What are Checkout Payment Options? Examples and Best Practices

Checkout payment options

Methods and strategies for offering, displaying, and optimizing payment methods at checkout to boost UX, CRO, and SEO.

Why Checkout Payment Options Matter

• Conversion rate impact

  Offering multiple payment methods (credit cards, digital wallets, buy-now-pay-later) reduces friction and meets varied customer preferences.

  • Cart abandonment rate:

    Track the percentage of users who leave before completing payment.

  • Conversion lift:

    Measure improvements in completed purchases after adding new payment options.

• Building trust and credibility

  Displaying familiar payment logos and security badges reassures customers and lowers anxiety at checkout.

  • Payment logos:

    Use high-quality icons of trusted brands like Visa, Mastercard, and PayPal.

  • Security seals:

    Include PCI DSS compliance badges and SSL certificates near the payment section.

• Catering to a global audience

  Supporting local payment methods and currencies expands your market and adapts to regional preferences.

  • Localized options:

    Integrate region-specific methods like iDEAL (Netherlands) or Klarna (Scandinavia).

  • Currency conversion:

    Enable real-time display of prices in local currency.

Design and Display Best Practices

• Visual prominence

  Place payment method icons close to the main call-to-action button, ensuring they are immediately visible.

  • Above the fold:

    Display key payment icons in the initial viewport without scrolling.

  • Consistent sizing:

    Use uniform SVG or high-resolution PNG assets for clarity.

• Logical grouping and priority

  Organize options by popularity and type to help users quickly identify their preferred methods.

  • Primary vs secondary:

    Highlight the most-used methods (e.g., credit card) first, followed by alternatives (e.g., e-wallets).

  • Dynamic ordering:

    Consider adjusting order based on geographic data or previous user behavior.

• Responsive layout

  Ensure payment options adapt gracefully across devices, using carousel sliders or stacked icons on mobile.

  • Carousel for mobile:

    Use swipeable sliders when space is limited.

  • Touch targets:

    Maintain adequate spacing for tap-friendly design.

UX and Accessibility Considerations

• Simplified checkout flow

  Allow guest checkout and minimize required fields to speed up the process.

  • Optional account creation:

    Offer account sign-up after payment is completed.

  • Social logins:

    Integrate providers like Google or Facebook to autofill user details.

• Real-time validation and feedback

  Implement inline validation for card numbers and expiration dates with clear error messages.

  • Aria live regions:

    Announce validation errors to screen readers immediately.

  • Inline hints:

    Display helper text (e.g., card format) as users type.

• Accessibility compliance

  Ensure keyboard navigation, focus indicators, and descriptive alt text for icons.

  • Keyboard support:

    Users should navigate payment options using the Tab key.

  • Screen reader labels:

    Use aria-label on icons to describe the payment method.

Technical Implementation and SEO

• Schema markup and structured data

  Use JSON-LD to annotate accepted payment methods in your product or checkout pages.

  • Example json-ld:

    <script type="application/ld+json">
    {
      "@context": "https://schema.org",
      "@type": "Product",
      "name": "Example Product",
      "offers": {
        "@type": "Offer",
        "price": "49.99",
        "priceCurrency": "USD",
        "acceptedPaymentMethod": [
          "https://schema.org/CreditCard",
          "https://schema.org/PayPal"
        ]
      }
    }
    </script>
    

  • Seo benefits:

    Enhanced rich results can improve click-through rates by highlighting accepted payment methods.

• Performance optimization

  Optimize payment icon assets and scripts to ensure fast loading and smooth checkout.

  • Asset compression:

    Serve SVGs and WebP images with gzip or brotli compression.

  • Lazy loading:

    Defer off-screen resource loading for faster first paint.

• Security and compliance

  Implement PCI DSS compliance, HTTPS, and tokenization to protect payment data.

  • Https everywhere:

    Ensure TLS encryption for all checkout steps.

  • Tokenization:

    Replace card details with secure tokens via your payment gateway.

Tools and Case Studies

• Prevue.me actionable critiques

  prevue.me offers prioritized CRO, UX, SEO, and accessibility critiques for your checkout payment section, highlighting opportunities to reduce friction and boost conversions.

  • Screenshot annotations:

    Visual pinpointing of issues directly on your checkout page.

  • Prioritized recommendations:

    Ranked list of high-impact changes for immediate wins.

• Example case study

  An online retailer increased checkout conversions by 15% after adding PayPal, optimizing icon placement, and improving mobile responsiveness.

  • Baseline metrics:

    Initial conversion rate: 2.8%, mobile abandonment: 68%.

  • Post-optimization results:

    Conversion rate rose to 3.2%, abandonment dropped to 55%.

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