Okay, you've created an awesome design, your website is in shape, and your visiteurs are more than ready to be converted. What more could you ask for?

But then, your future customers arrive on the payment gateway and don't see their preferred supplier in the list, or when they arrive they find a safety warning, or worse yet, they change their mind, want to come back to the website to add another item to their cart, but they realize that they are no longer on your website and do not know how to come back.

Here's a problem with payment gateways: you might not be responsible for designing or developing the code that processes payments in the first place, but that doesn't mean you can use that as the reason for your visiteurs who arrive on your blog.

If you include a payment gateway on your website, it's part of your customer experience. visiteurs and must be taken into account during the entire process of their navigation.

So what can you do to solve its various user experience issues?

There is really only one thing you can do: choose a payment gateway (Or suppliers) which will provide a safe and fast experience.

What is a payment gateway?

To briefly describe what a payment gateway is, it is a third-party tool that evaluates and processes payments from your customers. So, rather than configure a contact form basic which requires that customers complete their information to place an order (which you should then manually process on your website) the payment gateway handles all this for you. 

There are a number of advantages of using a payment gateway. Time savings are obviously one of them. There is also the issue of PCI compliance. And the flexibility in the types of payment you can accept using a payment processor.

So much to see... 10 plugins to integrate payment gateways on WordPress

Of course, as with any other third-party system that you introduce to your website, there are several things to consider. Here's what you'll need to think about:

1. The cost

With most third-party integrations, there is almost always an initial cost associated with it. However, when it comes to payment gateways, you also need to be more careful, as there are fees you will have to pay for each transaction you make.

Take a look at our 8 WordPress plugins to integrate a billing system

Monetize a wordpress blog

There are some who also charge your customers a fee for using the payment gateway, and sometimes this is not mentioned anywhere.

2. Place of payment

Some payment gateways allow users to add the payment gateway directly to their website through an API. This can be a good thing as it prevents that feeling of disruption as visitors are transported to another website to enter their payment information.

However, there are providers of payment gateways that are so well known and reliable (Think of PayPal) where the disruption may not matter much if customers feel more confident in submitting payment information through this website rather than yours.

Ultimately that's what you need to keep in mind here: what appeals to your customers the most. Do they want a flawless process that happens entirely on your website or would they be more comfortable paying through a well-known provider? You can use A / B tests to see which option leads to higher conversions or you can solicit feedback from your customers and ask them directly what they prefer.

3. Merchant account

You may come across a number of payment gateway that asks you to have a separate merchant account that the funds are deposited into which means another step to take to be able to activate your online payment system.

However, it's important to note that payment gateways that don't require merchant accounts, and are willing to deposit funds directly into your account, are more likely to charge you higher processing fees.

4. security

Obviously, this point cannot be emphasized enough because the security should not stop even if the shopping experience is passed on to another party. Your payment gateway should be as reliable, if not more, than your own website.

Do not use security plugins with jetpack

Also read our guide on How to migrate from HTTP to HTTPS

It means they need an SSL certificate, additional encryption and must have PCI compatibility.

5. Accepted countries

The first thing to do before signing into any payment gateway is to check your website for analytics. This will tell you which countries your visitors are in, so you can include payment methods that are compatible with those countries, currencies and translations on your payment gateway.

6. Taxes

If you are copying income through your website, you need an easy way to raise the right amount taxes. While there are local taxes, you will also need to be aware of any country or region specific taxes, such as value added tax (VAT) in the EU. So if you know you are going sell goods outside of the state or country, your payment gateway should be equipped to calculate these taxes for you.

7. Automated payments

For product sales, this might not be something you need to worry about. However, for those of you with a recurring service or something that customers will buy quite often, automated payments are definitely worth expanding on. One way to do this is to create an option for recurring payments.

Discover also our 10 plugins to integrate payment gateways on WordPress

You can also create an automatic payment method based on payment information from previous transactions, which can be saved so customers don't have to enter them a second time.

8. Compatibility of plugins

If your website is selling, you will definitely need an ecommerce or shopping cart plugin available to you. Not all gateways will be compatible with your plugin. Your choice must therefore be advised on the subject.

9. Design

And, of course, you have to think about the design of the payment gateway.

Will it be personalized? Is the interface adapted to the mobile? How is the layout, what is the number of steps or pages, etc.?

Do not hesitate to read Why Some Design Trends Are Risky and How to Use Them Properly

Again, this is still part of your customers' experience and you don't want bad design to ruin it.

Other recommended resources

Discover more resources recommendations that will accompany you in the creation and management of your website.

Conclusion

Here is ! That's it for this tutorial. I hope you know what to expect from payment gateways. If you have some Comments or suggestions, do not hesitate to let us know in the reserved section.

However, you will also be able to consult our resources, if you need more elements to carry out your projects of creation of Internet sites, by consulting our guide on the WordPress blog creation or the one on Divi: the best WordPress theme of all time.

But meanwhile, share this article on your different social networks

...