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The 7 Most Common Online Payment Options

November 2, 2021January 17, 2023E-Commerce, E-Commerce Optimization, InternationalizationLeave a Comment

One of the most important – and to many, most difficult – task you’ll face as a business looking to expand into E-Commerce markets in different geographical locations is determining which online payments are used most often. Knowing which online payment option is best for each respective market you want to enter is critical, since customers are substantially more likely to complete a purchase if they’re offered the right payment methods

I am sure you’re aware of how popular credit cards and PayPal are, but can your organization really satisfy the demands of all audiences you’re seeking to reach? If you only take the aforementioned two payment methods into considerations, then I can assure you that you won’t fulfill all customer expectations when it comes to payment methods.

Let’s take a deeper look into the best payment options online to see if you’re making any mistakes, or if you’re fully covered.

International E-Commerce payment methods

Consumers nowadays want to see a variety of payment options available on the websites of online retailers, so they can pick the one that best fits their needs. To appeal to the broadest audience, you must ensure that your site offers support for the most popular payment methods online – both on a global level, but also in markets where more localized solutions are a must.

If you’re casting a wide net and want to include any of the planet’s 4.6 billion internet users, your payment option list should certainly include:

1. Credit & debit cards

Credit and debit cards are still one of the most popular online purchasing options across the world, although their market share has been declining in recent years due to eWallets. Cards made up more than 35% of all E-Commerce transactions worldwide in 2020 and are expected to decline towards 2024 according to Statista. Cards have a stronger preference in longer established E-Commerce markets such as Europe and North America.

The popularity of cards as online payment methods was helped by the security benefits they offered – card transactions have been governed for decades by global and regional compliance standards as well as consumer protections enforced by payment processors, such as those upheld by Mastercard, American Express, and Visa.

In Western markets, credit cards have a slightly more obvious preference vs debit cards, owing to their additional capabilities. Some consumers are encouraged to use credit cards to participate in bank reward programs, for example. In the US, particularly, credit card spending influences a user’s credit rating and adds to the incentive of using it as an online payment option.

Card’s position as the number one solution in consumer preferences for E-Commerce payment methods has been challenged substantially in recent years, which will also be outlined in the following sections.

2. eWallets

eWallets, also known as digital wallets, are a type of online payment method that is quickly becoming one of the most popular ways to pay for goods and services across B2C E-Commerce sites all around the world. By 2022, eWallets are expected to account for half of all global eCommerce sales.

Using an eWallet, you can pay for items without applying your credit card. Instead of customers have to enter their bank account information, they are redirected from the checkout to the eWallet’s site where they simply has to log in using their username and password to finish a transaction.

PayPal (mainly in the West), AliPay (particularly popular in Asia Pacific), ApplePay, GooglePay, WeChat, or Venmo are the most common digital wallets. eWallets may also be used with mobile wallets to take advantage of a smartphone’s biometric capabilities, which allow consumers to authenticate faster and complete their transactions faster.

3. Bank transfers

Customers may pay using their bank account and funds directly. It is seen as having a higher level of security because transactions are authenticated through the user’s bank. In essence, when chosen as payment option during checkout, a bank transfer sends the customer to their internet banking site, where they must log in and authorize the transaction.

In 2020, around 8% of worldwide E-Commerce transaction volumes were paid with bank transfers, which was mostly used in Europe.

4. Buy now, pay later

Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) is a relatively new online payment method that has seen tremendous growth in the previous two years. This is a form of instant lending that more and more young consumers are seeking out.

Customers may choose to pay later, over time, without having to open a credit card for this when opting for this option. According to reports, availability of this choice at checkout has been able to persuade 30% more customers into finalizing a transaction that they would have otherwise abandoned.

Despite the fact that this alternative payment approach is still in its early stages, with just over 2% of global E-Commerce transactions in 2020, it is anticipated to grow rapidly in the coming years. Some of the payment providers which offers this payment options include SplitIt, Klarna, Bread, Viabill, and Afterpay. For more information about, I encourage you to read the following article.

5. Prepaid cards

Alternatives to credit and debit cards include prepaid cards, which are popular among unbanked people and minors, allowing users to choose a specific amount of money on the card that they can spend online when shopping.

