We all know that the online content industry is worth millions of dollars, but today millions of sales are lost due to inefficient or incomplete payment services that do not solve all the concerns of the customer and cater to their every need
We all know that the online content industry is worth millions of dollars, but today millions of sales are lost due to inefficient or incomplete payment services that do not solve all the concerns of the customer and cater to their every need. The question is how do we fix this and turn consumers browsing the web into customers.
Well one of the things that would help would be to put up more payment options, in fact, the more the merrier! Consumers are more likely to purchase content if they can choose the payment method that suits them. According to research that was done by CyberSource, merchants can convert as many as 20% more customers by offering them more payment options to choose from.
The problem is there are so many options, it is very hard to choose which ones would work the best and convert more customers, and each payment option has it own glitches in the system, here are some examples:
Some payment options work very well for inside the US but once you live abroad, you have a problem to pay through them. Some payment options require the customer opening an online account with them and funding it from their credit card or bank account. That might be a problem for teenagers or others who do not have a credit card or bank account, which according to the Yankee Group, are 40% of internet users .
Some content providers opt to put their content on the operators’ portal and not have to deal with payment processing issues. This means that the mobile operator has put the site up on his “walled internet garden” and the customer gets charged for the download through his mobile operator monthly bill. But will that really solve all the problems? That will definitely not help users who download content to their PC’s and not to their mobile, they cannot charge the content to their mobile bill. And what about all the users that surf outside the operators portal, how will the merchant generate that audience to his site? Also the revenue share that the merchant receives from the mobile operator is pretty low. The “walled gardens”, or the operators portals are crumbling due to customer demand for “open internet” browsing. Mobile carriers are not the only way for buying content to the handset, consumers are downloading also from the open web and from their personal collections. According to Parks Associates’ “The New Frontier: Portable and Mobile Gaming” report, US mobile games sold through carrier decks are predicted to generate 72% of revenue in 2012, down from 90% in 2007.
Then there is the issue of credit cards. First of all, not everyone owns one, and second; people are less reluctant to use their credit cards for micropayments since they are worried about security issues, fraud and identity theft. Online fraud and identity theft have sadly become a daily event, as online shopping become more popular because of its convenience. Hardly a day goes by where we do not hear of an individual whose life was destroyed or nearly destroyed because someone hacked into their personal information and made purchases on their behalf, leaving them to “pick up” the bill. In 2007 in America alone identity fraud reached $45 billion in losses and affected 8.1 million American consumers! (According to a research conducted by Javelin Strategy & Research)
Of course this is a worldwide epidemic and the numbers are staggering and growing as we speak…
If people’s worries about security issues were at ease, the pool of online shoppers would become greater.
So what is the answer, how can merchants create a bigger churn and more customers?
Remember my initial answer, more online payment? Well there is a relatively new “kid on the block” for payment processing for digital downloads.
eBIZ.mobility LTD has created a revolutionary online payment processing service for digital downloads, called OneTouch Online Purchasing™. The OneTouch Online Purchasing™ service enables consumers to purchase digital content (such as music, ring tones, games, video clips, wallpapers etc.), via their computer or their mobile handset, and charge their purchase directly to a billing account with any telecom service provider, bank, or ISP of their choice. Simply put, OneTouch allows your customers to make purchases without the need of a credit card, or even a PayPal account.
Using OneTouch to make an online purchase, no personal or financial information is transmitted to the merchant, or to OneTouch. Their payment system was designed to eradicate the possibility of identity theft online. It’s simple really: since they do not store any personal or financial information anywhere in their system there is nothing for criminals to steal.
By offering OneTouch as an additional payment method alongside or as an extension to other payment options, merchants will be able to reach millions of consumers who are afraid or unable to use traditional payment methods. OneTouch solves the problem of consumers overseas who want a fast way to buy online since there are no country limitations for using this payment method.
It solves the problem for teenagers and others who have no access to credit cards or simply do not want to use them for online micropayments and it solves the problem for those who are afraid to give out any personal information online. So by adding the OneTouch payment solution to your other online payment services, your site has a better chance of casting the net on potential consumers giving them an all round solution to their limitations and fears.
Millions of dollars are floating on the internet sea waiting to be caught. By putting multiple payment options on your site you are casting the right nets in place to pull the consumers in and to change them into customers. ..
