How Customers of Your Business Can be able to pay you with cryptocurrency

Feb 15, 2023

It's essential to be aware of the viewpoint of your customers in particular at critical point of conversion like the checkout. A critical part of an efficient checkout experience is offering an easy, secure way for your customers to pay out using the option of payment they prefer.

In this piece will help you comprehend how a transaction is handled from the perspective of your customer's point of view. By understanding this, you'll be well equipped to spot opportunities to increase your conversion rate, offer immediate support and education to your clients and customers.

Crypto vocab check

There is a way to study each of these terms a little more by clicking here. However, here's an overview of the most important terms:

Public Key: Essentially what you need is information for sending you cryptocurrency.

Public address The hashed (basically short) version of a public key. This is what you might offer to anyone who wishes to transfer money. Imagine it as a Venmo username, or PayPal.me URL. (e.g., 0x12B0aD31f483Cdf4741de8f5679A472E5fe3345G)

Keys that are private: allows the user to gain access to funds that have been transferred to an open key. This should never be shared with another party.

Web3: Defined by AP Stylebook, Web3 is a catchall term for the prospect of a new stage of the internet driven by the cryptocurrency-related technology, blockchain.

Web3-based wallet (crypto wallet): The wallet stores both private and public keys used for transactions in blockchain.

Seed word: A list of random words generated by a computer that give access to Wweb3 wallet. It can be used to recover access to a cryptocurrency wallet. The information should not be shared with another party.

A non-custodial account: The user owns their private keys and possess the full control of their wallet on Wweb3. (e.g., Metamask, Trust Wallet. )

Custodial wallet private keys are held by third-party organizations. (e.g., Coinbase, OpenNode. )

Peer-to-peer payments

It's possible that you're thinking "Isn't a major point of cryptocurrencies the fact that they're peer-to-peer and don't rely on third party services?"

Yes, it's entirely feasible to collect funds from a customer without the use of any tool or service from a third party.

This is simply not practical for the common person. There's no way to set up their own node, generate transactions from a terminal command line, or even remember their private keys. Likewise, most merchants are happy to shell out a tiny transaction cost to give customers a low-friction experience, while saving themselves much time and effort reconciling payment to orders.

This article is focusing on typical ecommerce transactions using the tools and services likely to be used by novice and intermediate users.

Overview of making a crypto payment

From the perspective of a consumer There are three main steps to follow:

  1. Access a fully funded cryptocurrency wallet.
  2. Connect their wallets.
  3. Make the payment, and then get a receipt.

The exact experience will depend on the processor that processes payments and wallets involved. Let's run through a couple of examples and discuss what's going on at each step for your customer.

1. Get access to a funded cryptocurrency wallet

There are a variety of choices that are available to people who need an online wallet that supports crypto. Each one comes with distinct advantages, features, and support for different cryptocurrencies, chains, and payments.

"Traditional" digital wallet providers such as PayPal and CashApp now support crypto payments. Leading crypto exchanges in the industry like Coinbase, Crypto.com, and Binance offer their own apps that also function as payment wallets. Then there are crypto-native wallets such as MetaMask, Rainbow, and several others. You should do your own research to determine the most suitable option to suit your needs.

Once you've chosen your account and setting it up, the next step is to include a coins to the wallet so that you have an available cash balance that you can use to purchase. This can be a fast procedure since most wallets provide the option of purchasing in-app.

So how does a customer know which cryptocurrency to add?

That's an excellent topic! Often, it doesn't actually need to be a factor, with the exception of fees that can add up if they have to exchange currencies. Certain payment processors for crypto will offer automatic exchange services which allow users to make payments with one currency, and then will receive the money in a different.

Where that's not possible some crypto wallets have in-wallet exchange/swap functionality so that when a user has bitcoin (BTC) but wants to pay in ethereum (ETH), they can do so easily. Ideally you'll load the wallet with the currency you want to pay with, but it's not always feasible ahead of deciding to make a purchase.

2. Connect their wallet to your site

There are two primary methods that customers can connect their wallets to your website: the QR code, or the browser's wallet connect. The payment processor for cryptos might offer one or the other choices.