Prepaid cards are yet to experience significant penetration in the E-Commerce market, with just about 1% of all global E-Commerce transactions currently using them. Some of the most popular prepaid cards chosen by customers include Mint or Paysafecard, which have a limited usage among users. Gaming is one industry where this payment method has seen increased use.

6. Cash On Delivery

A “cash on delivery” transaction is one in which payment is made upon delivery rather than at the time of order. Although the term “COD” commonly refers to cash on delivery, it may also refer to collect on delivery. You do not have to provide a cash payment. You may offer the amount owed with any sort of payment that the merchant or delivery company accepts, such as a credit card or money order. The payment method took up a bit more than 3% of global E-Commerce transactions in 2020, and is expected to decline quite significantly in the coming years.

The payment method is especially used in developing countries, where the fraud rate on online transactions can be quite high in certain markets.

7. Electronic checks

Acceptance of e-checks, which are subject to ACH rules, entails drawing money from a checking account. The payment is authorized directly from the user’s internet bank account and carried out in the same manner as paper checks, but quicker.

Electronic checks are popular among American companies with large sales volumes and a high average order values, as they are seen as an inexpensive online payment option. E-checks were the first Internet-based payments used by the US Treasury to make major online purchases, which may explain their popularity in areas where the payment values are very high.

Trust Badges That Will Most Certainly Increase Your Conversion Rate

November 1, 2021January 17, 2023E-Commerce, E-Commerce OptimizationLeave a Comment

Abandoned shopping carts are one of the most frustrating things to witness as an online brand. We’ve all done it; we’ve gone online, browsed around, added certain products to our basket, and then not completed the transaction at the end. We abandoned our shopping carts with goods still inside. It’s similar to going grocery shopping, putting items in your cart, then walking away leaving the products in the basket.

Shopping cart abandonment can occur for a variety of causes. According to Barilliance, online merchants lose, on average, 75% of their revenue to shopping cart abandonment. Statista discovered in 2015 that 15% of lost sales were due to security concerns. According to the Baymard Institute, the proportion of lost sales increased to 19% in 2017 for the same reason. This growth emphasizes how essential online security is to most customers.

Simply gaining the confidence of your consumers would allow you to potentially increase your sales by ten percent or more, as demonstrated by this example. For some of you, it may not appear to be much, but it’s a significant gain.

Surprisingly, it is a simple fix.

So, how do you build trust with your consumers? You may begin by using trust badges. Read on to learn about the top five trust badges that may help you improve your conversion rate.

A trust badge – what is that?

A trust badge is a small graphic that you display on your website to convey trust. They’re typically seen during the checkout process, but more and more stores are putting them on their landing or homepage pages. They’re simple elements that may increase sales and user satisfaction with your website.

These trust badges (but not always) come with security measures to safeguard payment card and personal information. The Secure Sockets Layer, or SSL, is a complex internet safety mechanism that encrypts data sent over the web. In general, trust seals are granted when these secure technology is in place.

You can determine if a website you’re visiting is using an SSL security protocol by looking for the little lock symbol next to the URL, or by comparing that the web address begins with HTTPS rather than HTTP. However, not everyone knows this, which is why displaying the trust seal on your site is so crucial.

Types of “Trust Badges”

There are five different sorts of website badges that you can use on your website. Each one has a specific meaning and purpose. You may pick the trust badges to employ on your site depending on the intended result.

Below, you’ll find explanations for five different kinds of trust icon, as well as examples of each and how to acquire them.

1. Safe Checkout Related Badge

The site badge may be the most essential of the five. These are the badges you earn when you join up with a firm that offers an SSL certificate. SSL stands for Secure Socket Layer, and it’s a little bit technical, but in essence, it secures all internet connections and data flowing between them.

If you put a trust indicator on your site, it implies that the checkout process is secure and safe, that data is encrypted, and that your customers’ identity or credit card information will not be stolen. Introducing this level of confidence in your organization will have a significant impact on your overall conversions.

Using the most trusted and recognized secure checkout badges will quickly boost your consumers’ confidence in you. The SSL badge from Symantec is considered the most well-known and trusted SSL badge there is. VeriSign, Norton, and LifeLock are all under the control of Symantec. All of these names are well-known and reputable certificates.

