Apple Pay And WooCommerce

Why Your WooCommerce Store Needs Apple Pay and How to Get Setup

WooCommerce powers well over a quarter of all online stores and the popularity is due to both the extreme ease of setting up and using the platform and the attractive, user-friendly shopping experience it provides to customers. But as well-designed as they are, WooCommerce stores are still prone to clunky and convoluted checkout processes. Apple Pay – the proprietary payment solution that comes built-in to all Apple devices and computers – can change all that. With Apple Pay enabled, your WooCommerce store’s checkout becomes a completely frictionless process that creates a better experience for your customers, boosts your conversion numbers, and costs you nothing. It’s becoming the payment method of choice of Apple users around the world, and the ease with which it can be integrated into your store makes adopting it an easy decision. 

What Apple Pay Offers to Your Customers

Your customers want to use Apple Pay, and anything good for your customers is good for you. The primary benefits to your customers are a faster, smoother checkout experience, and the ability to make online transactions with the same security and convenience that they enjoy in-store. 

Faster Checkout:

Apple Pay makes checkout faster than ever before by bypassing the traditional checkout process entirely. Instead, your customers can simply press your store’s Apple Pay checkout button once they’re ready, and the Apple Pay interface will be automatically launched. The user’s shipping, billing, and payment info are already stored, and all the customer needs to do is swipe their thumb or do a quick face scan. That’s it! Checkout can be done start to finish in a matter of seconds.

Unmatched Convenience:

Apple Pay completely replaces the customer’s wallet by digitizing all of their payment and loyalty cards. That makes Apple Pay a one-stop solution for both online and in-person brick and mortar transactions – truly one of the first completely multi-channel solutions. A credit card can be tapped in-store but must be manually entered online. PayPal offers a smooth transaction process online, but it completely impractical in-store. Apple Pay bridges the gap seamlessly, making it the ultimate in consumer convenience. 

What Apple Pay Offers to You and Your WooCommerce Store

Adopting Apple Pay also offers major benefits to your WooCommerce store and your business overall. The same features that make Apple Pay so popular among consumers also represent powerful boosters for your conversion rates and additional firewalls against fraudulent transactions and the potential damage they can cause. 

Fewer Abandoned Carts:

The average abandonment rate for online shopping carts is around 76%. That means as much as ¾ of all potential sales are being lost. Anything that can clamp down on that number is of huge value to your store, and Apple Pay does exactly that. By making the checkout process as simple and quick as a click and a swipe of the thumb, Apple Pay reduces the time it takes to go from making the decision to add an item into the cart to actually paying. That, in turn, reduces the opportunity for the shopper to think twice and abandon their full cart. 

Airtight Security:

Fraud is expensive. Not only do you lose both the money and the merchandise on fraudulent transactions, but too many bad sales can also set alarms with your payment processor or the credit card companies. As a result, fighting fraud is of the utmost importance. Because Apple Pay requires users to verify their identity with either Face ID or Touch ID, the odds of fraudulent transactions go way down. Even if a user’s device or computer is stolen or illegally accessed, without the right face or thumbprint, they can’t abuse Apple Pay. That additional security can’t be overvalued. 

Getting Apple Pay Setup with WooCommerce

WooCommerce is built to integrate with Apple Pay and make a presentation of the Apple Pay option attractive and easy to access for your customers. Enabling Apple Pay isn’t overly complicated, but it isn’t’ without friction either. 

Requirements:

Apple is understandably concerned with ensuring that only legitimate, security-minded merchants use Apple Pay, and as a result, there are certain minimum requirements your store must meet. Specifically, they are:

• Your site must have a valid SSL certificate, and the entire site must be secured and served over HTTPS
• Your site’s server must support TSL 1.2
• You must have an Apple Developer Account (unless you process payments online through Stripe)
• For Authorize.Net and CyberSource merchants, SSL certificates must be generated on a Mac operating system, and tokenization must be supported by your merchant account.

You’ll also need to comply with the Acceptable Use Guidelines for Apply Pay on the Web, which covers areas like what can and can’t be sold using Apple Pay, design and reputation guidelines, and more. 

Three-Step Setup:

Assuming your site meets the minimum requirements outlined above, getting Apple Pay set up with your WooCommerce store requires you to take three major steps. Each is slightly involved but should be straightforward for an experienced developer or eCommerce manager. Alternately, some merchant services providers can provide the expertise necessary to guide you through the following processes. 

1) Create a Merchant ID and Verify Your Domain:

The first step is to create an Apple Merchant ID, which will allow you to download the necessary verification files and get your domain setup and connected to Apple Pay.  

2) Gateway Integration

Once your Apple Developer Merchant ID is set up and your site is verified, you can use your Merchant ID to sign up to accept Apple Pay with your payment processor or gateway provider. Your region will determine which gateways and processors are supported, but you have a wide range of options. 

Just some of the most popular gateways and payment processors supported by Apple Pay include: 

• Authorize.Net
• CyberSource
• Moneris
• PayPal
• Stripe
• Fiserv
• BAMS
• Elavon
• Worldpay
• TSYS

…and many more. 

3) Plugin Configuration

Once the previous steps are complete, Apple Pay can be enabled by adding a snippet of code to your WooCommerce store. It’s only a single line, but, unless you’re an experienced developer, it’s always best to leave code edits to the pros, because a single errant keystroke has the potential to break your site.  Once the code is added, you’ll be able to access Apple Pay from your store’s back end, choose what kind of devices you’ll accept Apple Pay payments from, configure payment button styles, and more. 

WooCommerce provides detailed instructions on how to complete these steps and the sub-steps involved in each, but your merchant services partner may also be able to help you get set up. BAMS merchants looking to unlock the benefits of Apple Pay can access expert guidance from our development managers and support team on everything from selecting the right gateway to obtaining an Apple Merchant ID and beyond. Talk to us today to get in touch with a member of the team.