reduce the risk of fraud. The online merchants can implement additional security measures, such as two-factor authentication or address verification, to help protect sensitive customer information.
Overall, having control over the checkout design is essential for creating a positive and trustworthy payment experience for customers, which can lead to increased sales and customer loyalty.
3. Who Owns the Code?
When seeking a payment solution for a website, it’s important to consider the integration process and how accessible the code will be to the business owner. Choosing a third-party solution or a payment gateway without the possibility to customize the payment form fully gives merchants little to no control over the code. This means they also have little to no control over the entire payment process.
When using payment redirection, a merchant can’t ever be 100% sure that a customer completed a payment. Redirects also take away the chance to display extra offers, which means that customer lifetime value could decrease, which could reduce conversion and affect sales.
Merchants also have no option to set customized error indicators or messages. They can’t add events to the code and receive delayed notifications. Without payment redirection, the business owner owns the payment process code, which means they can see the whole payment process and all notifications in real-time.
It’s also worth noting that when the business owner owns the code, they can customize the payment experience to match their businesses and customer needs.
Ownership of the code allows them to change the payment process whenever necessary without relying on the payment provider to make those changes. This can help businesses adapt quickly to market changes or implement new features that can improve the payment experience for customers.
Overall, owning the code when working with a payment provider gives greater control, flexibility, and security over the payment process while also providing cost savings in the long run.
4. Customer Support
When merchants choose a payment solution with an embedded payment form that allows control over the code, they simplify how they communicate with their clients. Because they are able to see payments in real time, they’ll know when something goes wrong (for example: when a customer has a problem completing a payment). With this information, merchants can act immediately using live chat or contacting the customer directly.
Prompt customer service can prevent issues and purchase abandonment — especially in the case of online payments, when issues can arise at any time. Knowing whether your customers completed the payment procedure or encountered any issues while attempting to pay is extremely important for an online business.
If customers receive prompt assistance, they are more likely to complete the payment and make the purchase, thus increasing conversion rates.
When the payment process redirects customers, business owners cannot act quickly to remedy these situations.
Optimizing Checkout for Success
The impact of redirecting ecommerce customers to an external website to pay depends on several factors, such as the quality of the payment gateway provider, the level of trust and credibility of the ecommerce website, and the ease of use and convenience of the checkout process. Choosing a reputable provider and optimizing your checkout flow can minimize negative impact and increase conversions.
The differences between third-party providers and payment gateways that let merchants process payments directly on their websites are immense. Business owners can’t afford to lose customers, so it’s important to think twice and evaluate options closely before choosing a payment solution.