From checkout page designs to digital wallets, choosing the payment structure for your eCommerce business can be challenging. The good news is that WooCommerce Payments offers a simplified solution. However, you might be wondering how it works and if it will meet your online store’s unique needs.
Fortunately, with a little preparation, you can easily decide if WooCommerce Payments is the right choice for you. After exploring some of its key features and unique add-on structure, you’ll be able to make an informed decision.
In this post, we’ll learn how WooCommerce Payments works. Then we’ll review its benefits and who may want to consider using it. Finally, we’ll share three easy steps to get started. Let’s dive right in!
What Is WooCommerce Payments?
This year, the WooCommerce plugin celebrates its ten-year anniversary. Since 2011, this highly-customizable eCommerce solution has remained wildly popular for online businesses that use WordPress. It also integrates well with some of the best WordPress themes for enterprises.
One of its most useful extensions is WooCommerce Payments:
This companion plugin is free and available to use with any existing WooCommerce account. With its streamlined workflow, it simplifies the payment process for you and your customers. That way, you can focus on conversions and boosting your revenue.
What Are the Benefits of Using WooCommerce Payments?
First and foremost, every online business is unique, and therefore has different requirements for a Content Management System (CMS). However, there are many pros to using WordPress, and specifically WooCommerce Payments.
As with WordPress itself, WooCommerce Payments is extremely user-friendly. Also, you can easily tailor it to meet your exact requirements. Here are some of its useful features:
- Available in 15+ countries
- Manages payments in 135+ currencies
- Accepts digital wallet payments like ApplePay
- Enables automatic deposits
- Provides safe and secure online payments
- Integrates with WooCommerce Subscriptions
These are just a handful of the many advantages WooCommerce Payments offers its users. As a package, these characteristics help you untangle confusing payment processes.
With expanded payment options and easy transactions, you’re also more likely to increase conversions and leave customers satisfied. This will hopefully keep them coming back to your online store.
Who Should Consider Using WooCommerce Payments?
WooCommerce Payments is a robust yet versatile payment solution for nearly any small to mid-size online business. However, there are some considerations you should be aware of before you choose to use it.
Perhaps most importantly, the key prerequisite to using WooCommerce Payments is a WordPress website and a WooCommerce account. It is only compatible with this particular CMS and plugin. Therefore, if you already use an alternative platform such as Squarespace or Wix, this may not be the solution for you.
Additionally, unlike other bundled site builder solutions, WooCommerce Payments may require you to purchase a select number of add-ons to enhance its capabilities, such as WooCommerce Subscriptions. While this structure will be cost-effective for most users, it may not be ideal for solopreneurs or for micro-businesses looking for an all-inclusive plan.
Finally, you may also want to assess your company’s budget alongside the fees you’ll be responsible for. The good news is that WooCommerce Payments has no setup charges, no monthly costs, and reasonable transaction fees. The structure varies for each country, but let’s take a look at how payment fees work in the United States:
With WooCommerce Payments in the U.S., your business pays 2.9 percent + $0.30 for each transaction made with domestic issued credit or debit cards. For cards issued outside the country and for currency conversions, there are added one percent fees.
As you can see, there are many other payment types, so you would be wise to do your research before signing up. You may want to check out the full list of transaction fees by country, especially if your business is located outside of the U.S.
How Can You Use WooCommerce Payments? (3 Steps for Getting Started)
If you’re already running a WordPress site, chances are WooCommerce Payments will be a great solution for your online business. Let’s see how you can get started in three simple steps!
1. Install and Activate WooCommerce Payments
As we mentioned previously, before you can move forward, you’ll need to download and install the WooCommerce plugin (if you haven’t already). Once that’s settled, install the WooCommerce Payments plugin as well:
Simply access your WordPress dashboard, then go to Plugins > Add Plugins and search for WooCommerce Payments. Click on Install Now and then Activate on the same screen.
2. Connect Your WordPress Site to WooCommerce Payments
Connecting your WordPress site to WooCommerce Payments is easy. You should now see a Payments tab in the left-hand menu. Click on Payments. On the following screen, select Set up:
Then enter the email address associated with your WordPress site and click on Continue:
Your eCommerce website should now be connected to WooCommerce Payments.
3. Verify Your Details
Finally, you’ll be prompted to enter some basic business details in order to verify your site’s connection to WooCommerce Payments. Simply fill in the following form, entering your information for Type of entity, Mobile number, and Email. Then click on Next:
Once you’ve completed this process, you’ll be taken to the WooCommerce Payments settings screen. If you want to start receing payments right away, you’ll also want to Enable WooCommerce Payments by selecting the box here.
Additionally, you may want to Enable Express checkouts while you’re at it. Make sure to click on Save Changes. That’s it!
Conclusion
We know that setting up a cohesive and comprehensive payment structure for your online business may seem overwhelming. With so many payment tools available, it might feel impossible to narrow it down.
Fortunately, WooCommerce Payments can serve as a great solution for many businesses. If you decide to go this route, remember these three simple steps:
- Install and activate WooCommerce Payments.
- Connect to your WordPress site.
- Verify your details.
Do you have questions about using WooCommerce Payments for your online store? Let us know in the comments section below!
