WooCommerce Recurring Payments with Multiple Payment Gateways

More payment gateways stand for more revenue channels. Each payment gateway offers access to a unique set of payment methods. In order to provide customers with flexible payment options, WooCommerce merchants need to have more than one gateways in place.

However, WooCommerce allows businesses to enable only one gateway for each subscription. This creates payment limitations for both merchants and customers. They cannot change the selected payment gateway easily.

But that’s where SubscriptionFlow helps. SubscriptionFlow is available in WooCommerce as a plugin, and empowers stores to enable multiple gateways for recurring payments.

Read on to find out how that works.

Why Having Multiple Payment Gateways in WooCommerce Matters?

Subscription stores on WooCommerce need to accept customer payments on a regular basis. If there is friction in recurring payment processes, it can lead to customer frustration, and churn. To make the billing process as user-friendly as possible, merchants must activate different payment methods for their subscribers.

Here are some advantages of equipping your store with more than one gateways:

Increased Payment Options

With different gateways come different payment options. Having only one gateway can limit customers’ payment choices. For instance, there are gateways that support digital wallets like Apple Pay, and Amazon Pay. There are also gateways that support buy now pay later (BNPL) options.

In order to meet diverse customer demands, it is necessary to integrate with gateways that provide an array of payment solutions.

Reduced Payment Failures

If a customer is stuck with one gateway for the rest of their subscription, it can lead to more payment failures. That is because the customer’s chosen payment method might face issues in the future. For instance, if they have selected credit card as their payment method, it might get expired or be frequently low on funds.

In such cases, it becomes a necessity to offer customers alternative methods. They can switch to another payment method, and then come back to their original one when its issues get resolved. Or they might simply stick with the other option for the rest of their lifecycle. These choices add more versatility to their payments.

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Consistent Revenue

Gateway failures are not uncommon. If WooCommerce merchants rely on only a single gateway, and if that gateway faces sudden downtime, it can cause payment delays. That is why it is safer to have multiple gateways, as it distributes risk, and offers more channels for revenue to flow through.

International Market Access

Enabling a variety of payment options is a must for catering to global customers. For smooth global operations, it is always advisable to have both globally recognized, and regional gateways. Regional gateways are necessary to focus on a particular market, as they offer users local payment solutions.

How WooCommerce Restricts Recurring Payments to One Gateway

WooCommerce has integration with over 25 payment gateways, and recurring billing is supported through several of them. However, it still poses restrictions when it comes to accepting payments via different gateways.

One gateway per subscription

WooCommerce displays various payment methods on its checkout page. Users are encouraged to select their preferred one. After that, their initial payment is processed through the appropriate gateway, and their subscription is activated. From there on, all their payments are collected through the same gateway.

So while WooCommerce does offer a choice between payment gateways, that choice ends at the sign up. For the rest of their cycle, customers have to stick with the same gateway even if their chosen method causes problems in the future. They must resolve them on their own.

No easy way to switch gateways

If a merchant wishes to assign its existing customers’ payments to another gateway, it cannot easily do so. It would need to manually ask its customers to unsubscribe and then subscribe again using a different payment option. This can increase the risk of churn, as cancelling subscription and subscribing again takes considerable time and effort.

Gateways cannot easily be disabled for existing customers

Merchants can choose to stop displaying certain payment options at checkout. In this way, they can prevent new customers from selecting gateways that they don’t want to continue with. However, that won’t stop the disabled gateway from processing the payments of the existing customers.

As long as those customers’ plans stay active, their payments are going to be routed through the same gateway. Payments are not going to be routed through another gateway automatically. Merchants will still have to rely on manual methods to change gateway, i.e. getting customers to cancel and re-subscribe.

SubscriptionFlow Helps Merchants Overcome Gateway Restrictions

Merchants can easily integrate with SubscriptionFlow, as it’s available as a WooCommerce plugin. SubscriptionFlow is a subscription billing expert, and allows merchants to handle recurring payments with flexibility and ease.

It allows them to enable many payment gateways at the same time, unlocking multiple revenue channels. To leverage SubscriptionFlow’s billing capabilities fully, merchants have to integrate with its checkout first.

The SubscriptionFlow-hosted checkout empowers businesses to overcome payment barriers imposed by WooCommerce’s native checkout. Here’s what merchants can do with this checkout in place:

Display All Payment Options at the Same Time

On SubscriptionFlow’s checkout, businesses can enable all the available payment methods, regardless of the gateways that support them. This presents customers with a variety of payment choices, so they can select the most familiar ones, and convert faster.

When a customer chooses a certain payment method, SubscriptionFlow auto-selects the right gateway to process their payment. So customers can go with a BNPL provider, digital wallets, bank payments, and many more options. Meanwhile, merchants don’t have to put manual effort in selecting the appropriate gateway.

Unlock Intelligent Payment Routing

If the chosen payment gateway fails, SubscriptionFlow automatically assigns payments to another gateway. This process reduces payment delay risk, and saves the merchant’s time. Merchants don’t have to limit their subscription payments to the originally selected gateways unlike in WooCommerce’s own checkout.

Sync Data for Subscription Creation

Merchants can allow automatic data syncing with SubscriptionFlow. When their customer signs up using SubscriptionFlow’s checkout, the software automatically creates a subscription under their name.

So as the customer’s payment is successfully processed through the desired payment method, their subscription journey starts. There are no gaps or friction in between. Payment completion leads to smooth subscription activation.

Subscription duration, charges, and billing cycles are set up as per the agreement between the customer and the WooCommerce store.

Automate Recurring Payments

SubscriptionFlow’s automation doesn’t end at creating subscriptions. The software also automates recurring payments so customers don’t have to bother paying manually. Payments are charged to the selected payment methods, and are processed using the chosen gateways.

Businesses can easily change between gateways if the new gateway also supports their customer’s chosen payment option. Reasons behind payment gateway change may include high fees or slow payment processing speed.

Allow Customers to Change Payment Method

WooCommerce doesn’t allow customers to change their payment method easily. Especially if that means switching to a new gateway altogether. However, it’s a different story with SubscriptionFlow.

SubscriptionFlow allows your customers access to their own self-service portals. In these portals, they can easily update or change their payment method. Changes can be made regardless of the originally selected payment gateways.

So for instance, if customers want to switch from direct debit to Apple Pay, they can do that easily. Even if it means switching to a new gateway.

Use Automatic Payment Retries

If payment failures occur, merchants can use SubscriptionFlow to make smart retries. The customer’s chosen payment method is charged at different times, so that the missing funds can be collected fast. If failure persists, then the customer can be encouraged to change their payment method.

Manage Subscription Plan Changes

Customers can make plan changes from their portals, and have their billing amounts updated automatically. Only the updated amounts are charged to their payment methods. SubscriptionFlow also adjusts their billing schedules accordingly, and prorates subscription payments where needed.

Upgrade your WooCommerce store’s recurring payment processes today. Use SubscriptionFlow, and unlock multiple gateways for versatile payments.