A payment method is likely one of the most important elements shared by successful e-commerce sites. Your online store can’t provide value to customers or make money if you don’t have a simple and efficient means to collect payments. As a result, whether you’re just starting out or have a booming B2B e-commerce business, payment must be a top focus. However, selecting a payment option can be more difficult than it appears.

There are other factors to consider, including the available payment alternatives in your area and possible match with your firm. There’s also the issue of narrowing down the hundreds of possibilities available, both locally and globally.

A recent report shows that currently, 49% of the total ecommerce expenditure worldwide is paid using digital wallets, making it the most popular online payment method among global consumers. Not only do digital wallets have a strong lead over all other types of online payment methods, but they’re also expected to cement their top position in the coming years as the usage of many other online payment options declines. 

By 2026, more than half (54%) of all ecommerce spending is expected to be carried out with digital and mobile wallets. 

The second and third most popular online payment methods are credit cards and debit cards, which are currently used for 20% and 12% of global ecommerce sales respectively. Though these methods will continue to be popular online payment options for consumers, their combined shares of online payment options are expected to fall from 32% in 2022 to 26% by 2026.

Account-to-account transfers (9%), also known as A2A, buy now, pay later (5%), and cash on delivery (2%) make up the top online five payment methods worldwide in 2022. 

What are online payment methods?

Online payment methods are services that process payment information on e-commerce websites. Digital selling has considerably relaxed and sped up the process of making purchases. Payment methods ensure that customers can select products on the internet and pay online.

Payment methods are of various types, and they may provide varying services. But, at their core, payment methods are there to help with seamless payment processing. Usually, they involve:

• Payment gateways: They provide the interface where customers enter their payment information. Payment gateways link your e-commerce store to a payment processor’s portal.
• Payment processors: Processors are responsible for receiving customer information, verifying that the customer has funds, and sending a request to the customer’s bank for payment. If the customer has funds, they receive payment and deposit the same in your merchant account. But if there are no funds, the processor will communicate to you.
• Bank providers: These are the traditional banks we’re familiar with, where customers maintain accounts. The bank provider settles the payment request or informs the processor of inadequate funds in the customer’s bank account.
• Merchant accounts: As an e-commerce store, your account is a merchant account. This is where you receive the payment charged to the customers after a successful purchase.

As you can see, successfully receiving an e-commerce payment involves many steps. But it’s your job as an online store owner to ensure the process is fast and stress-free for customers. That’s because an unnecessarily lengthy or complicated payment process can cost you sales and revenue.

The Baymard Institute found that complex or unduly slow checkout processes contribute to high cart abandonment rates. Further, cart abandonment is generally around 70% for all online sellers, showing the importance of a fast and seamless process.

Read Also: How to Find the Best eCommerce Web Development Platform

Further, customers want to know that their payment information is safe with you. E-commerce stores are a common target of hackers who try to hijack customer payment details. B2B online sellers without secure payment infrastructure risk lost customers and reputational damage from compromised payment details.

As a result, it’s essential to carefully select your online store payment systems and those who provide payment services to your store.

There are numerous online payment solutions available to business owners these days, but you should only choose those that are appropriate for your specific needs. You should also examine choices that can scale as your organization grows, as well as ways that provide security and excellent customer service.

1. DepositFix

DepositFix makes it easy to integrate other business resources, including HubSpot forms, Stripe, and PayPal. That means you can seamlessly accept payments through HubSpot forms, and the payment information will be sent directly to your business’ Stripe or PayPal accounts. This technology allows you to create workflows following customers’ payments, so they’ll automatically receive follow-up emails, receipts upsells, or requests for product or service reviews after their purchases.

DepositFix works best for businesses that sell digital products or services. It also allows you to collect donations or send invoices. It offers top-notch security for peace of mind for you and your clients. If you need to get in touch, this platform offers a Help Library for self-service, or you can reach customer service via phone or email.

In one case study, The Ceramic Tile Education Foundation was able to move from offline, over-the-phone payments to a more secure, streamlined system online thanks to DepositFix. Online payments went from about 10% to over 53% and are still growing after the company implemented the online payment solutions from DepositFix.

2. Stripe

A great payment method for small businesses and large corporations alike, Stripe offers payment processing services for businesses. This comprehensive platform allows both online and in-person businesses to accept payments digitally, all while preventing fraud with its Radar protection. Stripe integrates with popular online shopping systems like WooCommerce and Shopify. Stripe is popular globally, and it supports over 135 currencies and payment methods. It’s easy to start using, too; you can have it ready to go for your business in about 10 minutes.

In addition to robust documentation, you can get 24/7 support from their customer service team. Slack, a major communication platform for businesses, uses Stripe in 15 countries for payments. Even when it saw a surge in use during the pandemic, Stripe offered 100% uptime and boosted company earnings globally by optimizing online payments.

