3 Tips for Accelerating Cross-Border Mobile Payments
BlogDecember 05, 2022
Mobile devices are increasingly being used as the primary tool for online shopping. In fact, ecommerce accounted for nearly 19% of retail sales worldwide in 2021. By 2026, the online segment is forecasted to make up nearly a quarter of total global retail sales. This trend is driven by smartphones and tablets, as well as mobile shopping apps' ever-increasing convenience and ease of use. For all these reasons, mobile payments have become an integral part of cross-border ecommerce.
Research shows that mobile is king for brands that are seeking a more painless way of accepting cross-border transactions. The boom of fintech companies and payment options illustrates the importance of a personalized user experience to boost your conversion rate. A Google and Ipsos survey found that users who have a negative experience on a mobile site are 62% less likely to purchase from that business in the future.
Whichever payment method customers use, it should be fully integrated into your website using ecommerce platforms. Furthermore, from a technical perspective, it's essential to ensure your website is optimized for mobile devices and that the user experience is seamless across all platforms.
It's also vital for your business to understand the cross-border regulatory landscape and ensure compliance with all relevant laws. You should take adequate time to ensure your website is compliant with the latest Payment Card Industry Security Standards, which will help you make sure your customers' personal and financial information is protected. You must also obtain the appropriate licenses and permits from local authorities to legally accept mobile payments. Lastly, make sure you're partnering with a reliable payment processor that can support mobile payments in your target market.
Furthermore, cross-border ecommerce is often facilitated through localized apps. For instance, 98% of Dutch customers can pay with iDEAL, and most prefer the option. Another localized app, Klarna, now works with 70,000 merchants to offer solutions to more than 60 million users in Europe and North America. Even further, WeChat Pay and Alipay dominate China. This illustrates that brands need to use numerous geolocalized options if they want to reach global consumers with their preferred payment methods.
Different types of mobile payments are used worldwide, including SMS payments, Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) payments, QR code payments, and near-field communication (NFC) payments. You will need to become adequately acquainted with these mobile payment options for success in your target countries as well. Finally, ensure the entire customer experience (from selection to checkout) is adapted to mobile devices, as this is how your customers will interact with your brand on a daily basis.
Research shows that mobile is king for brands that are seeking a more painless way of accepting cross-border transactions. The boom of fintech companies and payment options illustrates the importance of a personalized user experience to boost your conversion rate. A Google and Ipsos survey found that users who have a negative experience on a mobile site are 62% less likely to purchase from that business in the future.
Whichever payment method customers use, it should be fully integrated into your website using ecommerce platforms. Furthermore, from a technical perspective, it's essential to ensure your website is optimized for mobile devices and that the user experience is seamless across all platforms.
It's also vital for your business to understand the cross-border regulatory landscape and ensure compliance with all relevant laws. You should take adequate time to ensure your website is compliant with the latest Payment Card Industry Security Standards, which will help you make sure your customers' personal and financial information is protected. You must also obtain the appropriate licenses and permits from local authorities to legally accept mobile payments. Lastly, make sure you're partnering with a reliable payment processor that can support mobile payments in your target market.
Where Most Brands Make Mistakes in Mobile Payments
Despite the global popularity of ecommerce, brands often don't understand that they need to localize their business and products to be successful in a country. Localization is particularly important when there are local payment methods and local regulations that you need to be intimately familiar with.Furthermore, cross-border ecommerce is often facilitated through localized apps. For instance, 98% of Dutch customers can pay with iDEAL, and most prefer the option. Another localized app, Klarna, now works with 70,000 merchants to offer solutions to more than 60 million users in Europe and North America. Even further, WeChat Pay and Alipay dominate China. This illustrates that brands need to use numerous geolocalized options if they want to reach global consumers with their preferred payment methods.
Different types of mobile payments are used worldwide, including SMS payments, Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) payments, QR code payments, and near-field communication (NFC) payments. You will need to become adequately acquainted with these mobile payment options for success in your target countries as well. Finally, ensure the entire customer experience (from selection to checkout) is adapted to mobile devices, as this is how your customers will interact with your brand on a daily basis.
The Evolution of Mobile Payments
In the coming years, substantial regulation in fintech, for which ecommerce is the strongest driver with a nearly 12% annual growth rate, is likely to shape how easy it is for companies to expand globally and what kinds of regulations are needed to allow a global presence.If the regulations become rigid, that could result in a scenario where a few big companies are highly regulated and dominant in their home regions but not globally. If, on the other hand, there are more flexible regulations that promote decentralized finance (DeFi), crypto, and other new tech tools, those companies could be more globalized. That's why your brand must consider both the technical and legal landscapes when trying to enable mobile payments for successful cross-border ecommerce, as they are sure to shape how easy or difficult it is to expand globally.
3 Strategies to Accelerate Mobile Payments Within Cross-Border Ecommerce
1. Be local
At Go Global Ecommerce, we researched the effects of localization and found that our Dutch customers were increasingly using iDeal as their preferred online payment solution. These native payment methods, including iDeal, PayPal in the U.S., and Alipay in China, convert more effectively than international credit cards. Additionally, including local payment options in our cross-border ecommerce strategy boosted CR by 40% on stores processing more than $6 million per year.
2. Focus on the user experience
A bad user experience (UX) on the payment side decreases customer satisfaction and impacts whether consumers will continue to trust your brand. As mobile is the most-used device, the mobile journey with all payment methods should be as smooth and transparent as possible. Our research found that a bad UX, such as jumping outside the website for payment or the payment not integrating correctly, will make the customer stop and perhaps not return.
3. Be safe
Your company should ensure the customer is always in control of their information and data instead of one or multiple companies having it. After all, a bad reputation for data management can grow very quickly in the digital age. Over the years, we've decreased our fraud rate to less than 0.02% through safer technology and human-in-the-loop solutions. By strengthening your security measures and adhering to global payment regulations, you'll be able to keep customer data safe and secure while also building their trust in your brand.How Go Global Ecommerce Can Help Your Business's Cross-Border Mobile Payments
As a Merchant of Record, Go Global Ecommerce has relationships with dozens of payment providers worldwide. We work efficiently, as we have an economy of scale, and we are flexible, as we have relationships that allow our clients to accept money in different local currencies. Brands no longer have to negotiate with scores of payment providers. Instead, Go Global Ecommerce simplifies your business and shields you from payment-related headaches.
If you're ready to see how our team at Go Global Ecommerce can help set up your business for cross-border ecommerce success, contact us today.
