Are you looking to boost your eCommerce brand’s revenue by increasing prepaid order conversions in a country that overwhelmingly favours
cash on delivery (COD)? You’re not alone.
According to a report published by
Statista, nearly 62% of Indian online shoppers prefer COD as their payment method of choice. Mobile wallets and credit cards sit second and third on the list.
However, COD can result in
return-to-origin (RTO), non-delivery reports (NDR), and cancellations, which can harm your business’s bottom line.
But don’t despair!
In this article, we will provide you with effective tips to increase prepaid orders and reduce the risks associated with COD in a country that loves it. Let’s get started.
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How To Increase Prepaid Order Conversions On Your Store
Prepaid order means receiving orders on your online store for which the payment is made in advance – before the order is fulfilled. This means you’ve secured your revenue before the order reaches the consumer.
Meanwhile, prepaid order conversion refers to the number of people who placed prepaid orders divided by the total number of orders placed in a set time period.
As a business owner, you may wonder – why are prepaid orders important?
Increasing prepaid orders is crucial for maintaining a healthy cash flow and reducing the risks associated with cancellations and returns.
To achieve this, you need to offer incentives that motivate your customers to pay upfront. Here are some effective ways to get more prepaid orders and boost your conversion rate.
1. Offer An Exclusive Discount On Prepaid Orders
Everyone loves a good deal, and an exclusive discount can be a powerful incentive for customers to make them prepay for what they’re ordering. By incentivising customers to make payments upfront, you not only improve your financial standing but also strengthen customer loyalty.
To make this strategy even more effective, it’s crucial to offer a discount that customers can’t resist. A 5% discount may seem like a generous offer, but it might not be enough to persuade customers to choose prepaid over COD. Instead, consider offering a 10% or even a 15% discount to make the deal irresistible. At the same time, don’t forget to communicate the benefits of prepaid orders to your customers when promoting this offer.
boAt is the perfect example to quote here. As you can see in the image below, boAt offers a 15% discount to customers who choose to pay via UPI (a prepaid method). Meanwhile, it charges an INR 49/- COD fee telling people the lucrativeness of prepaying for their order.
By making them aware of the ease and convenience of prepaid orders and how they can save those extra bucks, you can encourage them to take advantage of the exclusive discounts and start enjoying the benefits.
You can also use persuasive language and compelling images to drive the message home. Consider using social proof, such as customer reviews, to further reinforce the value of prepaid orders.
2. Offer Exclusive Shipping On Prepaid Orders
Offering exclusive shipping options on prepaid orders, such as express shipping, is an effective way to make your prepaid orders more attractive for customers. Shoppers, especially Indian shoppers, value fast and hassle-free delivery. By providing them with such an exclusive deal, you can surely bag a good chunk of prepaid order conversions.
However, to make this strategy work, it is important to ensure that the exclusive shipping option is only available to customers who choose
prepaid paymentoptions. A big no-no for people who select COD.
3. Highlight The Benefits Of Placing A Prepaid Order
Most customers are unaware of the benefits of placing a prepaid order. These include, the ease of delivery, the convenience of not having to keep change ready, etc. By highlighting these benefits on your website or social media channels, you can educate customers on the advantages of prepaid orders and encourage them to make the switch.
When highlighting these benefits, it is equally important to tailor your messaging to ensure conversion flow from your target audience.
For example,
- If you are targeting busy professionals, emphasise the convenience and time-saving benefits of prepaid orders.
- If you target budget-conscious customers, highlight the potential savings from discounts or free gifts.
Additionally, use customer testimonials or case studies to demonstrate the benefits of prepaid orders in a real-world context.
4. Offer Multiple Payment Options
One of the main reasons why customers choose COD is that they don’t have their card details ready. By offering multiple payment options, such as UPI, digital wallets, etc. you can make it easier for customers to make a payment upfront, reducing the reliance on COD.
At the same time, while offering prepaid payment options, provide those options which are convenient and widely used by your target audience.
For example, if your target audience is primarily based in India, offering payment options like UPI and PhonePe may be more effective than options like PayPal or credit card.
Additionally, make sure that the payment gateway integrate on your storefront is seamless. Because, a good and hassle-free checkout experience minimises friction, encourages customers to complete their purchase in seconds, and builds trust around online payments.
GoKwik partners with multiple
payment gateways. This helps ensure cent-percent successful transaction rate, further increasing a shopper’s confidence in making online payments.
