The Customers a Checkout Can Leave Behind
A low conversion rate can have several explanations. The offer may be unclear, the price may be inappropriate or the campaign may be attracting the wrong audience. But a customer can also want the service and still abandon the payment page.
Consider someone discovering a digital entertainment platform for the first time. They may regularly pay through their banking app but hesitate when the only option is to enter card details on an unfamiliar website. A checkout that works well in the merchant’s home market can introduce a new obstacle elsewhere.
A recent DHL research helps illustrate this distinction. Its 2026 E-Commerce Trends Report found that 62% of online shoppers globally say they would immediately abandon a purchase if their preferred payment method were unavailable. Although this research covers broader e-commerce, it highlights a question digital merchants also face: how comfortable is the customer with the payment options being offered?
For acquisition teams, this deserves attention. Improving payment completion can help a merchant generate more paying customers from the audience it already attracts. Before increasing campaign spend, it is worth understanding how much existing demand the checkout is able to capture.
Why Familiarity Matters at the Moment of Payment
Local payment methods can give customers a recognisable way to complete a purchase, particularly when their relationship with the merchant is still new.
BLIK in Poland provides a useful example. Its standard online payment flow lets customers generate a code in their banking app and confirm the purchase there, without sharing card details with the merchant. For users accustomed to that process, the experience follows a routine they already understand.
As explored in our article on Pix in Brazil, payment habits can become closely connected to the financial applications people use every day. Merchants entering those markets need to understand what customers expect to see when they are ready to buy.
Conversion testing provides evidence of the commercial opportunity. In an experiment published in 2025, Stripe found an average 7.4% increase in conversion when at least one additional relevant payment method beyond cards was dynamically displayed at checkout. The findings covered different payment methods and purchase contexts within Stripe’s checkout environment, rather than a universal uplift merchants should expect. (Stripe – Testing the Conversion Impact of Global Payment Methods)
For merchants, the useful starting point is relevance. Understanding which methods an audience actively uses gives the business a stronger basis for deciding what to offer and test.
Fewer Steps Are Only Part of the Experience
Mobile checkout design often focuses on reducing the number of actions required to pay. Removing manual card entry can help, but familiarity also shapes how customers perceive the effort involved.
A confirmation in a banking app may feel straightforward to someone who uses that app daily. The same customer may find an unfamiliar form less reassuring, even if it appears to require fewer steps. Merchants need to understand which actions customers recognise and where they become uncertain.
Brazil offers an instructive example. According to Stripe, businesses offering Pix see up to 38.3% higher conversion from customers in Brazil. The figure reflects results on Stripe’s platform rather than a universal uplift, but it highlights the commercial value of aligning payment options with local habits. For merchants, the lesson is to consider familiarity alongside checkout speed: customers need a payment experience that fits how they already transact. (Stripe – New Ways to Turn Global Demand into Revenue)
For a mobile subscription, the appropriate experience will often be very different. The lesson is to assess convenience from the customer’s perspective and in relation to the product being purchased. Clear instructions remain essential. If payment requires opening another app, customers should know what to do before leaving the merchant’s page. When they return, the payment status and access to the service should be easy to understand. An unexpected redirect or an ambiguous confirmation can undermine the benefit of offering a familiar method.
The Right Choice Depends on the Commercial Model
Local preference is an important starting point, but the payment experience also needs to fit the merchant’s offer.
Buying access to a single event differs from starting an ongoing subscription. A method suitable for a one-off purchase may require a separate authorisation process for recurring payments, or may not support automatic renewals in the relevant setup. Customers should understand how much they will pay and whether further charges will follow before confirming.
This is why payment methods need to work together. Cards serve customers who already use them comfortably. Wallets can simplify checkout for users with stored credentials. Direct Carrier Billing (DCB) gives eligible customers the option to pay through their mobile bill or prepaid balance. Local methods extend the merchant’s ability to serve other established payment habits.
The appropriate combination depends on the audience, purchase value and billing model. Making relevant options visible while preserving customer choice gives merchants room to adapt without assuming everyone in a country pays the same way.
Measuring the Customers Gained Through Payment Choice
Once a new method is available, transaction volume alone provides an incomplete picture of its contribution. Some customers may have switched from another payment option they would otherwise have used successfully.
The more useful question is whether the change increases the number of completed purchases across the checkout. Comparing similar audiences with and without the additional method helps merchants assess that impact. Looking at where users leave the journey can then reveal whether the remaining obstacle is payment availability, unclear instructions or a failed confirmation.
For subscriptions, the assessment needs to continue beyond the first purchase. Renewal success and retention help establish whether an initial conversion gain supports a lasting customer relationship. Payment costs and refunds also affect the value generated.
This connects payment decisions to the merchant’s actual commercial objective: acquiring customers who can successfully purchase and continue using the service.
Making Local Payment Knowledge Part of Growth
At Digital Virgo, our approach to digital monetization brings payment expertise together with local market knowledge and experience in acquisition and pricing. That combination helps merchants assess how a payment method fits the complete customer journey.
Our developing approach to Alternative and Local Payment Methods builds on our experience in DCB, enabling merchants to combine complementary payment options according to market needs. A unified integration approach supports that adaptation while simplifying payment management across markets.
For merchants, the opportunity begins before the next customer reaches checkout. Understanding how that customer already pays should inform market entry, offer design and acquisition planning. When payment choice reflects those habits, more of the demand a business creates has a viable route to becoming revenue.
