In today’s fast-moving digital marketplace, hassle-free payment processing is critical for the business’s success. Streamlined and secure transaction experiences not only provide better customer experiences but also ultimately translate into sales.
In a 2024 Baymard Institute report, nearly 69.99% of online shopping carts are abandoned. The report shows that friction at checkout was often attributed as the reason for abandonment. Letting glitches in payment processing, undisclosed fees, and limited payment options drive customers away can quickly erode trust and send buyers elsewhere.
More than 40% of consumers declare they will never return to a site that offers a negative payment experience. These issues go beyond simple tech snags they can seriously hurt your revenue. Whether you’re using tools like our invoice generator to streamline backend processes or fine-tuning your checkout flow, every touchpoint matters.
Each section includes practical tips, often with easy-to-apply solutions, to help identify weaknesses and change the payment workflow process. Whether you’re an eCommerce startup or a small or large business, avoiding these mistakes will promote customer instinct to become repeat purchasers and increase conversions overall. Let’s get started!
1. Not Offering Multiple Payment Options
It can cost your business more than you realise by not expanding your payment options. Today’s consumer expects flexibility, whether that means credit/debit cards, PayPal, digital wallets such as Apple Pay or Google Pay, or Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) services like Afterpay and Klarna.
According to a report from Statista in 2024, there was 56% of all online shoppers worldwide abandoned their purchase due to their preferred payment method not being offered.
The more payment options were presented, the better overall customer experience, trust, and ultimately profit. When shoppers see at least one familiar payment option, they are more likely to complete the transaction.
Businesses that do not diversify their payment methods run the risk of losing their customer to competitors with more inclusive systems. Digital payment methods are on a compound annual growth rate of 15%.
Don’t fall behind now! The bottom line? Variety is not a nice-to-have; it is a must. Put the effort into creating a checkout that can turn almost any potential sale into a completed transaction.
2. Ignoring Mobile Payment Optimisation
In a world focused on mobile transactions, it would be a mistake not to optimise your payment process for mobile. Statista shows that over 60% of eCommerce sales come from mobile devices, and that number continues to rise.
Yet, despite this trend, many businesses do not take mobile checkout experiences seriously. There are few things more frustrating to users than a sluggish mobile interface, meaning users are less likely to convert and may abandon their carts altogether.
Baymard Institute identified that 17% of shoppers abandon purchases because of a complicated checkout process; mobile checkout often complicates it even further. Your mobile payment experience should be as intuitive, fast, and seamless as possible; think along the lines of auto-filled fields, tap-to-pay or responsive design.
Having a checkout process that is fully optimised for mobile will not only improve conversions but also improve customer satisfaction. Businesses must consider mobile payment flow a priority and not an afterthought to stay competitive in a digital marketplace where convenience is key.
3. Not Accepting International Payments
In today’s global marketplace, not accepting international payments is a costly mistake. With cross-border eCommerce expected to reach $2.1 trillion by 2026, businesses that ignore global customers miss out on massive growth opportunities.
Shoppers worldwide expect to pay in their local currency and through trusted regional methods. whether that’s Alipay, SEPA, or international credit cards.
Failing to offer this flexibility not only restricts your reach but also creates a frustrating checkout experience, leading to abandoned carts. Currency incompatibility, lack of localised payment options, and unclear conversion rates can all drive international buyers away.
By enabling international payments with proper currency conversion and localisation strategies, businesses can expand their customer base and build global trust. Whether you’re selling digital goods or shipping physical products, offering seamless cross-border payments is no longer optional.
It’s essential for scalability and long-term success. Prioritising global-ready payment solutions sets your business apart in an increasingly connected world.
4. Complicated Checkout Process
Long or complex checkouts are among the highest converting cart abandonment reasons. According to the Baymard Institute, approximately 17% of shoppers abandon a cart simply because the checkout process was too complicated / took too long.
When users have to navigate multiple pages, have endless form fields, or are forced to create an account, it takes away from the buying experience and diminishes trust. Micro checkouts create happier users and improve conversions.