3. One Page Pay

One Page Pay works with several different CRMs, including HubSpot, as well as different payment platforms like Stripe, PayPal, Take Payments, and GoCardless. It creates a dedicated payment form page and sends sale details straight to email or your CRM. This platform offers bank-level security for your consumers’ data, and you can set up your first payment form in under five minutes.

Choose from a single or two-column form, or work with One Page Pay to create a custom payment form that suits your exact needs. You can generate reports based on the transactions, and because this service integrates with HubSpot, it will automatically follow up with consumers with things like surveys or digital product delivery after their purchases. 

4. Square

Square is a popular payment solution and one of the best online payment methods for small businesses. Whether you want to offer appointments, sell physical or digital products, or run a restaurant that takes orders online, Square has you covered. You can send invoices and/or collect payments all from this platform, and it even offers a free eCommerce service to help you get your business up and running. Square offers everything from hardware for brick-and-mortar retailers to e-gift cards and a dashboard with analytics to track your success.

With Square, you can also manage your payroll — from inputting time cards to automatically paying employees — and open a Square checking account without fees for your business. With its online payment solution, you can also easily add shopping cart buttons, purchase links, and QR codes to help direct clients to your products and services.

5. Checkout HQ

Imagine being able to create a searchable database of your products, create personalized payment and quote forms, and access attribution reports to see how your marketing efforts impact revenue. This is all the reality with Checkout HQ, which integrates with HubSpot to make online payments a breeze. 

The platform automatically works with your current HubSpot theme, so it’ll fit into your brand right out of the box. It also integrates with Stripe for payments, and you can customize the checkout experience to boost the customer experience.

6. Collect

Start accepting credit card payments online with Collect, which will work right on your HubSpot pages rather than sending clients to a different window. It’s easy to install, requiring no coding knowledge to set it up, and it makes the client experience seamless from the time they visit your site to when they make the purchase. Take secure payments right on your website, plus add pricing tables, buy buttons, and payment forms.

You can even allow customers to make one-time purchases or subscribe to your products or services. Collect currently integrates with Stripe but also plans to work with other payment services in the future. There’s no per-transaction fee, so you simply pay for the Collect subscription without the added cost for every sale.

7. Authorize.net

Authorize.net has been in the online payments game since 1996, and it’s trusted by nearly 450,000 merchants. The service helps businesses handle over $149 billion in payments each year. This platform allows your business to collect money via credit card, contactless payment, and even electronic checks to better suit your customers’ needs. Authorize.net handles everything from authorizing, capturing, and settling payments securely.

8. PayPal

PayPal has rapidly become one of the top online payment methods, with the platform seeing an annual payment volume of over $930 billion in 2020. Consumers can pay you via their credit or debit cards, their PayPal balance, or their bank accounts. The platform allows customers to pay quickly with one click, and its innovative Store Cash feature helps convert users who have abandoned their carts into sales.

PayPal integrates with many major eCommerce platforms, so it can work with your existing systems. You can also add a shopping cart, buy now, or donate buttons easily, or work with PayPal to create a more robust and custom online payment solution.

9. Intuit

Intuit offers a suite of tools for businesses, including flexible payment solutions for companies that want to accept online payments. You can offer credit cards, debit cards, eCheck, or ACH payments both online and in-person, making payments convenient for clients. The scheduling tool allows you to schedule automatic, recurring invoices, and the payments are integrated with your Quickbooks account for seamless bookkeeping, quick deposits, receipt capture and organization, bill pay, income, and expense tracking, and more.

10. Dwolla

Dwolla is an online payment solution that is scalable, so you can rely on it to accept payments as your business grows. You can tailor the payment platform to suit your business needs and match your branding, and it offers excellent security for sensitive data. You can send or receive funds, perfect if you need to pay contractors or if you want to receive consumer payments. Payment methods for Dwolla include ACH, balance-to-balance between Dwolla users, real-time payments, push-to-debit, or wire transfers.

11. FormPay 

With FormPay, you can collect payments directly into your HubSpot CRM using HubSpot forms, links, and quotes. With this payment app, you can convert your native HubSpot forms into payment forms and embed them on your website pages or share their URL to accept payment through them. The app comes with 5 popular payment gateways that are Stripe, PayPal, Amazon Pay, Adyen, and Razorpay.

With FormPay, you can accept payments anywhere in the world using your existing HubSpot forms. On top of that, with this app, you can create dedicated donation forms and product-oriented forms, and also share discount coupons to increase purchases. The app also offers multiple custom properties where you can save your payment-related data and segment and automate it using HubSpot.

Finally

Offering online payments for consumers makes the shopping experience easier than ever. Plus, when your online payment solution offers extra benefits like automated follow-up emails or scheduled invoicing, you can further boost profits and customer satisfaction.

There are many online payment solutions out there, so find one with robust features that fit your needs, fees that work into your budget, and security and support to give you and your clients peace of mind.