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Why Use Multiple Payment Gateways for WooCommerce

When you shop for any type of product online, you make a purchase due to things like quality, options, and affordability. Accessibility also matters. If you get to the checkout page on any ecommerce site and do not find your favorite payment gateway, the chance of abandoning the cart and shopping elsewhere increases. Shoppers are simply not going to buy if they cannot use a method they feel comfortable with.

Combine this truth with the most popular ecommerce platforms, and you get a very real need for multiple payment gateways no matter what type of website you operate. If your shop uses WP and WooCommerce, which are both well-known for their user-friendliness, the need for options does not disappear.

Website developers and online business owners know that WordPress and the WooCommerce app represent the most popular ecommerce setups used on the internet today. Over 3 million websites currently use it to sell every type of tangible or digital product available. The benefits’ list goes on and on, but most of them have to do with providing a smooth buying process for the people interested in the products offered.

Why Multiple Payment Gateways Matter For Your Bottom Line

Before getting into statistical evidence for using more than one, it makes sense to understand why sellers often default to a single payment gateway. With WooCommerce free version, you have limited options when it comes to how people can pay for the products you offer. However, they do offer a very robust payment extension with over 100 others to choose from.

People generally stick with one or a few options because they do not want to spend more money gaining access to others. This demonstrates a general lack of confidence and understanding in the concept of spending some money to increase profits. Most gateways including PayPal and major credit card processing systems charge fees to handle transactions. This is a regular part of doing business. In the quest for higher profit margins, however, many e-tailers choose the lowest cost ones only.

You might think this makes sense. Why should you offer payment gateways through WooCommerce that leave you with higher fee payments? It all comes down to the willingness for your target consumer group to use the less expensive options.

The Issue of Cart Abandonment

Up to 17% of online shoppers leave the website shopping cart page without clicking the “Place Order” button if they do not trust the site with their payment information. Around 6% leave because it did not offer enough payment options. Think about the last time you shopped online. If the website only offered payment gateways you were not comfortable using, would you go through with the transaction? Probably not.

Take a look at your yearly profit numbers. What would they look like if you added 17% more on top of them? For many ecommerce companies, that is a considerable amount of money.

Payment Gateways Improve Trust Overall

A large part of succeeding with ecommerce depends on how much customer trust the security of your site and your company as a whole. Any time they must share payment and personal information, a trickle of fear descends as stories about hacked databases and sold information from the news echo through their minds.

Multiple payment gateways on a WooCommerce website created on the most-trusted WordPress CMS adds to the overall feeling of security. They keep some of the control over who they give their credit card information to. Their ability to choose the processor leads to a heightened sense of customer satisfaction. It shows your company cares about their comfort and safety.

The benefits of multiple payment gateways keep adding up. Despite some options with higher monthly or per-payment fees, options create interest, lead conversion, and repeat business. The fees cease to matter when you sell more products and increase profits across the board. Also, if you target international consumers, some popular payment gateways simply do not work. You need to choose those that are accessible to everyone.

What Payment Options Should Your WooCommerce Site Offer?

When it comes to offering the most popular and trusted payment options on a WooCommerce sales site, you first need to identify what companies work with it. As this WordPress extension is simply the most popular in the entire world, they allow for a huge selection of payment options.

The most popular WooCommerce payment gateways include:

  • PayPal
  • Stripe
  • Square
  • Amazon Pay
  • Authorize.net

PayPal – No monthly fees, a high degree of trust across the internet, and many countries supported makes this payment processing site one of the most popular. Although it has its detractors, PayPal offers a high degree of security and ease of use.

Stripe – An excellent international option for credit card payments makes sales in 26 countries quite simple. You can collect mobile payments easily with WooCommerce.

Square – This popular option also allows for POS processing for companies with brick-and-mortar shops as well as online presences.

Amazon Pay – People trust Amazon. While their payment processing is not quite as popular as their retail mega-store, it adds a high degree of familiarity that can result in more sales.

Authorize.net – Although this does have a monthly charge, it does provide secure and trustworthy processing for credit cards and PayPal transactions.

No doubt exists that the WooCommerce plugin for WordPress content management system provides a very powerful online sales solution for many types of sales companies. Its popularity, power, and user friendliness has propelled it to the top of the success list. However, your own business growth and profits will not follow the same trajectory if you do not entice consumers to click that “Buy Now” button effectively.

Offering multiple payment gateways for WooCommerce matters. Not only can you facilitate more international sales, you give every consumer the comfort and sense of security they need to type in their credit card and personal information. With cart abandonment statistics clearly showing the dangers of limited payment options, it makes sense to expand the opportunities offered on your own ecommerce site.