Minimising the checkout steps, ideally an express checkout or single-page checkout, along with auto-fill and progress indicators, should be a goal for businesses.
Be clear and fast! Also, think about mobile users while designing the checkout flow! A seamless and intuitive interface that is easy to navigate across devices means buyers don’t abandon their cart out of frustration.
When you simplify the path from cart to order confirmation, not only are you improving sales, but you also create a good customer experience that makes them want to buy again.
5. Lack of Transparency on Fees and Taxes
Hidden fees at checkout can trigger immediate cart abandonment and result in a long-term loss of trust. In fact, 48 % of online shoppers abandon their carts due to unexpected costs, including unclear fees and taxes (Baymard Institute, 2024).
Surprise, surprise! Despite the recurring, frustrating experience, when buyers run into surprise costs or costs that were unclear throughout the shopping experience or on their cart page, they lose the first negative experience they have, and negative experience creates distrust, by becoming completely frustrated at the final step of their purchase journey due to unclear “expectations”.
Today’s consumers expect transparency and clarity at every step – from product pricing to applicable taxes, and even shipping fees.
Transparency is not only a great way to develop trust, but it is also likely to lead to more repeat purchasing actions, as customers find the process more predictable and less prone to regret or buyer’s remorse.
Make sure your checkout process details everything that is going to cost them before they get to checkout; include estimated taxes based on the shopper’s location, let the shopper know of any service charges, and discontinue the use of ambiguous pricing terms or phrases in the process.
The goal is to limit confusion and create an easier, less stressful, confident experience by being upfront about the payment process.
Transparent businesses not only face less cart abandonment than hidden cost businesses, but they also build ongoing relationships with their customers when they prioritise trust and ease of a customer’s shopping experience.
6. No Guest Checkout Option
Does it force users to create an account just to buy? This is a huge conversion killer. A 2024 study by the Baymard Institute found that 24% of online shoppers abandoned their cart due to requiring an account.
A fast and convenient checkout is a priority with consumers today. Guest checkout makes it easier for users to make purchases, and ultimately less friction with a first-time buyer. While creating an account can lead to advantages like better data collection and marketing opportunities, it should never outweigh the loss of sales.
It is critical to find a balance: allow users to check out as guests and then offer them to create an account once they have completed their purchase.
This customer-first approach better positions you conversion-wise while building trust. Having seamless and flexible checkout options shows the customer you appreciate their time and leads to better experiences and long-term retention.
7. Not Being PCI DSS Compliant
Not being PCI DSS compliant (Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard) carries a serious risk to your business and reputation.
This globally recognised standard sets the bar for how businesses should securely handle credit card data. If you are not PCI DSS compliant, you are likely to be at a higher risk of suffering data breaches.
In 2023, IBM reported that the global average cost of a data breach is $4.45 million per occurrence. Non-compliance also exposes you to fines, legal issues, and the potential loss of customer trust.
PCI compliance revolves around secure systems, data encryption, and regular audits of the processes and systems. Even small businesses are expected to comply with PCI when processing, storing, or transmitting cardholder data.
Many think their third-party payment processor is handling their compliance obligations, but this is rarely the reality for any size business. Your obligation to ensure your systems meet all PCI requirements is not an option, this is a necessity.
Compliance with PCI standards is important to help protect your customers, public reputation, and business. When we regularly prevent and review our PCI compliance obligations and evolve with ongoing PCI-related changes, we will reduce the risk of making a costly mistake immensely.
8. Storing Customer Payment Data Improperly
Storing customer payment data improperly is a major security risk that can lead to data breaches, financial loss, and damage to brand reputation.
In 2024, global data breach costs averaged $4.45 million per incident, highlighting the serious impact of poor data practices. Many businesses still store card details without proper encryption, making them vulnerable to cyberattacks.
To prevent this, companies should adopt tokenisation, which replaces sensitive card data with unique tokens that can’t be reverse-engineered.
