WHY CONSUMERS STILL EMBRACE CASH-ON-DELIVERY (COD)

1. WHY CONSUMERS STILL EMBRACE CASH-ON-DELIVERY (COD)
In spite of the digital payments receiving a lot of focus, more than 70% of the ecommerce in
India still continue to use cash as a payment option. COD remains the most preferred option and
will continue to be so. What could be the real secret for the success? One of the possible
reasons is the checkout experience of the buyer. A close analysis of checkout experience gives
us useful insights into the customer mindset.
Keeping a simple and clear checkout is vital to ensure customers continue to move forward
through the checkout process. Customer should not be thinking - “When will this process end?”.
The customer wants less number of steps in the checkout process. With COD as payment option,
customer experience during checkout is smooth and fast as fewer details have to be entered for
the checkout process completion.
“You want me to pay for it in advance when I have not seen the product? In the Cash-on-delivery
payments, the customer experience is less inhibitive as they don’t have to pay immediately.
Customer has a chance to return the product at the time of delivery.
The customer wants peace of mind. Why should I trust the seller or the product? Is my credit
card detail safe?” No payment information details have to be entered for COD hence the
customer experience is non-worrisome. Security related issues have always been in the
headlines; customers do have concerns about data security and privacy and believe that cash can
keep them safe from hacking. If customer keeps cash in hand, they will prefer COD payments
over digital payments.
These insights show the criticality of COD solutions to truly leverage the e-commerce business
and also look at the reasons why it is embraced. COD checkout experience is more user-friendly
and streamlined and thus more responsive thereby chances of higher and faster conversion rate
for your business. Even though the risk of unsuccessful deliveries is higher, all the benefits
attached with COD, companies have no option but to make it available for the customer.
The bottom line is that even though India loves cash but it is the COD model which
automatically ensures a responsive checkout process thus ensuring happy customers.