4 Ways To Improve Prepaid Conversions - Make Online Payments Exciting

Prepaid conversions hold significant importance for Indian eCommerce brands due to several compelling reasons. Some of them are as follows.

Playing on customer psychology, people are less likely to return or reject prepaid orders at the time of delivery as compared to cash-led orders. When shoppers make upfront online payments for their purchases, they showcase a fairly stronger commitment to receiving their orders, further reducing the chances of returns. This helps an eCommerce brand save on return-related costs and streamline their logistics.

Managing cash-on-delivery orders comes with an additional expense. For instance, a brand has to

On the other hand, prepaid conversions eliminate these costs and help eCommerce companies save huge on operational savings.

Besides being an easy to handle online payment mode, prepaid orders simplify the order fulfilment process. eCommerce brands can prepare to ship items as soon as they receive a payment confirmation. Meanwhile, in the case of cash on delivery orders, brands need to deal with the complexities of keeping payment tabs and handling cash during deliveries. Hence, online payments help streamline processes, improve efficiency and reduce operational complexities.

Just an imperative point, prepaid orders allow eCommerce brands to enjoy immediate access to funds. This faster cash flow allows them to manage their finances more effectively, invest in growth initiatives, and reduce the need for working capital. And, if an eCommerce brand operates on the GoKwik network, they can leverage the advantage of T+1 settlements as well.

Although eCommerce brands today give equal weightage to both prepaid orders and cash on delivery orders, the ease here lies more at the shopper’s end. To give you an example, Mr. X placed an order via an online payment method. Meanwhile Mr. Y placed a cash-on-delivery order. At the time of delivery, Mr. X need not be at the delivery location to receive the order. They can simply ask the delivery agent to leave it with their society’s gate keeper, a neighbour, or just at the doorstep. Mr. X can collect the package at their ease. However, that’s not the case with Mr. Y. He needs to be physically present to receive it as it’s a cash-on-delivery-led order. If he’s not there, the delivery agent will either take back the package and attempt delivery tomorrow or mark it undelivered, hampering Mr. Y’s experience. So, prepaid orders offer a better customer experience than its counterpart.

One of the primary challenges associated with cash on delivery orders is the risk of return to origins and associated losses. Here, packages are returned because a customer was unavailable or unwilling to accept the delivery. Meanwhile, if it’s an order placed via an online payment method, the chances of customers rejecting the orders diminishes significantly. That’s because customers are more committed to receiving their prepaid orders compared to the ones placed via COD method.

GoKwik’s internal data suggests that India’s modern buyers are increasingly moving towards making online payments against their orders. One of the primary reasons is the ease that payment modes like UPI, digital wallets, and PayLater bring along. Another reason is keeping a certain amount of cash handy to pay to the delivery agent at the time of delivery. However, there still remains a large section that relies on cash and eCommerce brands need to find mark technique to convert these COD lovers into online payment making shoppers.

To solve this problem, GoKwik has formulated 4 ways to improve prepaid conversions & make online payments easy. Let’s take a look.

The first and the foremost step towards achieving higher prepaid conversions is to give customers the ease of checkout. For this, GoKwik offers the fastest checkout process - one-click checkout. Herein, a shopper who has ever shopped from one of GoKwik’s partner merchant’s site,

GoKwik’s one-click checkout process not only enhances a customer’s online experience but gets them hooked to it ensuring higher prepaid conversions.

The next important factor to increase prepaid conversion is to offer a diverse variety of online payment methods. This is because today’s generation of shoppers is exposed to too many payment options. While some use digital wallets to make payments, others prefer UPI, PayLater or just want to stick to using their credit/debit cards. Meanwhile, they also expect eCommerce brands to list their preferred wallet/PayLater/credit card firm on the payments section. If not, shoppers easily go to a competitor’s site offering those payment options.

To solve this issue, GoKwik, via Kwik Pay, offers 100+ payment options for Indian shoppers to choose from. The comprehensive range accommodates every customers' preference and ensures a shoppers doesn’t exit the session without making the payment.

While digging into a shopper’s behaviour on an eCommerce brand’s website, GoKwik noticed that a major chunk of shoppers selected an online payment method when given some kind of discount. Keeping this in mind, GoKwik introduced Prepaid Payment Discounts.

A flagship discounting feature, Prepaid Payment Discounts allows eCommerce brands to offer additional, supplementary discounts to shoppers who select an online payment method when placing an order.

As you can see in the above-given image. boAt, a GoKwik partner merchant, offers an additional discount of INR 15/- to shoppers who pay via UPI. This add-on rebate acts as a strong hook/incentivisation technique to encourage customers to opt for a prepaid payment mode rather than COD.

Many eCommerce sites offer reward points to shoppers on each purchase. However, while some of these points get lapsed due to time boundation, many others can only be used for making purchases on that particular website only.

The execs at GoKwik realised that giving Indian shoppers an option to redeem these points on other eCommerce sites can not only help increase conversions, but also convert fence sitters into loyal customers. So, GoKwik decided to partner with multiple Reward Point App Partners such as Xeno, Twid, SuperCoins, OneCard, etc.

By integrating one of these reward points apps on their payments page, eCommerce brands can give shoppers the option to redeem these points and shop more. Adding another layer, shoppers can use these points only when they make online payments against these orders. This helps eCommerce brands,

Even though cash on delivery dominates as a shopper’s first choice in India, there are some effective strategies that can help eCommerce brands significantly increase the adoption of digital payment methods and improve the overall shopping experience for their customers. Remember that the key to success is to make the transition to online payments as easy, convenient, and financially appealing as possible for your customers. If not, then cash will continue to dominate the market and make return to origins a persistent problem for eCommerce brands.

How to increase prepaid orders?
Prepaid orders can be increased by building customer trust and reducing friction at checkout. Showing secure payment badges, offering prepaid-only discounts, enabling one-click payments, and assuring quick refunds encourage users to pay online. A smooth, fast checkout experience helps customers confidently choose prepaid over COD.

How to increase prepaid conversion rate in retail?
Prepaid conversion in retail improves when payments are simple and reliable. Offering multiple digital payment options, reducing checkout steps, and highlighting faster delivery for prepaid orders builds confidence. Incentives like cashback, discounts, or loyalty rewards further motivate customers to complete prepaid transactions.

What is a prepaid order in online shopping?
A prepaid order in online shopping means the customer pays before the product is delivered using methods like UPI, cards, wallets, or net banking. These orders are confirmed instantly, reduce delivery risks, and usually lead to faster shipping and fewer cancellations compared to cash on delivery orders.

How to increase prepaid orders on Shopify?
Prepaid orders on Shopify can be increased by improving checkout speed and payment reliability. Offering trusted payment methods, highlighting prepaid benefits like faster delivery, and promoting prepaid-only offers help. Reducing form fields and minimizing payment failures also improves prepaid order completion.

How to increase prepaid conversions in ecommerce?
Prepaid conversions in ecommerce increase when payments feel safe, fast, and rewarding. A seamless checkout flow, low payment failure rates, clear refund policies, and mobile-friendly design build trust. Offering discounts or rewards on prepaid payments encourages shoppers to complete purchases without choosing COD.