Additionally, using secure, PCI DSS-compliant payment gateways ensures that data is transmitted and stored safely. These platforms handle the heavy lifting of security protocols, reducing your exposure to risks.
With consumers becoming increasingly privacy-conscious, safeguarding their information is not just a legal necessity; it’s a trust-building opportunity.
Failing to protect payment data not only risks compliance penalties but can also drive customers away. Prioritising secure data storage is essential for long-term business credibility and operational resilience.
9. Not Updating Security Protocols Regularly
Neglecting routine updates to your security policies will leave your company open to various new and emerging cyber threats. Legacy technology often comes without the needed sophistication to identify and limit fraud threats that are part of modern services.
The average cost of a data breach reached $4.45 million in 2023, as noted by IBM’s 2023 Cost of a Data Breach Report, an all-time high. Regularly scheduled security reviews provide enhanced protection against the potential to expose sensitive customer data, damage trust, and suffer fines.
Updated payment systems using new encryption, two-factor authentication, and vulnerability scans are necessary.
Payments should incorporate changes in new threat intelligence as it appears. Scheduled audits and updates not only keep your company compliant but also help mitigate potential damages from downtime or a potential breach.
Ignoring this function is literally not just risky, it is also an expense waiting to happen. There are a number of occasions when cyber-criminals will exploit exposures in old systems they believe have existing vulnerabilities that have not been patched, and they will also take advantage of any vulnerabilities they believe they can identify by exploiting old systems.
In fact, any company that ignores the need for paying attention and implementing security updates will see, on average, a lower risk of breach compared to those who prioritise security upgrades.
Customers also reported feeling more confident that their payment function is better secured and with less chance of being exploited.
10. Using Outdated Payment Gateways
When you are using an outdated payment gateway, it can take longer to process a transaction, and lead to poor user experiences.
This will ultimately lead to lost purchases. In today’s fast-paced digital world, customers expect payments to be seamless, secure, and lightning fast. Akamai stated that a 1-second delay in page loading time can reduce conversions by 7%.
Legacy payment gateways may not support digital wallets, one-click payments, or even fraud detection systems today, which impacts user experience and data security.
They are also not commonly compatible with modern back-end systems, which often brings further complications with accounting, inventory and reporting.
New fintech solutions are being launched into the market continuously, and businesses using legacy systems will be left behind by competitors offering solutions that provide faster, smarter solutions for their customers.
Upgrading to a modern payment gateway will provide more satisfaction to your customers and will also improve workflow in your backend systems. Don’t let outdated technology become a bottleneck in your revenue stream.
Upgrade to a payment gateway that can keep up with the trends of payments today! This is a key first step to establishing trust and creating long-term success.
11. Poor Integration with Accounting/Inventory Systems
One payment processing issue that is often ignored is poor integration with accounting and inventory systems. Manual entry opens the door to human error, delays in order fulfilment, and faulty financial records.
A Deloitte report revealed that businesses lose as much as 25% of revenue because of inefficient business practices, much of which relates to unconnected systems.
Seamless integration allows tracking of payments to be automated, inventory to be updated in real time, and taxes to be calculated accurately, dramatically cutting down time and errors. Integrating your payment gateway into backend systems also provides a clearer picture of cash flow and even inventory levels that are important in the decision-making process.
Linking your payment systems with back office systems makes business processes more nimble and reliable. Automating processes creates not only efficiency, but also allows for scalability into a larger business that requires more demands.
Integrating your payment system with your operations is an absolute must in a fast-paced climate and should no longer be considered a luxury. A business needs to embrace integrated payment solutions to build credibility, gain customer satisfaction and promote continued business growth and profitability.
12. Failing to Test Payment Systems Regularly
Establishing a regular testing ritual for your payment system is essential to prevent problems that could affect your sales. A broken link or broken transaction flow could cause a customer not to complete their purchase.
As an additional consideration, 42% of the consumers abandoning their purchases stated the main reason was that the checkout “didn’t work the first time” (Baymard Institute, 2024). Continuous, ongoing QA (Quality Assurance) is the way to ensure that updates, plugin changes, or server changes do not break your payment process.
