Payment Gateway Fatigue in 2025: Why “More” is Killing Your Conversions (And How to Fix It)

Introduction

“Makan apa?”

It’s the daily Malaysian dilemma. Nasi Lemak? Chicken Rice? Mamak? When faced with too many choices, making a final decision can feel paralyzing.

Believe it or not, customers today buying online are faced with this exact same ‘paradox of choice’ the moment they reach your checkout. But instead of a lunch menu, they are staring at a wall of confusing payment logos. Instead of feeling empowered by choice, they feel overwhelmed. They hesitate, second-guess the purchase, and leave.

This phenomenon is the “invisible anchor” of Malaysian e-commerce growth. In an effort to offer maximum convenience, many merchants have accidentally created Payment Gateway Fatigue.

While merchants are rightly worrying about their payment gateway failing and causing lost sales, the reality is that a cluttered checkout payment experience is often doing far more damage. Research shows that while a lack of options hurts conversions, too many uncurated options can be twice as deadly.

In 2025, the winner isn’t the merchant with the most buttons, but the one with the smartest and most streamlined checkout. This guide will explain why “more” is often “less,” and how Malaysian SMEs can use intelligent orchestration to solve this problem.

Key Takeaways

• The “Goldilocks” Friction Paradox: Data shows only 13% of users abandon carts due to too few payment methods, but 22% abandon because the process is too complicated.
• Visual Fatigue: A cluttered UI triggers Hick’s Law, where more choices lead to longer decision times and higher abandonment rates.
• Technical Drag: Every individual plugin you add increases site latency and maintenance debt, raising the risk of payment gateway failure.
• The Solution: You don’t need fewer payment methods; you need a Unified Payment Orchestration layer (like Razorpay Curlec) to manage them intelligently.

What is Payment Gateway Fatigue?

At its core, Payment Gateway Fatigue is a systemic friction that occurs on two distinct levels when a merchant tries to integrate too many standalone providers:

1. Visual Fatigue (The Frontend): This is the cognitive load users feel when presented with 5+ vibrant, competing “Buy Now” buttons (e.g. Apple Pay vs. Google Pay vs. GrabPay) fighting for attention. It turns your checkout into a confusing “marketplace” of logos rather than a smooth path to purchase.
2. Technical Fatigue (The Backend): This is the hidden cost. Integrating a specific plugin for Boost, another for Grab, and another for Maybank results in “spaghetti code.” It leads to slower page loads, frequent redirect errors, and higher operational costs.

The Psychology of the “Logo Wall”: Hick’s Law in Action

Why does offering more choices hurt sales? The answer lies in the famous “Jam Study” by Professor Sheena Iyengar. The study found that when customers were offered 24 flavors of jam, only 3% bought one. But when offered just 6 flavors, 30% made a purchase.

This is Hick’s Law: The time it takes to make a decision increases logarithmically with the number of choices.

When a Malaysian shopper has to scan through 15 bank logos for FPX and 5 different e-wallets, the checkout payment process feels like work. The “Visual Weight” of a cluttered interface reduces trust, making the site look “hacky” or insecure compared to a clean, curated experience.

The Data: Why “Complexity” is a Bigger Killer than “Lack of Options”

Many merchants operate on fear: “If I don’t have this specific wallet, I will lose the customer.” While true to an extent, the data suggests you are overcorrecting.

• The 13% Baseline: According to the Baymard Institute, 13% of shoppers abandon their cart because there “weren’t enough payment methods”.
• The 22% Reality: A significantly higher 22% of shoppers abandon the cart because of a “too long/complicated checkout process”.

By trying to save the 13%, you are inadvertently losing out on the 22%.

Furthermore, while offering local favourites are essential, there is a tipping point where variety becomes clutter. Adding a 10th or 11th payment option rarely brings new revenue, it simply increases the mental effort required for a user to interpret a screen, also known as “interaction cost”. This cannibalizes existing preferences and creates the hesitation that kills the sale.

