Payment Processors – A Case Study

What Is a Payment Processor?

Payment processors come in a wide variety and are used by every eCommerce store currently spamming your screen with a remarketing campaign for those leather gloves you looked at 3 days ago. A payment processor is a third-party business hired to manage financial transactions for a company. They are an essential component to the success of any online retailer. Partnering with the right Orlando digital marketing agency is important to ensuring that your e-commerce website is optimized for online purchases.

One Organization’s Dilemma

A non-profit organization recently came to us for a complete website overhaul. They requested the full works – SEO landing pages, event integration and on-page donation integration. The on-page donation integration proved to be a much more daunting task than initially quoted.

While we developed a donation form for this new non-profit website, the original website remained live and continued processing information collected through the old donation form. Tragedy struck the week of Thanksgiving when donations typically skyrocket. The newly designed form began declining donations and within hours our team received a frantic phone call for help.

Our Discovery

Our team discovered that the live payment processor was being used to test hundreds of credit cards attacked by ill-intentioned individuals who could later steal money off them. This prompted the payment processor to flag the non-profit account, declining all transactions. Protecting customer data is imperative to preventing malicious attacks that could steal private information. We rectified the situation by implementing a “captcha,” which requires users to successfully complete a visual task before submitting payment.

Without access to the original FTP folder, we had to integrate the payment processor API to communicate with the new submission form. Before this happened, a complete re-design of the form was required after user testing uncovered an inefficient system that resulted in low on-page conversion rates. It became apparent that the instructions listed at the top of the form were being completely overlooked and users were having trouble locating their CVV numbers.

To worsen matters, a barely-visible comment was displayed at the bottom of the form with instructions on how to make a recurring gift donation that involved contacting a representative via phone or e-mail. Let me stop to give you a crash course in optimizing conversions: KISS – Keep It Simple, Stanley. It should be as easy as possible for customers to give you their money (or donations, in this case). The less action required to process a payment the better. Below is the original donation form next to the highly optimized money machine we created.

The Solution

Notice that the form is visually appealing with subtle but effective examples of what should be added to each input field. Additionally, we implemented a fool-proof system that populates the desired donation amount into the “Donate” button to avoid confusion on the action being completed.

We took the monthly donation comment from the bottom of the form and changed it to an automated process that can be completed without the extra step of contacting a representative. Any donation amount can be selected or custom input at the top of the screen. Through the power of advanced code written by our team, the donation can be converted into a recurring transaction with the simple check of a box.

The CVV form was reimagined with even the most computer illiterate user in mind. An example of an acceptable entry is displayed along with an explanation of the code and where to find it. Once the intuitive UI was perfected, our team of developers worked tirelessly to get the payment processor communicating with our beautifully designed new form.

A Success Story

After launching the new form and website, donation conversions increased by a whopping 20% and the non-profit was able to continue their mission. We live in a world where online payment processors and user-friendly design go hand in hand. If done correctly, they can lead to great success. If you are a business owner looking to build or improve an online store, schedule a consultation with our web design agency to start strategizing.