You should be incorporating into your practice, either automated or manually, a form of testing to catch errors before your customers do.
I encourage you to create various situations in your routine that include failed payments or changing currency options to try and simulate your actual usage.
If you don’t put in place a proactive testing approach, any one of these issues can easily take away from your revenue and cause the dissatisfaction of your customers.
Regular audits and stress tests can save you time and money in the long run- testing is an essential part of your payment processor toolkit. Always test before your users do.
13. Overlooking Transaction Fees
Business owners often overlook how transaction fees can affect the net transaction revenue. There are many different types of payment processors, all charging different base rates. Failing to understand your fees and compare them can become costly over time.
PayPal and Stripe both have a similar fee structure of approximately. 2.9% $0.30 per transaction in the US, along with an additional fee should it be International or use AMEX.
According to a 2024 Merchant Payment Trends report from Engage Global, over 45% of small businesses were never aware of the above industry-average fees they were paying until year-end reviews.
These might seem like small charges on a one-off transaction, however, for high-volume merchants, these can turn into large accumulated charges, resulting in thousands of dollars lost yearly.
Beyond just year-end reviews, your success would benefit significantly from paying attention to your payment provider’s fees on an ongoing basis, as reviewing your provider’s fee structures, inquiring about negotiating rates, looking for alternatives, and making sure you’re capturing more of the annually earned revenue.
Be sure to document and review all the fine print on flat fees, cross-border fees, and monthly minimums. Adopting a proactive stance on the management of transaction fees will do more than help with your accounting practices, it is a responsible operational process and business practice to sustain growth in the rapidly evolving digital marketplace.
14. Not Having a Backup Payment Processor
Business owners often overlook how transaction fees can affect the net transaction revenue. There are many different types of payment processors, all charging different base rates. Failing to understand your fees and compare them can become costly over time.
PayPal and Stripe both have a similar fee structure of approximately. 2.9% $0.30 per transaction in the US, along with an additional fee should it be International or use AMEX. According to a 2024 Merchant Payment Trends report from Engage Global, over 45% of small businesses were never aware of the above industry-average fees they were paying until year-end reviews.
These might seem like small charges on a one-off transaction, however, for high-volume merchants, these can turn into large accumulated charges, resulting in thousands of dollars lost yearly.
Beyond just year-end reviews, your success would benefit significantly from paying attention to your payment provider’s fees on an ongoing basis, as reviewing your provider’s fee structures, inquiring about negotiating rates, looking for alternatives, and making sure you’re capturing more of your annually earned revenue. Be sure to document and review all the fine print on flat fees, cross-border fees, and monthly minimums.
Adopting a proactive stance on the management of transaction fees will do more than help with your accounting practices, it is a responsible operational process and business practice to sustain growth in the rapidly evolving digital marketplace.
Conclusion
Simplifying your payment processing and avoiding the mistakes that can happen along the way could make a big difference in your bottom line and customer experience. From offering various payment methods, to optimising for mobile, to ensuring transparency, security and everything in between, every step matters.
Statistics indicate that 69.82% of consumers abandon their shopping carts, often due to inadequate payment checkout or limited payment choices.
Proactively monitoring your systems and regularly updating security and testing for redundancies is a critical way to alleviate friction and increase conversions.
Your payment process can also help you mitigate potential revenue loss if you can integrate your payment processor into your accounting tools and systems. Also, have a backup processor and do not rely solely on one when you intend to lose precious business hours and dollars because a processor is down.
A simple billing or payment process, hidden fees, or outdated payment gateways can quickly add up to significant revenue.
Regular audits of your payment infrastructure are an important step to stay ahead of consumer demands, security threats, and fraud trends. E-commerce purchases through digital payments are projected to reach $14.78 trillion worldwide in 2027, making sure you optimise your payments now may be well towards your bottom line today.
Consult experts in payments to help if needed, because optimising should not be a set-and-forget process, but a priority for continuous performance improvement in today’s digital economy!
