With the dramatic rise of online marketplaces we’ve noticed here at Zai that a key challenge for growth hackers, CEOs, and marketers revolves around solving the invoicing problem.
Typical ways invoicing snags materialize:
In this article we’re going to clear things up a bit and demonstrate how properly integrated marketplace payments change the core component of invoicing and remove the ‘chasing payments’ issue. This can have a positive effect on the customer experience and bring with it other welcome business benefits.
Don’t introduce payment methods into a marketplace just for the sake of doing it.
Instead, take a more thoughtful and strategic approach to the integration of marketplace payments so they fix core issues like those highlighted above.
When justifying the integration of payments, desired outcomes to aim for should include:
Payments should add service-value, but more importantly, attempt to address behaviors a marketplace can’t control. They must be designed with customer-centricity in mind so as to reach customer success.
When arriving at the register in a busy grocery store checkout line, customers will not want to be told that they must pay over the phone or outside the store within 30 days – chances are they’ll leave (click away) and find somewhere else to shop.
There are only few things that make a grocery store work. First, customers trust the store has what they need. This can only happens if every product, service and process has been meticulously thought through to meet their needs and expectations. They therefore clearly understand how products and services are outlined, that they’ll need to pay before leaving, and finally that the checkout process will include a familiar set of payment options.
When implementing this analogy in the online space, there are a number of factors that determine the nature of the solution – examples include:
Once a marketplace realizes the need for a payment solution, consider the core issue that drives it. To get rid of the invoicing problem don’t offer payments just because, but instead seek to ensure certain benefits are achieved throughout the entire marketplace process.
Consider designing your payment flow to not just offer payments at the end in the checkout line, but to improve the stickiness of your marketplace overall while also providing a thoughtful experience for customers.