5. Offer Free Gifts On Prepaid Orders
Who doesn’t love a free gift?
Offering a trial pack of a product or a small gift with prepaid orders can be a powerful incentive to encourage customers to pay upfront. In fact, as a tried and tested methods, brands who give away free gifts on prepaid orders witness a higher repeat rate.
Besides, the technique helps boost cash flow, prepaid order conversions, enhances customer experience and builds brand loyalty.
But, one important thing to note here is that your free gifts on prepaid orders must be relevant and something that customers will actually value. For example, a free trial pack of a new product can be a powerful incentive for customers to pay upfront and try something new. Additionally, make sure that the free gift is prominently displayed on your website and in your marketing materials to maximise its impact.
6. Offer Instalment Payments On Prepaid Orders
A lot of brand offer products of high ticket-size. They may be lucrative and on a shopper’s bucket list. But paying the entire amount in one go, be it via a prepaid payment methods like UPI or COD can hinder the purchase.
So, to make sure that those fence sitters convert into paying customers, give them an option to pay in instalments. This makes purchase more comfortable and manageable for customers, further incentives them them to pay upfront. This even builds a confidence for future making these reluctant customers come back to your site for more purchases no matter the ticket-size.
GoKwik, via its partnership with many payment gateways and banks, helps its merchants offer instalment prepaid payment feature to end-shoppers. It ensures that the process is simple and transparent, building that trust throughout the journey.
However, also ensure to clearly communicate the payment terms, including
- The number of instalments
- The amount of each instalment
- Any applicable fees or interest rates
Provide customers with a payment schedule and even send reminders so that they don’t miss any payments.
7. Offer Split Payment Option
As a follow-up of the above-mention option, you can also leverage split payment option. Here, you can ask a customer to pay a certain amount upfront and the rest at the time of delivery.
The benefit you ask? Let’s take an example for further clarification.
Mr. X wants to buy a refurbished Samsung Galaxy S20FE from ABC.com. Now, the price of the phone is highly tempting and it fits Mr. X’s budget. But, since he has never bought any item from ABC.com, he is reluctant on placing a prepaid order.
He then saw that the site offers him an option to pay INR 10,000 via a prepaid payment method and the rest at the time of delivery – either in cash or via an online payment mode. Mr. X found this to be a very good option and without second thoughts, placed an order.
The advantage here was that ABC.com received a token amount from the customer which ensures that the customer is willing to buy the product. In such a case, the risk of
return-to-origin becomes minima. Meanwhile, from a customer’s point of view, Mr. X did not have to pay the entire amount and satisfying their fear of losing all the money in case the phone did not get delivered. It’s a win-win.
The ratio of
cash on delivery and prepaid order conversions in this case is higher, helping businesses reduce the risk of losses as well.
GoKwik offers split payment feature to many of its partner merchants, helping them bag prepaid payment conversions and reducing a customer’s remorse
post-purchase.
8. Offer Fast And Secure Checkout
A fast and secure checkout process can make all the difference in shifting customers from the COD conversion bucket to prepaid order conversion list. By optimise your checkout process across website, mobile, and app, and offering secure payment options, you can provide a seamless experience for customers to freely make online payments.
Also, consider offering a one-click checkout process that allows customers to save their payment details for future orders. This can reduce friction and make the checkout process faster and more convenient. It can act as a powerful incentive for customers to choose prepaid over COD.
GoKwik offers one-click checkout that allows shoppers to complete their purchase within a matter of 1-2 minutes.
9. Implement RTO Protection Suite
Considering the fact that Indian shoppers still fear making online payments no matter how lucrative deals they get. In such a case, RTO protection suite on your website is a great way to increase prepaid order conversions.
To give you an example, GoKwik’s RTO Protection Suite helps you find shoppers who are regular RTOers. Those who place cash on delivery orders and cancel the shipment while in transit or reject it at the time of delivery. You can put necessary interventions to ensure that these regular defaulters do not place CODs.
For instance, block COD as a payment option, take confirmation at the time of order placement onsite or even via WhatsApp, implement COD fee and/or return fee, etc. Such interventions help reduce losses and even convert many CODs into prepaid orders.
Many times, people also place CODs by mistake. You can leverage GoKwik’s Kwik Chat solutions to confirm their orders and even give them an option to cancel it within WhatsApp to reduce the risk of RTO.
19 May 2026
11 Min Read
