Why every merchant needs to diversify and optimize their virtual checkout experience.

Cart abandonment is a common problem for online retailers. According to personalization platform Dynamic Yield, more than three-quarters of all carts created in 2025 went unpurchased. For many merchants, the customer journey is primarily about getting someone to the checkout screen. But unless customers find an optimized, seamless experience at that stage, the rest of the customer journey may as well not have happened.

Getting checkout right is more than just making sure that customers encounter a variety of payment options. Having the right checkout journey is about meeting the customer where they are and with options that make sense for them for greater conversion.

Here’s what you need to know about growing your revenue by optimizing your checkout.
 

How many payment options do you need?

A recent Fiserv poll found that many of our clients offer between 3–4 payment options.

But there is no magic number.  The most effective checkout is one that your shoppers will use. According to eMarketer, 63% of consumers report that being able to pay with their preferred method is the most significant factor when completing a purchase¹. The challenge is that you don’t always know which methods shoppers prefer—so offering a variety is key.

There is also no standard set of optimal payment options. We recommend you offer differentiated experiences by channel or risk leaving money on the table. If you operate a tourist-heavy storefront in Manhattan, for example, you might want to include WeChat Pay and Alipay, which appeals to tourists from overseas. Offering smartphone-integrated payment options is always a good idea – design your checkout so that Android users see Samsung Pay and iPhone users see Apple. Beyond that, the best practice is to take the time to set up and test different payment methods. This will help you identify your target audience’s preferred payment methods and optimize your checkout experience across channels for greater impact.
 

Faster checkout means higher conversions

While merchants prefer that customers create store accounts, many customers just want to check out quickly as guests. According to Nielsen in a study commissioned by PayPal, 70% of consumers value being able to check out as a guest². Guest checkout solutions have proven to be an effect tactic for meeting these customer needs and reducing cart abandonment. For example, PayPal found Fastlane accelerated shoppers convert 37% more often than non-accelerated shoppers³.  Paze^SM, another digital wallet that offers guest checkout capabilities, saw significant lifts in both average order value and conversion rate from a faster checkout.

Luckily, today’s proliferating payments landscape isn’t just better for customers. Companies like PayPal and Early Warning Services can often work with merchants to reintroduce customers to the “Create Account” journey, even if the customer checked out as a guest the first time. For higher conversion and the chance of developing a relationship later, merchants shouldn’t hesitate to prioritize guest checkout.

More options to reduce liability and drive traffic

Offering a variety of payment options could also help reduce merchant liability. Payment providers like PayPal, Samsung Pay, Apple Pay, and Paze work with card networks to reduce liability to the merchant. The superior data these companies have about their customers means each payment token passed back to your checkout system represents a highly qualified consumer, which lowers not only dispute rates, but interchange fees. “We see 71% lower dispute rates compared with non-accelerated checkout,” reports Fastlane by PayPal⁴. Providers like Paze and Affirm⁵ also run campaigns to drive usage, reinforcing their value by driving traffic to merchants.

Another method that is only beginning to see wide adoption in the U.S. is Pay by Bank. This allows customers to use direct bank transfers in a convenient, secure way. Merchants pay lower transaction costs, and in return, are able to share some of this lower cost with consumers to drive adoption. Merchants who use Pay by Bank can also take advantage of a guaranteed service to reduce chargeback exposure^*.

Whatever the payment method, outsourcing the work of validation and data storage minimizes the scope of PCI compliance for which you, the merchant, are responsible. This is how solutions like Hosted Checkout, where Fiserv hosts the payment data, reduce your administrative burden and compliance work. 
 

Meet your customers where they are

The modern shopper expects flexibility. Whether they prefer the speed of a digital wallet, the familiarity of a credit card, or the structure of a “buy now, pay later” service, what’s important for merchants is that you offer the options customers want. When the path to purchase becomes frictionless, your revenues rise, your liability lowers, and customer retention becomes a team effort between you and today’s most innovative fintech companies.
 

¹  Q1 2024 Discover survey result, as shared in The State of Payment Methods 2025 – eMarketer, 2025
²  Nielsen, commissioned by PayPal, Nielsen Attitudinal Survey of USA (June 2024) with 1,000 consumers that made an online purchaser in the past 2 weeks.
³  on PayPal internal data from April 1, 2025 to June 30, 2025. (n=4,644). Comparing Fastlane accelerated shoppers vs. non accelerated shoppers for merchants that have integrated Fastlane.
⁴  Based on PayPal internal data of 2.6K merchants from November 2024 to December 2024
⁵  Subject to eligibility. See lending terms at affirm.com/disclosures
^*  Subject to merchant approval and terms of service

Disclosure: Paze and the Paze related marks are wholly owned by Early Warning Services, LLC and are used herein under license.