Making your products more reachable helps to boost your conversion rate as well as increases returning customers. Afterpay is one of the fastest developing payment methods that all eCommerce store owners should be integrating today.
The multichannel program can be linked with online ecommerce stores and retailers, giving it an omnipresence with both brick and mortar and online stores. Here is an exclusive review of everything you need to know about Afterpay, including its benefits to your store and integrating it with your ecommerce store.
What is Afterpay?
Afterpay is a newly developed payment system that enables customers to receive goods and pay for them in four equal installments. Each payment is paid fortnightly from their debit/credit card.
Fundamentally, it is like the lay-by except that you will get the product upfront and finish paying the remaining balance in eight weeks. For the customer, they are not charged any interest and will only be charged an extra fee if they miss a payment.
The retailer will receive the payment in their bank account within 24 hours after a customer purchases. The retailer is charged about 4-6% commission for each transaction they make through Afterpay while Afterpay absorbs any chargebacks.
What Benefits Does Afterpay Bring Your Store?
Afterpay has proven itself in increasing retail sales by enabling the customer to receive products before completing payments. It unlocks endless possibilities of augmented sales and new customers with more affordable and flexible payment options.
Retailers using Afterpay get increased conversion rates because of:
- A particular percentage of customers becomes loyal to the Afterpay payment system. Like customers who only pay with PayPal, Afterpay customers will start using Afterpay continuously.
- Due to the loyalty, Afterpay customers will seek and prefer a retailer with an integrated Afterpay method.
- Eliminating the purchasing block for a customer having to pay upfront and enabling them to pay in installments without interest. This will encourage them to make purchases that they usually would not make.
- Afterpay has a minimum order size for one to qualify to use it, which helps increase your bottom line sales.
With eCommerce sites strategically focusing on eradicating impediments in their sales funnel, Afterpay provides an innovative payment opportunity that will help boost your ROI and reduce your bounce rate.
Afterpay provides zero credit risk or fraud as well as all end-customer non-payment risk for any transaction. It also integrates well with most eCommerce platforms, including WooCommerce.
Afterpay Requirements
Afterpay is available for WooCommerce retailers with store addresses in various countries, including United States, New Zealand, Australia, UK, and Canada. The requirements to be able to integrate Afterpay with your store include;
- Your store must be utilizing Optimized One Page Checkout
- If additional payment gateways are supported, they should be compatible with Optimized One Page Checkout.
- Your store must be situated in Australia, United States, New Zealand, Canada, and the UK.
- The default currency of your store should match the store’s location.
How to integrate AFTERPAY into your WooCommerce Store.
If you currently don’t have an Afterpay merchant account, you need to start by applying for one to become an Afterpay merchant. Contact Afterpay to apply for the account.
Once you get the approval and have a merchant account, follow the steps below to integrate it with your WooCommerce store.
1. Download Afterpay Gateway Plugin/app for WooCommerce
Go to the WordPress repository and download the official Afterpay Gateway plugin app.
2. Install the Plugin
The next step is uploading the plugin to your server through FTP. If you downloaded the plugin through Word press’s Plugins, go to new screens and press download. After downloading it into your website plugins, click the Activate button to enable it.
3. Set up Afterpay Settings
Go to WooCommerce- Settings- Payments.
On the payment options, make sure the Afterpay method is enabled as a payment option. Once you have enabled Afterpay, click ‘Manage’ to configure the settings.
4. Fill in the Merchant Information
On the Afterpay Gateway> Core Configuration page, you will need to fill in the Merchant ID and Secret Key. Fill in your Merchant ID and Secret Key credentials that were given to you when getting your Afterpay merchant account.
It is recommendable to test whether the Afterpay payment option works perfectly before launching it for use by the public. To assess the Afterpay checkout process, fill in the Sandbox Merchant ID and Sandbox Secret Key. After testing Afterpay in test mode (Sandbox mode), restore the API Environment dropdown from Sandbox to Production.
You will also require to restore the Merchant ID and Secret Key dropdowns from ‘Sandbox’ to ‘Production’ and fill in the Merchant ID and Secret Key.
5. Save Your Settings
Once you finish testing and configuring Afterpay settings, the final step is to click the Save button, and you are good to go. In case of any inquiry, Afterpay provides all-inclusive technical support for initial integrations and continuous maintenance anytime you need it.
You have Afterpay, what next?
After setting up Afterpay on your eCommerce store, it’s time to inform your customers about it. Send out emails to your customers about how Afterpay works and its benefits, including your social media pages.
Ensure to remind your clients in each email that they can get a product now and pay in four installments. To help your customers fully understand the payment option, include an Afterpay page on your site footer in which you explain how everything works in simple terms.
Customer Checkout Experience
When you are done with AFTERPAY & WORDPRESS integration and everything is well set, your customers will be offered Afterpay or other enabled payment methods.
When selecting Afterpay, they will be taken to the Afterpay portal with details on payment amount, installments, payment frequency, and the amount due during the time of checking out.
Conclusion
Afterpay is growing tremendously, with millions of customers adopting this ‘buy now, pay later payment mode. ECommerce stores that have integrated Afterpay as a payment method have seen more than a thirty percent increase in online conversions.
However, not all customers will prefer the Afterpay, ‘pay overtime’ payment option. It’s recommendable for you to provide additional payment methods to ensure all customers can close a deal successfully.
