Messaging is your key to maximising the benefits of BNPL
Staying competitive in today’s crowded e-commerce landscape requires more than just a compelling product and a streamlined shopping experience. Giving choice in how customers can pay may determine whether they even make it to your checkout page.
While credit cards and debit cards are standard payment methods online, the rise of Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) as a preferred way to pay among French shoppers also deserves your attention.
Preferred across the spectrum
BNPL users in France aren’t niche. More than a third (35%) of French shoppers have used BNPL services in the last 6 months and they come from all walks of life. Half are female, a third (34%) have a college degree, and they come from low- (33%), middle- (34%) and high- (34%) income brackets almost equally. It’s likely many of your customers are looking for BNPL payment solutions when they’re on your site.
Why the growing interest and use? It’s about the ability to manage your own finances, according to 61% of French BNPL users.2 By spreading out the cost of their purchases over interest-free instalments, BNPL gives customers financial breathing room, empowering them to make essential purchases they may otherwise postpone.
BNPL has become so important that French consumers are 52% more likely to purchase from a website that accepts BNPL over one that does not.2 If you’re not offering BNPL payments, you could be losing sales to your competitors.
The Buy Now Pay Later impact for business
While consumer preference is growing, there’s great incentive for businesses to offer BNPL payment methods - but only 3-in-10 (28%) of French businesses do. More than half (54%) of those businesses see BNPL as an effective means of attracting new customers, while 49% say it helps them meet consumer expectations.
Beyond the customer experience, French businesses are seeing significant financial improvements through BNPL too. They enjoy a 23% increase in average order value (AOV) and a 17% increase in checkout conversion when a purchase is made with BNPL. These benefits can make a massive impact on the cashflow and overall growth potential of SMBs.
Offering BNPL is just the first step
While the benefits of offering BNPL are clear, there is a twist: it’s not enough to simply offer the service. You need to let your customers know it’s available.
Customers start making their decision about whether to buy from you the moment they hit your website, and it’s not just about whether you offer the right product at the right price. More than a third (35%) of French consumers are taking whether you offer BNPL at checkout into consideration, and two-in-five of those (41%) are looking for PayPal Pay in 4X. And if they can’t easily find that out on your home or product pages, they may leave for your competitor.
That’s why smart businesses actively promote their acceptance of PayPal’s Pay in 4X with its in- built messaging feature.2 Once toggled on, clear Pay Later messaging is automatically displayed at key touchpoints across your site, including your product pages, cart summary and the checkout page. This ensures your customers know they have the option to split payments whenever it’s most relevant. It keeps your BNPL offering top-of-mind for your customers, from the minute they click into your website, all the way to checkout. And businesses using PayPal’s Pay Later messaging are seeing the results with a 6% increase in sales made through PayPal within just three months of implementing the Pay in 4X upstream messaging.
How to add PayPal Pay in 4X messaging
To add PayPal Pay in 4X messaging on your PrestaShop site, simply activate the PayPal official module (or update it to the latest version), or PrestaShop Checkout. Once active, you can customise the Pay Later messaging to suit your brand. Here’s how:
- Log in to your PrestaShop admin portal and go to Payment > Payment Methods.
- Select Configure under the PayPal payment option then Configure the module.
- Toggle on the locations you’d like Pay in 4 messaging to appear on your site. Select the dropdown menus under each location to customise and preview the messaging style.
- Click Save to save and publish the changes to your site.
Added insights to grow your business
If you offer PayPal, your customers may already be using PayPal Pay in 4X to pay for their purchases. PayPal Pay in 4X is offered to your customers at no further charge to you, and funds are available immediately in your PayPal account, as usual.
But while you may already be seeing some of the benefits of PayPal Pay in 4X, by adding PayPal Pay Later messaging to your website you’ll unlock insights into the real impact it’s making for your business.
Reports that show your sales and average order value (AOV) from PayPal Pay in 4X purchases are available in your PayPal account only when Pay Later messaging is enabled. You can use these reports to identify how adding further PayPal Later messaging on your site and to your promotional activities, like emails and social media, could have a positive impact on your sales and profits.
All it takes is a couple of clicks on the back end to enable PayPal Pay in 4x and Messaging. Following that, your e-commerce store can potentially unlock increased sales, higher order values, and valuable insights to help bolster your business’ growth.
