The global ecommerce market for merchants promises so many opportunities, but with such fierce competition and consumers getting more demanding than ever, the challenges of trying to increase cross-border sales are only getting harder. It’s hard enough to drag down the cart abandonment rate for domestic customers, never mind those in other markets.

So much work goes on in the background to ensure fast checkout processes are in place. Sure, merchants should add as many payment methods as they can, more foreign currencies, and fine-tune their payment funnel to reach more international customers. These are obvious problems with readily-available solutions.

But what really persuades online customers to hit the ‘pay’ button? Is it having the biggest product range at rock-bottom prices? Or the most attention-grabbing advertising campaign? No, what’s actually most important to customers – and to merchants – is making complicated payment processes as simple and as easy to use as possible. And UX design is the number one success factor for merchants looking to attract customers beyond their own borders.

Improving the customer payment experience with intuitive UX design will be the key to unlocking international ecommerce sales for merchants, with sales set to reach $1.2 trillion just in 2022 alone.

The best UX design puts customers first

Obviously, no merchant sets out to make it difficult for customers to buy online, but surprisingly many merchants mistakenly think that their ecommerce site need to be crammed with as many interactive icons, banners and images that can fit onto the screen to tempt consumers to buy.

In fact, the opposite is true. As cross-border payments get more complicated, merchants need payment gateways and platforms that are easy to use and simple for them and their customers to navigate. Once merchants can understand how their checkouts handle payments, they’ll be able to give their customers the best experience possible. 

Too often, merchants forget to see things through the eyes of their customers. What do customers see when they first enter the merchant’s site, and how easy is it for them to find what they’re looking for? Can they pay using their preferred payment method, in a checkout process with clear steps to follow? 

It’s understandable that merchants get so laser-focused on selling that they forget a simple truth - customers want the checkout process to be as clear, as quick and as simple as possible. Don’t over-complicate the payment journey. Investing in intuitive UX design, whether on the front-end or back-end, as soon as possible, pays off massively for merchants in the long run.

The steps to smoother customer journeys

The best UX design looks at the number of interactions between a customer and a merchant interface, how many steps they take to log in, browse and buy products, and shortens the gaps to make the payment journey as smooth and as frictionless as it can be. 

Smoother customer journeys are created when merchants know how their customers find them, how they move through their website, and what entices them to complete transactions. With the right payment gateway harnessing data in a simple-to-use portal, these UX insights provide merchants with the priceless insights they need to strengthen their marketing strategies, speed up customer onboarding, and delight customers with uniquely-tailored incentives that will keep them coming back for more.

Simple UX design takes the complexities out of cross-border payment processing. But it can be a daunting task for merchants which don’t have the time, money or in-house skills to optimise their checkouts themselves. That’s why making use of all-in-one platforms that are simple to navigate, with clear language and 24/7 help on hand if needed, is the quickest and most cost-effective way of tapping into cross-border ecommerce.

The UX-first approach will cut through the competition

As digital payments get more complex, UX design is the key to making them as simple as possible for merchants and their customers. When payments are as simple and as quick as moving a fingertip, the future of cross-border transaction flows looks exciting to say the least.