How Many Is Too Many?
It seems like every month there's some new payment method that comes online. Layaway, deferred billing, eChecks, not to mention the different checkout tools like Google Checkout and Paypal. So when do you say "enough is enough" and stop adding payment methods?
There are times when it pays to be an early adopter, but when it comes to payment methods, we've chosen to see where the dust settles. We offer the standard credit cards along with Paypal, eCheck and Bill Me Later. For our customers, these are the four most important payment methods. We looked at a number of the other alternative payment methods (including Google Checkout) but ultimately found that there was either not enough demand or too high of a price to justify installation.
This is not to say that alternative payment options are not important, as they most certainly are. On average, alternative payment methods make up anywhere from 8-10% of our total sales. The concern is whether or not offering 6-8 different options can have a negative effect, causing confusion with the customer.
What have your experiences been with alternative payment methods? Are you in the "as many as are available" camp or do you prefer to keep the payment options limited?
This post is filed under By Merchants, For Merchants and has the following keyword tags: Paypal, eCheck, Bill Me Later.
1 Comment
Dennis says:
There are many that are in it for the short haul but others are just new to certain markets. But with the global industry and financial situation the way it is there are some acting as redundant processors for the availability of banking resources.
