The coronavirus is having a major impact. There’s no doubt about that. Before the virus, many businesses were running fine. And “fine” was always good enough. There was no need to invest time or money in things that – at first glance – were not going to make a big difference. Things such as offering new payment options or improving online services. They could always be done in the future, right?
But now we know better. Almost overnight, being flexible and optimising your online business are no longer “nice to haves”. They can mean the difference between winners and mere survivors. That’s why this situation is an opportunity. A chance to be prepared for anything you might not expect. The time to embrace all the power of an e-commerce future is now, and it’s here to stay. The future is here.
Step inside tomorrow, today
Customers can come from every corner of the world, and borders are blurring. When the world is your shopping centre, there are plenty of options for where to spend your money. The online experience has become the great differentiator.
Crisis or no crisis, you will always benefit from an optimised platform.
The first step is to understand how customer behaviour is changing. More and more often, customers are choosing secure payment options, such as credit cards, that offer reduced risk and increased payment protection. In the time of coronavirus, when so many plans are being cancelled and adapted, that kind of security is invaluable.
Grabbing every opportunity
At Mollie, we live in the future every day. As a European Payment Service Provider (PSP), we are experts in facilitating easy online payment. That means tapping into trends and identifying opportunities. Everything we do is designed to help businesses grow. We offer more than 100 local and international payment options, so that you can serve your customers best, whether they’re around the corner or on the other side of the world. And we help you identify opportunities to improve the customer experience.
Credit card payments are an excellent example of something that works fine as it is, but can also be significantly improved for the new future. Mollie has eliminated one of the biggest conversion killers: sending the customer to a different URL during the payment process. As soon as your customer is forced to leave your site to complete a credit card payment, he or she is filled with doubt, and conversion takes a dive. With Mollie Components, the customer stays on the same page, and pays by credit card in a checkout that looks just like your store. The result? A seamless checkout experience and an average increase of 7 per cent in conversion.
A smoother path to subscriptions
It’s clear that the subscription economy is going to be a big player. It has been booming for a while. In Europe, it’s a €350 billion-per-year business, and it’s growing faster in Europe than in North America. But it’s now surging even more, as lots of people have to stay at home. Suddenly, it’s a great benefit for customers to be able to have things they buy every week delivered to their doorstep automatically.
The subscription economy comes with a brilliant business model. It’s an opportunity to help your customers and create loyalty. Recurring payments and invoice automation increase your productivity and cashflow, and reduce accounting hiccups. But it does come with challenges. What do you do when your customer suddenly stops paying? Or when customers want to change their payment type or delivery frequency? A solution such as Mollie Subscriptions can take care of it all. It enables subscriptions and recurring payments, automated follow-up after charge backs, invoicing and more, all in a single, easy-to-manage solution.
What you can do
Optimising your business sounds like a lot of work, especially when you don’t know where to start. Here are a few things to keep in mind to make your path to the future a bit smoother:
• Check your payment methods
This sounds like a no-brainer: offering payment methods your customers love. Still, there are plenty of shops that are not doing this. Don’t know which to choose? Ask your PSP. It can help you determine the most popular payment methods in your region.
• A seamless checkout experience
Also a no-brainer. A surprising number of shops have never tried their own online checkout. Why not do it a couple of times, and see what you don’t like? Or, even better, compare it to the checkout of a shop you love.
• Mobile first
Don’t forget to try your site’s checkout on your mobile. The number of people who shop on their phones is still increasing. If your site isn’t facilitating and simplifying this, you’re missing a big opportunity.
• Expand internationally
This could bring you lots of additional revenue. French retailer Cabaia increased its revenue by 30 per cent simply by translating its site into English and adding the payment methods their international customers liked best.
• Let technology work for you
Why try to reinvent the wheel? Partner with experts that can help you take the guesswork out of site improvements. With the right solutions, you can grow at amazing speed. Amsterdam-based Otrium, an online fashion marketplace, is an inspiring example of such a fast growing international business.
Like it or not, the future is here. And it comes with challenges that no one could have predicted. But the right partners can lead you to the right solutions. Embrace the future and seize the opportunity to grow your business. Mollie is here to help.
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Ken Serdons is Chief Commercial Officer at Mollie