Best Payment Options For Businesses

Good old fashioned cash is nice but customers are always looking for new ways to pay for purchases. Credit cards and debit cards are normal but that’s not the only option for today’s online shoppers. From e-wallets to crypto, let’s take a look at some of the best payment gateway options to make your life easier.

Digital Wallets

Digital wallets like Apple Pay, Google Pay and PayPal give consumers a secure way to store their sensitive financial information like bank account numbers and credit card numbers on devices. ‘Aside from this, these payment systems can also store other information like their names and address which makes them a convenient option for buyers when paying.

There are 2 main benefits for digital wallets. First, it allows consumers to pay their bills using their credit card or bank using their smartphones or computers. Second, it makes the payment process seamless and easier because all it needs is just 1 click to complete.

Digital wallets reduce friction during the payment process for consumers. According to a Baymard Institute study, 26% of respondents said that a long checkout process was one of the main reasons they abandoned their cart.

So which digital wallet is best? Paypal still leads the way as the 60% conversion rate in the western world. However, in China, Alipay and WeChat are the leaders with over 1 billion users, more than other digital wallets combined.

Buy-now Pay-later (BNPL)

Buy products immediately with Buy-now Pay-later (BNPL) schemes. Afterpay and zipPay offer this kind of payment structure where consumers buy a product and then pay by installment plans. According to Inside Australian Online Shopping report by Australia Post, BNPL services accounted for up to 7.7% of online spend or $1.6 billion and have a big appeal on the 18—39-year-old demographic.

Buyers like BNPL because it provides instant gratification which lowers barriers to entry. It also has a big impact on buying rate and behavior which increases conversion. An ASIC study found that 55% of customers spend more when given the BNPL option.

Cryptocurrency

Bitcoin and Litecoin are a form of electronic currency verified using a technology called Blockchain. While many of us feel uncertain using crypto due to uncertainties it raises, the fact is that there is an increasing number of shoppers who prefer this form of payment. CNN reveals in one of their studies that crypto users use will grow to 200 million by 2024.

Ecommerce platforms like  Woocommerce, Shopify and Magento all offer crypto payment options. Just like other currencies, crypto can be received and withdrawn in real-time.

Payment Gateways

Payment gateways are ecommerce services that process payments. Here are some of the most popular options.

Stripe

Stripe offers payment processing software for ecommerce stores and applications. It works by transferring money from your customer’s bank to yours using a credit or debit card. As of 2019, Stripe accepts Alipay, Apple Pay, Credit cards, Google Pay, Microsoft Pay, Masterpass, Visa Checkout, and WeChat Pay.

eWay

Australia’s eWay process 25% of Australia’s online market. They are accessible to local Australian businesses with 24/7 support, over 250 integrations and over 20 years experience. They accept payment forms like AMEX Express Checkout, Apple Pay, Credit cards, MasterPass, Visa Checkout, and PayPal.

Braintree

Braintree started in Chicago but is now owned by Paypal. They offer a unique access to funding and data other payment gateways focusing on innovative payments technology and scalable solutions. They accept Credit cards, Apple Pay, Google Pay, Samsung Pay, PayPal, Masterpass and Visa Checkout.

BitPay

BitPay brings Bitcoin payments to the mainstream. It can process cryptocurrency in real time and deposit funds into merchant’s accounts, without the need for a cryto wallet. They work with Bitcoin & Bitcoin Cash, Ethereum with more cryptocurrencies to be added.

Bottom Line

There are so many options available for ecommerce stores it can be hard to choose between all of them. However, your customer’s preferences should always come first. There are many ways to find this out. You can ask them to take a short survey or take a look at your Google’s analytics. For example, if you’re receiving a lot of traffic from iPhones then offering Apple Pay should be a priority.

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Cool Ways To Improve Buyer Experience

Online stores are seeing a boom as many people around the world are turning to online shops to fulfill their needs. This is why ecommerce stores are always looking for ways to improve their customer experience.

One of the best ways to improve customer experience is by improving the buying process. If you want to increase your conversion rate and sales, you’re in the right place because we have some innovative ideas on how you can improve buyer experience.

Digital Wallets

Digital wallet solutions such as PayPal, Google Pay, Apple Pay and Alipay store buyer’s information like address and payment information online and in a secure place. Offering these types of payments for your ecommerce store can reduce friction during the checkout process because customers can buy in 1 click.

Say goodbye to the days of manually inputting your address and other information every time you order from an online shop. Studies by Big Commerce show that ecommerce stores with digital wallets were able to increase their mobile conversion rates threefold.

