How Payment Process Optimization Reduced Purchase Time by 50%

In today’s world, speed and efficiency are crucial for the success of any e-commerce store. Once a customer begins the purchasing process, they expect a smooth and seamless experience that doesn’t delay or frustrate them. This is especially true for the payment process, where any delay or complication can lead to a lost customer. In this case study, we focus on a specific example of an e-commerce store that decided to optimize its payment process and achieved a dramatic reduction in the time required to complete a purchase.

Initial Situation

The e-commerce store in question was in the electronics sector and had a fairly broad customer base. By the beginning of 2023, the management team began noticing a trend: despite a high number of website visitors, the conversion rate was lower than expected. Analytics revealed that the problem was in the payment process, which many customers found too complicated and time-consuming.

The payment process consisted of several steps. The customer had to choose a payment method, enter billing details, review the order, proceed to enter payment information, and finally confirm the payment. Some customers had to repeatedly navigate between screens while entering details, increasing the likelihood of abandoning their cart. Additionally, the process did not allow users to save their details for quick repeat purchases, which meant a burdensome task for regular customers. The store’s management decided to optimize the payment process to improve user experience and increase conversion rates.

Analysis and Problem Identification

The first step was to conduct a detailed analysis of customer behavior during payment. Using web analytics tools and user behavior tracking, the team discovered that most abandoned purchases occurred during the payment phase. Customers were leaving the site at the point where they had to enter various details and confirm each step. The analysis also revealed that many customers were using mobile devices, where the payment process proved particularly frustrating due to small screens and difficulties entering data.

Another key finding was that the payment methods were not flexible enough to meet the needs of all customers. For example, some customers preferred to pay using digital wallets like PayPal or Apple Pay, while others favored traditional bank transfers. These options were not well integrated into the payment gateway, and some methods were more complicated to use than others.