If you are a small business owner who collects orders through online forms, then making sure you get paid at the end of each purchase is one of your top priorities. Collecting payments upfront ensures a steady flow of income, keeps the sales process running smoothly, and reduces the risk of late payments. This provides peace of mind to merchants and ensures transparency for customers who can see all charges implied on the product before making a purchase.
You might be wondering: Is configuring a payment field difficult? The answer: Absolutely not! You don't have to be tech savvy to do this. Zoho Forms allow you to simply drag and drop the payment gateway of your choice, and with just a few configurations, you can start collecting payments through your online form.
We have already explored crafting a simple online order form in our previous post; now let's discuss how to collect payment with your form in detail. Automatically calculating the checkout value and auto-filling it in the order form's payment field helps ensure a smooth checkout process. To do this, follow these steps:
Assign product values
For each product listed in the form, you need to
assign values. This value specifies the amount customers will pay for the product. If you are using images to represent your products, then simply assign the corresponding price to each image.
If you are using a radio or dropdown field to represent your products, then simply assign the corresponding price to each choice.
Tip: Ensure transparent pricing by explicitly displaying the product's base price and any additional charges upfront to avoid last-minute drop-offs.
Calculate total cost
Once you have assigned values to your products, it's time to automatically calculate the total cost for your customer. Zoho Forms' Formula field helps you with this. You can use simple or advanced formulas as the form requires. The image below demonstrates a simple formula to calculate the cost of the product added.
Zoho Forms offers advanced formulas to handle complex scenarios like applying discounts. The image below shows a formula that provides a 15% discount for orders exceeding $1,000. You can customize your forms with different formulas based on your specific needs.
Configure the Payment field
Zoho Forms makes it easy to accept payments directly through your forms. You can integrate your form with one or more payment gateways such as PayPal, Stripe, Paytm, Square, or Razorpay to make secure transactions. This allows your customer to pay using a provider they already use or something they are familiar with, reducing cart abandonment during the checkout process.
To set up the payment field, click the payment gateway of your choice and configure the merchant account details. Choose the currency type and select Autofill from Form Field for the Payment Amount. Now, your form will auto-calculate the cost and fill it in the payment field. This ensures your customers see the accurate total cost upfront before making a payment.