PayPal is another well-known and trusted security solution. You can get PayPal protection just like Symantec, and you’ll get the recognized security badge for your site in the process.

Shopify is another example of a well-known SSL provider. If you set up an ecommerce store on Shopify, you’ll get integrated SSL certificates right away. Customers who buy from a Shopify shop know that their personal information will be kept safe.

The first three examples are of trust badges that must be purchased, however there are free SSL certificate alternatives such as Flywheel or Cloudflare. Keep in mind, though, that because they are known, one of the reasons safe checkout protection charms perform so effectively is due to brand recognition. Brand awareness plays a significant role in establishing trust.

Place these badges next to your “Add To Cart” buttons and at the end of your checkout process. They must be distinct in order for their purpose to be effective. They may also be shown on the bottom of your landing page or homepage.

2. Accepted Payment Badges

Seeing a company that you know instills more confidence than anything else. That’s precisely what these trust badges are designed for. Having Visa, Mastercard, and PayPal acceptance marks as valid payment options on your website may increase the level of trust in it without requiring a lot of effort.

According to a study by ConversionXL, which included 1,000 respondents, Visa-Mastercard was chosen by 42 percent of participants as the most recognized brand and PayPal was voted as the most trustworthy. In addition, ConversionXL claims that “the hypothesis that familiarity accurately predicts a population’s perception of safety is generally accepted. In most cases, greater knowledge result in a stronger sense of security.

The best thing about these trust badges is that they are both free and simple to obtain. Visa has a Verified By Visa merchant program that allows you to obtain a Visa Vericated badge for your site, which will improve confidence and conversion rates if you join up.

Badges are often seen at the bottom of each webpage on your website. They don’t have to be in the spotlight or venerated in any way.

3. Third-Party Endorsements

Third-party endorsements can help your consumers trust you by demonstrating that you are credible. Before receiving the badge, these programs generally include an application procedure and a site evaluation.

The Better Business Bureau Accredited Business badge is one of the most trusted badges available. According to the Better Business Bureau, 173 million people search BBB.org each year for current business profiles in order to verify their ratings. After you’ve earned this badge, your consumers can click a button to confirm your accreditation.

The Google Trusted Store symbol is also a well-known and trusted badge. Please note that the Google Trusted Store badge will be phased out in favor of the Customer Reviews badge. The Generation Y group (under 30 years old) in the ConversionXL study recognized and trusted the Google trust seals over the Better Business Bureau.

To obtain the Google trust seal, you must first submit an application and fulfill the criteria laid out by Google. After purchasing items from your business, clients will begin receiving surveys. After Google thinks the reviews are adequate, you get a badge.

You may be wondering why you’d bother with these trust badges. Although they take a little extra effort and time, they are well worth it, and they can help you improve conversions on your online store. It’s a simple way for you to display your excellent ratings without having to worry about them looking fake or cheesy.

Consider it this way: if you’re looking at a product on Amazon.com and see that it has excellent ratings, you’re more likely to buy it than if the same thing has no ratings. The same goes for your ecommerce site. Consumers are more inclined to do business with you if they know that others have had a wonderful experience with you.

The trust badges are usually positioned near the bottom of the website and are generally larger than accepted payment badges.

4. Money-Back Guarantee Badges

This badge, sometimes known as the “Homemade Special,” is completely free and continues to foster trust with your online consumers. You may either make these badges yourself or purchase ready-made versions if you don’t have the graphic design skills.

Sales increased by more than 32% over an 11-day period for an internet learning firm, according to a “30 day money back guarantee” experiment conducted by Visual Website Optimizer.

The objective of the trust badge is to help consumers overcome their anxiety and avoid worrying about making a purchase online, which is one of the most common causes of conversion rate issues. This confidence badge does not address website security like the SSL and safe checkout badges do, but it does offer assurance that you have your clients’ backs in its own way. They feel safer and are therefore more inclined to buy from you as a result of it.

This is the type of trust badge that should be proudly displayed, since your consumers may not pay attention to it if it isn’t. These badges are frequently positioned near the Add To Cart button or the Checkout button in the same region as the safe checkout badge.

