At least once in your lifetime you’ve participated in a social event, which required fundraising. For example: sports tournaments, weddings, family holidays, camping trips, etc. In these scenarios, group payments are a perfect example of how eCommerce can change the way people interact with each other. It offers convenience and flexibility, which allows people to actually advance towards their common goal. 

What’s in it for your business? The additional value and convenience brought in by the group payment options can attract more clients to your business and even sell more of your goods and/or services by letting more people pay for them. 

However, there are certain problems, associated with 3rd party group payments:

 convenient and fair cost sharing

 payment processing, as some of the individuals in the group may never actually make the payment

These issues make you lose revenue and sales, as few online services can actually solve these problems. They also often require your users to leave your website and this decreases their interactions with your brand and possible conversions. 

Now let’s imagine that the group fundraising features is fully integrated with your website. What kind of advantages would it offer to your business? 

 increased cart value, as more people opt in to chip in

 more brand interactions, as more people spend time on your website without leaving it

 word of mouth, as more people will find the group payment option to be a great feature

If you offer a group payment option, which allows you to incorporate all of these features - you’re going to be better off than most of your competitors. Mainstream distribution depends on price competition and for this reasons providing innovative cost reduction services should be a primary goal in order to differentiate the business and engage your customers.

More people participating allows you to collect more money - that’s the single biggest benefit of using this payment option. In today’s world, where everyone is using credit cards - it’s one of the most convenient ways to let people chip in.

Here’re some stats to back this up: 

The total for last 10 split payments on Squeezol group payment platform equals to 5,800 EUR (source: Squeezol). Average share per split is 35 EUR.

• Refusal - refused to pay and interact with the brand
• Participants - didn't pay, but interacted with the brand
• Paying - paid their part of the split

The average eCommerce cart is around €100 and that means that the average for 10 sales will be around €1000. 

The Squeezol.com numbers clearly indicate that sums increase by at least 3-4 times whenever people use the group payment option. Even if we’re taking into account the fact that some people won’t pay at the end. In this case, even if the payment is not completed - you still get a bunch of people, invited to pay, interacting with your brand and the website. 

How Magento Handles Payments 

Magento offers a wide ranges of payment solutions. But group payments is not one of them.

Many of the group payment options available actually charge extra for the transactions, which, in turn, increases the final cost of the group purchase. 

Squeezol, on the other hand, offers SPLIT payment option for Magento stores, which adds the group payment method, integrated nicely with your store and doesn’t include any extra charges for your clients.

Part 1: Installing SPLIT Squeezol Magento Extension 

 Download the Squeezol SPLIT for Magento extension.

 Register your company at the Business section of their website.

Any Magento admin will find the working system pretty identical to the bank transfer payment options - the orders will stay in “pending” until the whole sum is collected and transferred. 

Squeezol admin capabilities allow you to track each and every participant in the split and see who’s actually making the payments. This can also help you learn more about your customers.

Part 2: How Squeezol Works 

 The extension will automatically display the Squeezol group payment option for the users. A simple wizard will explain the next steps, necessary to initiate the group payment process.

It all starts at the checkout.

Here’s how it works: 

1. A user creates the split by entering the info, necessary to identify the group participants.

2. The user also has the option of inviting participants via social networks, email or by using the payment link, attached to the group payment.

Each invited individual will see the selected products and the store’s brand before deciding whether to accept the payment invitation or not.

3. The user, who initiated the payment, can manage and track the progress of it via a dedicated dashboard in Magento or through the Squeezol’s website. 

 When the whole sum is collected, the user can finish the payment from within the dashboard. After this - the store can make the shipment. The dashboard also allows the user to see all orders made with Squeezol from your Magento store. 

Conclusion 

Online shoppers like the idea of having a number of available payment options. Group payments is one of them, as it allows them to make expensive purchases that they normally couldn’t afford.

Group payments also allow your brand to get more exposure, as more and more people are attracted to your store by the person, who initiates the payment.

Squeezol is a solid choice for a group payment processor, as it offers tons of convenient and usable features, which can make group payments pretty simple.