How To Choose A Payment Gateway Plugin For Your WordPress Website?

As a marketer, you must want ways to streamline your customers’ payment process and improve your cash flow in your e-commerce store. To do so, you must choose a payment gateway plugin for your e-commerce that will significantly impact the customer experience.

Statistics say that 68% of all e-commerce visitors abandon shopping carts primarily due to poor user experience.

Thus as a growing business, you must ensure your gateway supports and securely handles the most popular modes of payment, thereby providing the best checkout experience for your customers. There are numerous plugins available for you to choose from. But how do you select the right one for your WordPress website?

We’ll talk about that. But first,

What is a payment gateway plugin in WordPress?

Simply put, a WordPress payment gateway plugin offers a platform or a third-party source for your customers where they can securely pay for the products and services they buy. Included in the final step of the transaction, it is a tool used for evaluating and processing online payments and is a natural part of the customer experience on your website. You can leverage your e-store with the benefits of using payment gateways by simply connecting a payment plugin to your WordPress store.

But, to ensure a superior customer experience, you must choose the right WordPress payment gateway plugin with good security features for your website.

How Does It Work?

The payment gateway is a secure system for your WordPress website to start receiving online payments and lets you handle sensitive customer information. In short, a payment gateway authorizes online payments and charges your customers’ credit cards (or any other payment method).

Payment gateways accomplish this by—

• Attesting customers’ card details securely.
• Checking if enough funds are available for the transaction to proceed.
• Lastly, approve the transaction and transfer the amount to your account.

Everything happens in seconds on encrypted payment gateway servers, ensuring that sensitive customer data remains secluded. There are many plugins available, Razorpay, PayPal, Nimbbl, Paytm, and others, that you can opt for on your website. And this brings us to the most vital question.

How To Choose A Payment Gateway Plugin For Your WordPress Website?

Choosing the right WordPress payment gateway plugin for your website is a crucial decision to make. The plugin must fit your business model, otherwise might end up losing a lot of money and customers.

Here are the factors that must be noted while choosing a payment gateway plugin for your website.

1. Cost

The first and most important thing to consider while choosing a payment gateway plugin is the total cost that will incur. Three types of costs are involved in using a payment gateway plugin— set-up fee, monthly fee, and transaction fee. You must note that generally, the value of the transaction fee isn’t that high; however, if they are, the transaction fees will increase your expenses significantly. Thus, if your business deals primarily in high-value transactions, you must ensure to look for payment gateways offering their services set at a monthly fee and a low transaction fee.

2. Types of Payment Methods

This is where the customers become choosy, as not all use the same payment method. Thus, before choosing a payment gateway, you must aim for gateways that support all popular payment methods. Although the most commonly used are credit cards— Visa, MasterCard, and Amex, there are customers who pay using other card types, like a debit card or a Diners Club card. You need to ensure that your payment gateways support that method of payment.

3. Security

Since you’re dealing with transactions and your website is storing sensitive financial information; the security of your payment gateway should be a high priority. Note different payment gateways adhere to specific security standards— some come with fraud detection, and some come with screening tools to protect the transaction from fraud.

4. Supports Multiple Currencies

If your business domain is international, you need to ensure that your payment gateway can handle payments in different currencies from different countries. It is vital to let your customers pay in their desired currency.

5. Hosted vs. Non-Hosted

There are two ways a payment gateway allows a customer to enter their payment details— hosted off-site (the customer is taken to the payment processor’s website to enter the details) and non-hosted (the customer can enter the details without leaving your website).

It is for you to decide which method will be compatible with your customers, as each mode has pros and cons. The hosted gateway reduces the risk of storing sensitive information on your site but redirects your customers to another. And the non-hosted skips the lengthy process as they are integrated with the stores.

6. Enabling Mobile Payment

A vast majority of customers shop using smartphones and tablets. Thus, selecting a gateway that can support payments made from all devices– your smartphone or tablet, is necessary. This will provide a better customer experience and allow your customers the flexibility to pay you regardless of the device.

Conclusion

You must know that different WordPress payment gateway plugins follow various processes for online transactions. They are unique on their own and have individual cons and pros.

The purpose is to choose an overall package for your WordPress website that will reduce cart abandonment and boost your eCommerce store’s success. Once the plugin fits your website’s criteria, you can integrate it into your website. Note that the right WordPress payment plugin is everything for you— it can increase your chances of being trusted by your customers and boost your growth.