5. Free Shipping and Returns Badge

The free trust icon, which is a badge that informs your clientele that you provide free delivery and/or returns through your online store, is the third option. The “Free Shipping” or “Free Returns” badge may convey trust and a sense of safety to your consumers, removing some of the inherent risk associated with purchasing online. It draws attention to your store policy and exceptional client service.

This trust badge should be added close to the money back guarantee badges.

It’s natural for customers to be hesitant about providing personal information on the internet. With so many data breaches and identity theft being such a big topic of discussion these days, it’s easy to see why consumers are cautious about their online transactions. This is why establishing their confidence is so important to us. We realize that your time is valuable, and some of these trust badges may take work and money to acquire, but the increased sales and ROI will make it worthwhile.

6 Marketing Channels That Brands Use to Grow Their Business in China

August 18, 2021November 7, 2021Digital Marketing, E-Commerce in Asia, General MarketingLeave a Comment

China is the largest e-commerce market in the world, and it has been a challenge for many Western brands to enter this market. Creating an E-Commerce presence in China is close to impossible without using their national server infrastructure (or completely migrating to T-Mall or one of the other major marketplaces in the country), and traditional Western marketing channels (e.g., Facebook, Google, etc.) are likewise blocked by the Chinese government, meaning that there are mainly national marketing channels available for western brands to use in order to advertise their products and/or services. However, when it comes to reach in search engines and social media, China’s search engines and social networks are among the largest in the world. In this article I’ll go over six of these channels which include Weibo, Baidu, WeChat (which also serves as an e-commerce platform), Little Red Book and other social media sites like Tudou.

1. Weibo

Weibo is the most popular microblogging site in China with over 500 million monthly active users! Brands can create accounts on Weibo where they share information about themselves through posting articles or videos from time to time. These posts usually contain links back to the brand’s official website. It also got a live video streaming feature, as well as its own version of the wildly popular Instagram Stories function.

Weibo, like its Western counterpart, originally restricted postings to 140 characters, but this restriction has since been lifted. (Except for reposts and remarks.)

Sina Weibo was founded in 2009 as “Sina Weibo,” before being rebranded as simply “Weibo” in 2014. The website has grown to be one of China’s most popular social media sites since its inception with more than half a billion users.

With such a huge audience on the platform, it should be clear why Weibo is so desirable for marketers, especially those outside of China seeking to break into the market.

Brands can similarly to Western social media platforms both grow organically and through paid activities – and as always, the paid activities will allow you to accelerate your brand growth. Here’s three reasons why Weibo’s advertising platform is good to use:

1.1 Extensive audience targeting

Weibo allows you to target your campaign to a variety of different demographic groups in order to fine-tune and direct your marketing. Brands can currently target Weibo users through the following characteristics:

Age, gender, and location
Interest areas
Device
Competitor brands
Specific followers

1.2. Ideal entry point to promote in the Chinese market

Weibo is a tremendous platform from which to begin marketing in China. With so many users, Weibo provides a wonderful entry point for any business interested in breaking into the Chinese market. Because advertising on Weibo is relatively inexpensive, businesses may test the water before committing to larger efforts.

1.3. Can help brands grow organic as well as paid

As mentioned before, Weibo is similar to Twitter, Facebook or Instagram in that it isn’t only used for sponsored marketing. In reality, much of the brand’s growth may be organic. Paid advertising might lead to a larger Weibo following, which can help reduce the need for paid channels on the long term when there’s a stronger pull for your product and/or service.

2. Baidu

In China, Google has a relatively minor market share of less than 3%. The search engine environment in this country differs significantly from that in most Western countries, with several key players such as Baidu, Sogou, Haosou, and Shenma. Baidu is without a doubt the first stop for most businesses looking to conduct search marketing campaigns in China, as it is by far the largest search engine in the country with more than 500 million active monthly users. So it makes sense that most companies would want to make sure they have their ads running on this platform.

When looking for a brand on Baidu, the content which appears is similar to that on Google, meaning it includes websites, news articles, blogs about the company with links back to the brand’s homepage where visitors can purchase goods or services offered, and the like. Baidu is therefore a channels which – just like Google and Yahoo – should be used to optimise a brands SEO presence, as well as advertising through paid search, display and shopping strategies.

