Payment options page: which methods to show

A checkout can show a wallet button only in a browser with a wallet set up, a pay later option only above a certain cart total, and a bank transfer only for one country. The buyer sees a short list that differs from the one you see on your own laptop. When the method they want is absent, they assume the store does not take it, and they leave. The second problem is the hand-off. A button that sends the buyer to another company's login page stops buyers who have no account there, and a window that opens and never returns leaves them on a blank order page.

• Open the payment step on a phone and on a laptop. Do the lists of methods match?
• Does each method say what happens next, such as a card form or a site that opens?
• Pick each method, then check the page the buyer returns to. Is the order still there?
• If a method needs a country or a minimum total, does the list say so beside it?
• Does the total stay the same on every method, including any pay later option?

A short list that changes by device is a hidden method, and an owner rarely catches it, because the owner's laptop shows the full list. The fastest check is to load the payment step on a phone, then on a laptop, and write down the methods each one shows. Compare both lists with the methods you advertise. A method you advertise that appears on neither is missing from the page. A method that appears on one device only can be hidden by its browser, the country setting or a minimum total. Each cause needs its own fix, and the step record and screenshot show which device had which list.

A row of logos looks like choice, but it tells the buyer nothing about what comes next. Wrong: five logos in a row, with no label and no line of text. Right: each option named, with a short line under it, such as 'Card, entered on this page' or 'You will log in to the other company's site and return here'. The second version sets the buyer's expectation before they press, so any stop comes from a choice they made, not from a surprise. Then press each option in the test and read the step after it. The test stops at an outside login, because a visitor has no account there to sign in with.

Checkout flow testing

A method that adds a fee, or changes the total, must say so before the buyer picks it. Wrong: the cart reads one figure, the card option shows the same figure, and the pay later option adds a charge only on the next screen. Right: the total shown beside the list, with any extra charge named on the line for its method. Check the total on each option, not only the first one you open, because a buyer who reaches the last option has already compared the others. The screenshot of each step shows the total, so a change appears as a number that differs between two screens, which you can match to the option chosen.

Adding a shipping country, raising a minimum order or turning on a wallet can change the payment list for some buyers and not others. Rerun the same buyers after each change, from a phone and from a laptop, and compare the lists at the payment step. A preview address lets you check the list for a new country before a buyer in that country sees it.