Shopify: Is Debit or Credit card language stopping sales?

Credit or Debit? (@twopaddles on unsplash.com)

So this is a very British centric issue as far as I can tell, however three different companies I’ve worked with now have had similar user feedback from customers.

‘Be able to use debit card rather than credit card.
Couldn’t see the option button.’

I’ve seen this a bunch of times now and it mainly seems to be an issue raised only by British customers (feel free to let me know of other countries in the comments).

So Shopify obviously allows either credit or debit cards, so why do customers think they can’t. Because the default label in the checkout is simply “Credit card”.

Why?

In North America the difference between credit and debit cards is largely ignored and all cards are referred to as “Credit cards” whether they are Debit, Credit or Charge. Similar to how people refer to any brand of vaccuum cleaner as a Hoover.

However in the UK a lot of consumers are more aware that they have a “Credit Card” and/or a “Debit card” or “Bank Card”. In the UK credit cards were introduced in 1966 by Barclays long before the introduction of Debit cards in 1987 also…