However, one thing which is fundamentally different to how things are in the Western world from a search behaviour point of view is that consumers in China usually don’t use search engines when they have an actual purchase intent – at this stage, they search directly in one of the country’s large marketplaces (T-Mall, Taobao or JD.com). The same is quite similar in the United States, where close to 70% of consumers now start their shopping journey on Amazon as opposed to Google.

3. WeChat

WeChat is one of China’s most popular messaging apps with over 900 million monthly active users. The app can be used for many things including sending pictures or videos from device to device; it also has a feature where retailers can create mini stores on the app so customers can browse through items before they purchase anything.

The WeChat advertising platform, which is operated by Tencent, enables businesses to promote ads on consumers’ timelines or at the bottom of WeChat Official Account stories. Companies which advertise through WeChat can use the ads to grow their WeChat Official Account followers, increase their brand awareness, drive traffic to their websites, increase conversions, and generate app downloads.

There are three main WeChat ad types:

WeChat Moments Advertising
WeChat banner ads
WeChat Key Opinion Leader ads

4. Little Red Book

Little Red Book is China’s most popular lifestyle website where users can buy clothing or find beauty tips, but it was originally created exclusively for female consumers so gender equality issues have been discussed on LRB’s platforms from time to time.

5. Tudou

Tudou is China’s largest video site where users can upload videos on topics from cooking recipes to DIY tutorials or even music performances. Brands can pay a fee to have ads placed within the videos that are uploaded by other users or they may be able to sponsor content created by celebrities on the app too! Videos uploaded by other users are available for brands to sponsor, but companies must have an expensive advertising budget in order for this tactic will be worth it. Tencent Video is also one of China’s most popular video sites, but Youku would be better suited as its target demographic skews towards older audiences than Tudou

6. Youku

The only two national advertising options left would be Youku and Tencent Video where companies could hope to advertise their content if they had a large budget or wanted to reach out to a younger audience.

8 Things To Do When Internationalizing Your E-Commerce Business

August 18, 2021January 17, 2023E-Commerce, E-Commerce Optimization, Entrepreneurship, InternationalizationLeave a Comment

Internationalizing your E-Commerce business can sound like a substantial project, especially when you want to localize your activities in all the new markets that you are about to enter. However, due to the substantial improvements which have taken place from a operational and technological point of view in the past decade, creating a global infrastructure for your E-Commerce business does not have to be as complex as it may sound – and you (and your team) don’t necessarily have to even leave your current physical location to realize the project.

Things to Consider When Internationalizing Your E-Commerce Business

1. Bespoke Website for Each New Market

Similarly to other major successful E-Commerce business (e.g., Amazon, Zalando, Asos, THG) I definitely suggest that you should develop a localised website for each market in which your firm operates. By fulfilling various requirements for each website (which will be outlined in the next sections) the idea is to create localized consumer facing experiences which will make the customers comfortable as their shopping experience resembles the experiences of actually shopping on a local website from a national company. The localised setup will naturally increase confidence and trust, and thereby the appurtenant conversion rate on the website – even though that and your company might not be physically present in the country form which the consumer is from.

2. Local Languages

By launching a new country-specific website in the local language, it will be easier for the national consumers to navigate around on the site. Think about yourself: Assuming you are from an English speaking country, you would most likely not visit and shop on a website in an Italian or Spanish language. It’s the same mentality in most Non-English countries. Even though the English language in many ways is seen as an ‘international standard’, consumers from Non-English speaking countries still very much prefer to shop on websites in their local language. If you already have an English flagship website, then you don’t necessarily have to hire – say – a Spanish person to be able to launch a Spanish store. Your master information from the English page can easily be translated through freelancers whom you can create a close partnership with. In many countries where local marketing channels doesn’t necessarily have to be used to grow an online business, one English speaking E-Commerce Manager will be able to manage several localized stores through a network of external or internal translators.