Real-Time Credit Card Validation

28% of people who abandon shopping carts were because of the long checkout process with 4% stating that their credit card was declined. This is fairly understandable because it can be frustrating to fill up information only to see the whole process fail or reset due to 1 missing credit card number.

Luckily, online payment processors like Stripe have real-time credit card validation for users. It will check any credit card type, number, expiry date and CVC as they type and tell them if something has been incorrectly entered.

Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL)

In the old days you can buy a product through lay-by. However, it does not give the purchaser instant gratification. In fact, they can’t take the item home until it has been fully paid off. This is where BNPL comes in. During the last few years providers like AfterPay, OpenPay and zipPay have been offering buy now pay later schemes to drive conversions up.

According to Australia Post BNPL accounted to 7.7% or $1.6 billion of total online goods sold in 2017. After offering BNPL, average order value increased by 53% and another saw a 10% increase in conversion rate.

Click and Collect

Click and collect has been available for a while now but many ecommerce stores failed to take advantage of this innovative idea. Nowadays, many retailers and physical shops are offering click and collect option due to social distancing rules observed during the Covid-19 pandemic. Click and collect is very convenient for buyers because not all of them will want items to be delivered. It allows them to shop online and then pick up the items at a more convenient time.

Click and collect is popular in major Australian supermarkets like Woolworth’s because customers can shop without walking the aisles. They also have a pick-up and drive-thru option so you can just head to the parking lot and an employee will deliver your groceries to you rather than walking into the store.

Convenient Delivery With Parcel Lockers

People live busy lives and are not always available for deliveries. Aside from pick-up and collect, Australia Post is offering parcel lockers for customers who want to access their deliveries on their own terms.

Australia Post is also offering online businesses more choices for delivery so that customers can decide when and where their online shopping gets delivered. Parcel Lockers are not just offered by Australia Post with other retailers offering their own versions.

Fast Delivery

We now live in a world obsessed with instant fulfillment. Delivery speed is now a growing factor for many buyers. This is why online stores are offering speedier delivery options with next day, same day and even 3-hour delivery within the a certain radius.

Still unsure? Studies show that 63% of shoppers reporting that they would definitely buy an item if it offered next-day delivery.

Social Registration And Checkout

Remembering all those usernames, emails and passwords for different online stores can be a pain. Providing users with easy social login is a good way to reduce registration friction. According to LoginRadius, there is a 52% increase in conversion rate when social login is available.

Aside from reducing friction, offering social login also helps ecommerce store to capture verified data from your customers.

Bottom Line

The ecommerce space is getting more crowded as many brick and mortar stores as well as aspiring entrepreneurs find it easier to set up online shops. Finding innovative ways to make you stand out against the competition can help improve conversion rates and sales.

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Best Dashboard Design Principles For Designers

Dashboards can make or break a digital product. The purpose of a dashboard is to provide a solution for organizing and presenting data in an efficient manner. Web developers should design a dashboard that can meet its purpose so that it can fulfill its mission of providing relevant data that users can analyze and interpret quickly.

Many dashboard designs clearly use data visualization to represent important data and track important indicators. Dashboards should also display information in a scannable format, with the most important data available immediately.

If dashboards cannot display data in a useful way, users will find it difficult to gain insights, which mean that it has poor design.

 But how do you design dashboards that can help users come to an informed decision? Here are dashboard design principles designers should be aware and follow.

Here are the components of a well-designed dashboard:

• Access to Relevant Data
• Simplifies Complex Data
• Can Express The Meaning of Data
• Provide a Clear User Interface

Include the following components in your dashboard design.

Consider The Needs of Your User

This is the most basic dashboard design principle. The design of a dashboard should revolve around the needs of end user. Before designing a dashboard, the designer should determine what kind of data or information the user wants to analyze.

Communicating and working with stakeholders, users and clients to select relevant key performance indicators (KPI) will enable you to begin selecting the right kind of dashboard tools.

KPIs come from a wide range of data sources. During the design process you will need to connect these sources with APIs. The more data sources, the more time it will take or you to finish the design.

Select The Right Type Of Dashboard

Selecting the right kind of dashboard is also important during the design process. If the dashboard is intended for high level executive-use or decision makers, you need a KPI dashboard. Supervisors who are monitoring employee performance on the other hand will need an operational type of dashboard.

These 2 types are different. KPI dashboard offers an overhead view of exiting business metrics. It allows executives to understand the data in terms of strategies and the health of the company. This kind of dashboard can be configured to receive data weekly, monthly, quarterly or annually.