QR code

This is the best option for those who use their crypto wallet as an application on their smartphone. If someone decides to pay using cryptocurrency, they'll be presented with the QR code which could be scanned using an utility in their crypto wallet app.

Image illustrating how crypto payments are made via QR code. 
Image text:
Crypto app payment via QR code
1. Merchant provides a QR code at checkout.
2. Customer scans the QR code to review and authorize the transaction in their crypto app.
3. Merchant site confirms receipt and completes the purchase.
Steps for receiving crypto payments via QR code.

Browser wallet connect

This is the best option for those who connect to the crypto wallet using a web browser extension. When a user chooses this option it prompts them to join to their Web3 wallet via a button, which invokes the browser's wallet, and requests for authorization for connection.

Image illustrating how crypto payments are made via browser extension.
Image text:
Crypto wallet payment via browser extension
1. Merchant provides crypto payment options and browser wallet connection prompt.
2. Customer selects their browser wallet to review and authorize the transaction within the extension.
3. Merchant site confirms receipt and completes the purchase.
Steps for receiving crypto payments via browser extension.

3. Complete the payment and receive a confirmation.

Whatever method the user chooses to use it will give them prompts to guide them to pay a bill - via either the app or on the web browser.

After payment has been made the payment may be delayed. There is some time delay (usually only seconds) until payment confirmation through the blockchain. After this, both the customer and you will both receive a confirmation. Where transactions are made via blockchain, you might each receive the blockchain transaction ID.

And that's it!

What do crypto payments processes have to do with merchants?

There's a big gap between a client who's experienced with crypto and willing to go through a transaction or transaction, and someone who's not used crypto before. Setting up the right crypto wallet, financing it, and knowing how to make the transaction are all obstacles for entry.

At first, most cryptocurrency transactions are expected to come from more experienced customers of crypto. As time passes, this amount is expected to grow substantially. Therefore, if you're followers or customers have expressed that they are interested in cryptocurrency It could be beneficial to refer them to reliable sites so they'll be able to understand how to make payments to you the way they prefer.

The advantages of using crypto payments for your clients

  1. They hold crypto and want to spend the money! It could be that they were an early investor, an excellent trader, or are paid in crypto.
  2. It's less expensive for them to use crypto for direct transactions rather than pay exchange and/or foreign exchange fees when making traditional transactions. This can be especially the case when dealing with international clients.
  3. There is a chance that they are not able to be able to use different payment options.
  4. Some prefer keeping certain transactions confidential or keep them separate from other activities in their financial accounts.
  5. It's easier and safe.
  6. They value being able to transact without paying fees to traditional financial service providers (i.e., they're ideologically-driven).
  7. There are no limits to daily payment amounts This is especially true for high-cost, luxury things that could exceed a person's daily bank limits.
  8. The buyer is paying for a digitally native asset, such as an NFT.

Considerations of the customer to keep in the mind of

As you can see, there are a lot of options when it comes to crypto payments from a customer perspective. There are a few points to keep in mind while choosing as well as operating cryptocurrency payments:

  1. How simple is it for your clients to pay? What are the best payment methods? the most popular cryptocurrencies?
  2. Are your clients exposed to the fees of crypto networks in the direct manner? This could make it more expensive for them to spend if the crypto network is very active.
  3. Are you clear about how to resolve disputes? This is particularly important in the absence of traditional credit and refund policies. Unhappy or angry customers tend to be more likely to complain and write bad reviews.
  4. What time will the customers have to wait for order confirmation? Depending on how you're allowing customers to pay the order, they might have wait longer than normal. In this case, the use of a payment partner could aid, since they frequently keep the fees and confirmation times very low.
  5. Do consumers require information? The customers may be interested in learning what they can do to pay for their purchases using crypto. They also need advice on security and avoiding fraudulent transactions.

Let your clients know that you are here to assist them in embracing the future of payments

Merchants have the option of choosing crypto payment processing methods that are straightforward and easy to use. Customers, on contrary, have a different payment experience.

There are millions of users who are prepared, eager and capable of paying with the crypto. Even though crypto payments have become more simple and easier, it's still important for merchants to understand their customers' experiences and the implications of their decisions in order to make the most of this opportunities for growth.