Magento is a platform built primarily for E-commerce websites which are essentially just like markets but on the interwebs and like any market customer satisfaction ranks king when it comes to success. From selecting an item to the final check-out, everything should feel like a smooth experience, from start to finish.
An essential part of this process that many websites neglect is – choosing the right payment gateway for their website. Laggy and buggy gateways are a nightmare to pay with. Some survey analytics even suggest that “a smooth check-out:” is the number 1 factor for determining if the customer follows through on their order or not.
Considering the number of options available, it is imperative to know the best Magento payment gateways if you want long-term success with your website.
What are the qualities of an effective Payment Gateway?
The ideal payment gate should make the check-out process as close to effortless as possible.
To be more specific, businesses should ensure their preferred payment gateway has these five qualities in them –
- Transaction security
If the customer feels even an ounce of doubt about the safety of their card details, they will abandon the purchase and stop shopping with you. So ensuring that the best safety measures are in place is key.
- Multiple payment Options
Many people use credit cards, some prefer debit, while others are primarily mobile users and use UPI instead. Also, do they support multiple currencies? This becomes very important for businesses’ serving an international audience.
Recurring payment is also an important option to have, giving people the chance to “set-and-forget” a purchase, like a gym membership for example. Remember – Having many payment options makes the experience easier for the customer
- Cost-Effective
Some gateways providers are notorious for charging high processing fees and money-conscious might dissuaded from buying.So ensure the service is cost-effective as well.
- Compatible with the company
Ensure that the gateway can handle expanding traffic over time as the business grows. Another point is that it supports both Magento Open Source and Magento Commerce.
- Ease of Use
The GUI has to feel intuitive and have ease of use. Any gateway that chooses complexity over simplicity tends to discourage customers from checking out.
Which payment gateways should you go for ?
Keeping the above in mind, here are our picks for the top five Payment gateways you should consider to make your Magento website a success.
- PayPal
Arguably the most well-known of all, PayPal tends to be the number one pick in the list for almost all eCommerce businesses. So much so that it’ll be a rare website that doesn’t offer it as their default gateway.
With almost 17 million merchants and 218 million customers in over 200 countries in 25 different currencies, it stands with a heavy footprint in the market. Some of the magento ecommerce web development brands also prefers PayPal as one of the best payment gateways.
The big reason why this is so is that it fulfills almost all of the criteria we’ve stated above .
It is free to register, allows quick connection with your bank account, uses top-of-the-line security to protect your data (the seller only receives your PayPal number instead of your card details), and can be accessed by just about any type of device.
Its no-hassle design is why people tend to prefer it over its competitors. Its gateway fees are 2.99% + USD 0.49 for Credit/Debit card
- Authorize.Net
After PayPal, the second most used Merchant is Authorize.net. And though it holds less than half the market of its more known competitor, it is Arguably a better choice if your business handles a fairly high transaction volume. The individual merchant accounts offered by Authorize.net also tend to be much more stable than aggregated payment processors like PayPal.
You can customize security filters, manage customer information and set up recurring payments easily
The payment process is also different as it you a monthly fee for its services, while PayPal uses a “you-pay-for-what-you-use” service
Authorize.Net will charge you 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction. In a gateway-only option without a merchant account, you pay $0.10 per transaction + a $0.10 daily batch fee.
- Stripe
With users in over 100 different countries, Stripe provides payment services without having to set up separate merchant facilities.
A very convenient feature is its ability to stay on-site during payment instead of redirecting you to another page. There are also no sneaky fees added to the payments you make – everything is upfront and visible to you beforehand. Magento business stores have to pay the associated rates of 2.9 percent + 0.30 USD per authorization to use this extension.
Easy rebilling without storing credit card information is also a very nice addition to its already impressive system. The convenience factor is so high in fact, that many people prefer Stripe over its much bigger competitors.
- Amazon Payments
Amazon is a giant that everyone is familiar with, with their payment gateway being a streamlined way of handling transactions using only one account. Amazon offers two services for business – CBA and ASP. CBA is a solution that allows merchants to use Amazon for payment, and ASP sends customers to Amazon’s secure payment site. Amazon Payments charges no setup or monthly fees but has the same pricing as Stripe: 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction.
- Braintree Payment Solutions
With over 130 currencies supported in 45 different countries, This well-known gateway is known for its excellent mobile and web payments support. This means digital wallets like google pay, apple pay, and pay with Venmo are also supported.
Though technically part of PayPal, Braintree is a different service provider and payment processor and competes more directly with Stripe due to their similar features. It also has higher security and fraud protection features. Braintree standard pricing model per transaction for merchants is 2.9% of the transaction amount plus 30 cents.
Closure
Success essentially comes from happy customers. And considering that goods and services themselves are rarely scarce, it may very well be the hassle-free shopping experience that brings a customer back to your site over another competitor. So using the best gateways & magento website maintenance ought to be a priority, to ensure the continued prosperity of your business.
Note: This was a guest post written by Himanshu Roy.