Operational dashboards on the other hand give users a real-time view of business operations. This is a good choice for supervisors and managers because it allows them to act quickly on setbacks that impact daily operations while giving them insights about employee productivity.

Immediate Access To Relevant Information

Another important dashboard design principle is to give users immediate access to important information. This is called the “5 second rule”. This means that all important information should be available within 5 seconds after the dashboard loads.

It is important to work with shareholders in order to determine which data is most important to them. You can then display this data on a prominent spot on the dashboard. After this, you can display remaining data in a logical order.

Select The Right Kind Of Visualization

The right visualization tool has a big impact on how data is presented. Designers usually get carried away with charts, maps and graphs.

When selecting a method, avoid cluttering the screen with different visualization tools. Select one or two types to maintain simplicity and consistency.

Line charts are good choices for showcasing data patterns but pie charts are usually ineffective because many users struggle to decipher the size of each slice. Tables are good for displaying data. However, if there is too much users will find it harder to scan.

Some of the best dashboard do not include charts or visualization tools for KPI. The top KPI is usually displayed as plain text in a prominent position – usually on top of the screen – to make them stand out against other data.

Keep It Simple and Easy To Understand

Above all, designers should strive to keep dashboard design simple and easy to understand. This will make it easier for users to analyze the information on the screen.

Group data into categories and then separate each category with a box or line. Users will then be able to separate essential data from the less relevant. Use simple fonts and minimal colors. A minimalist design will showcase the most important aspect in a dashboard: the information.

Conclusion

These dashboard tips should be able to help designers deliver a winning UX. Always remember to set goals for your dashboard design based on the needs of the user or your client. This will make it easier for you to design metrics and keep track of KPIs on the dashboard. Every dashboard addresses a different need. However, the principles above will help you focus on the needs of your end user.

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Avoid These Common Software Development Project Pitfalls

Software development can be a challenging task. Seeing it through from start to finish can give even veteran developers a big headache. This is why many software projects fall through. Aside from complicated process and challenges, many software development projects also go over budget.

There are many pitfalls to watch out for when you’re developing software. Here are some of the most common reasons why software projects fail.

Unclear Goals

Ideas do not always translate into goals. When you have an idea you want to run with it and see what works, but it is not always measurable or doable. In some cases, ideas are just great as ideas. Software developers know that this is one of the biggest risks in the industry. If a project does not have clear goals, it will not have direction and project engineers and developers will not understand why they are doing the work.

While it is true that necessity is the mother of invention, every software developer should first understand what the goals are, what problems are going to be solved and what the mechanisms are in order to measure the success of the project.

Not Enough Documentation

Coders and programmers know how important documentation is. Proper documentation is needed in order to keep track of all the aspects of an application and it improves on the quality of the software product. Most importantly, documentation is needed for development, maintenance and knowledge transfer to other developers. Software documentation reduces support requirements while improving quality and productivity.

Writing software without a clear User Stories & Acceptance Criteria is like building a house without a blueprint. Are you building a house for a family of 3 or a family of 8? Is it for a young family or for your grandparents?

Poor Communication

A big factor in failed software development projects is poor communication. It is common for a single project to involve a lot of people. In the end it all boils down to how well people in a team communicate with each other. This is because communication is the glue that holds the whole project.

While documentation is important in software development, team dynamics plays a big part in how well information is communicated and understood. Managing expectations is also important in order to ensure that everybody is on the same page.

Communication should be easy to access. All team members should be able to access task management and reporting tools without having to ask other members.

Agile Project Management

Research shows that teams that follow agile project management are more likely to succeed. Agile framework promotes flexible and sustainable environment for software development. It is also responsive to change and allow for more complicated projects to be broken down into smaller tasks and achievable milestones.

This is very important for teams because hitches and changes can happen during the development process which can significantly impact the outcome.

Lack Of Shareholder Feedback

According to studies, lack of engagement from stakeholders is the reason why many projects fail. Keeping stakeholders informed and involved during the process minimizes ensures that the project continues because everybody is aligned with what’s important.

Actively seek feedback for improvement from stakeholders. Make sure that they know what’s going on during the development process and find out which areas they like, dislike or need improvement. Communicate these changes to the team clearly not only to boost morale but also to make sure that changes are acted upon.

Wrap Up

Software projects usually face delays, setbacks and cost blowouts. They also sometimes lose their initial purpose. Teams lose interest when their goals are unmet, communication breaks down and projects come to a halt.

Luckily, these projects can be rescued. Whether it’s fixing poor quality code or improving communication and facing other software development problems, developers can face these challenges if there is a clear and actionable path ahead. This is why clear goals should be set for every software development project.

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