3. Local Currencies

Adding the local currency does naturally increase the conversion rate as consumers always prefer to shop in their natural currency. It’s a habit. Even though the credit card fees might be the same, it’s almost certain that 10 out of 10 would always pick his / her national currency in a transaction, if it’s available. For this reason, it is always suggested to launch the local currency on every local sub-site which you may launch. If you only have one master store, then it is suggested to have multiple currencies on that store – ideally covering all the markets which the website has a present in.

4. Local Payment Methods

Similarly to the local currencies, local payment methods will also reduce the checkout abandonment, thereby increasing the conversion rate on your website. Alternative Payment Methods (APM’s) – also known as digital wallets – have become of substantial importance in the past years, and in some countries it is in fact close to impossible to build an E-Commerce business which only accepts credit cards and other more basic payment solutions like Paypal. In China, the majority of the transactions do as an example take place through Alipay, WeChat Pay and a few other APM’s – more than 50% of all transactions do in fact take place through APM’s. So regardless of where in the world you’re launching, make sure to implement the right APM’s from the very beginning, as this will enhance your conversion flow. A separate article will be written on APM’s at a later stage.

5. Local TLDs – Country Level Domains

So this one is actually tricky. Whether to launch a localized E-Commerce setup through Top-Level Domains (TLD’s) or subfolders have always been a large discussion point in the E-Commerce community. However, I’ve always been a strong advocate of a localized setup through TLD’s – and here is why. When using a country level domain structure (i.e., when a German website as an example uses the .de domain, a French uses the .fr domain, and a Korean uses the .co.kr domain) the presumption of consumers is usually that they are shopping from a national company. A foundation for the store is here created, where consumers can feel completely comfortable, as the domain structure doesn’t deviate from the local competitors. This is the absolute most important tricker to facilitate conversions; that is, trust. Having just one .com website, which then has several other languages in a dropdown is also a good solution, but will never be the same a launching a local store with a TLD. With people becoming more digital and e-commerce savvy over time, the importance of TLD’s will slowly vanish, but for now I would still very much do it. The main downside is of course, that you’ll have multiple stores that are separated from one another when launching them with local TLD’s, and this means that your SEO strategy in particular have to be executed on a more granular level.

6. Local Logistics Partners

As a function of the rapid adoption of E-Commerce in the past decade, consumers expectations towards your service level have also sky rocketed. In the past years, the delivery times have been reduced exponentially on a year on year basis, now reaching a level where many brands have same-day delivery in certain markets. Having a one week delivery time is simply just not acceptable any longer, which is why it is very important to establish an adequate operational infrastructure from day zero. The good news is that most international courier companies now have established a global infrastructure which allows them to ship goods cross-border from one day to another, meaning that local storage for fast deliveries isn’t a necessity anymore. Large brands such as Zalando, The Hut Group, and others, fulfill a global demand from just a few warehouses globally. In fact, I’ve once worked for a brand which generated +£100 million in a country, without having any local storage our people situated in the country. The point here is that you can create an international e-commerce setup with just a few warehouses globally – even one is enough in the beginning – the only requirement is just that you find a 3PL partner which has good agreements with courier partners that can deliver to all your core markets within a short time period.

7. Local Customer Service

Having a customer service function which is localized for your core markets is very important to consider early on in your internationalization journey, in the markets where the average English language skills of your target customers aren’t very high. Of course, if your brand primarily targets English speaking markets, as well as markets where the target consumers on average have adequate English language skills (e.g., Scandinavia, Netherlands, Belgium, Switzerland, and the like) then an English speaking customer service agent can be sufficient. However, if you enter various different markets, where the target consumers don’t have adequate English language skills, then customer service agents for each of these markets will become important. If you are a part of a company which have limited capital, then it is recommended to use other functions internally for this work stream on an initial basis, where the “pressure” from the consumers isn’t very high. In case you have a Country Manager or Market Manager structure in your company, then these functions can manage the customer service work stream in the initially, whereafter local agents can be hired internally or externally when the amount of tickets / inquiries exceeds a certain level.

8. Local Campaign Strategy

A local pricing and campaign strategy can be crucial for your success when localizing, especially if you are internationalizing across multiple territories which are very different from a cultural perspective. Establishing prices for your product(s) / service(s) is more an art than a science, and the campaigns which you may be running from time to time will differ substantially if the markets that you operate in vary a lot.