The Malaysian Context: The Fragmented Payment Landscape

Malaysian merchants face a unique challenge because our local market is highly fragmented. You cannot just offer Cards. To be competitive, you must offer:

• FPX: For the bank-heavy demographic.
• E-Wallets: Touch ‘n Go, GrabPay, and ShopeePay for the mobile-first generation.
• BNPL: Options like Atome or ShopBack for higher-ticket items.

The Challenge: Managing these individually is a nightmare. 51% of Southeast Asian merchants report struggling with the complexity of integrating multiple payment systems. If you are using Payment Links manually to bridge these gaps, you are adding even more friction to the user journey.

Signs Your Business is Suffering from Gateway Fatigue

If you aren’t sure if this applies to you, check your business for these symptoms:

1. High Mobile Abandonment: Mobile screens have limited real estate. If your payment buttons take up 3 full scrolls on a phone, mobile users are likely to leave before they even find the “Pay” button.
2. Operational Drag: Your dev team spends more time updating API keys and fixing plugins than building new product features.
3. Reconciliation Nightmares: Your finance team is manually matching spreadsheets from three different payment providers (e.g., one for Cards, one for FPX, one for E-wallets) at the end of the month.

The Solution: Intelligent Curation & Orchestration

The answer isn’t to remove payment methods (your customers need their TNG!), but to orchestrate them.

• Payment Orchestration: This involves using a single unified gateway that acts as a “universal adapter.” You integrate once, and the gateway handles the complexity of connecting to Visa, FPX, and TNG in the background.
• Visual Hierarchy: Instead of listing all banks, a smart gateway groups them. Users see three clean options: “Credit Card,” “Online Banking,” and “E-Wallet.” They only see the specific banks after they make that first simple choice.
• Use Payment Links for Exceptions: For B2B clients or irregular orders where a full checkout isn’t needed, use Payment Links to send a clean, hosted invoice, bypassing the website clutter entirely.

Empowering Businesses with Razorpay Curlec

If you are a Malaysian business looking to solve fatigue without sacrificing payment options, Razorpay Curlec offers the ideal orchestration layer.

• Unified Stack: Razorpay Curlec allows you to accept Cards, FPX, DuitNow, and major E-wallets (TNG, Grab, ShopeePay) via a single integration. This eliminates the “spaghetti code” that causes site slowdowns.
• Recurring Payments: For subscription businesses, Razorpay Curlec is the market leader in Direct Debit. This automates repeat purchases, removing the need for the customer to go through the checkout payment process every month, which is the ultimate solution to fatigue.
• Reliability: As a regulated entity by Bank Negara Malaysia, Razorpay Curlec ensures high uptime, minimizing the risk of Payment Gateway failure during peak sales periods.
• Scalability: Whether you are a startup or an enterprise, the infrastructure is built to handle high volumes, ensuring your checkout remains fast and responsive even during 11.11 or PayDay sales.

Conclusion

The battle for conversion in 2025 won’t be won by the merchant with the most logos on their site. It will be won by the merchant who offers the smoothest experience.

Is your checkout a door or a wall? If your customers have to fight through a jungle of buttons to pay you, you are leaving money on the table. Switch to a unified gateway to turn that wall back into an open door.

Ready to declutter your checkout and boost conversions? Sign up at curlec.com today.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

1. What is the difference between a payment gateway and a payment aggregator? A gateway connects your site to the bank. An aggregator (like Razorpay Curlec) lets you accept multiple payment methods (Cards, FPX, E-wallets) through a single account without needing separate merchant IDs for each bank, reducing administrative fatigue.

2. How many payment methods should I offer on my Malaysian e-commerce site? You should cover the “Big Three”: Credit/Debit Cards, Online Banking (FPX), and at least one major E-wallet (like Touch ‘n Go). More is okay only if they are organized cleanly using a unified gateway to avoid visual clutter.

3. Does adding more payment options slow down my website? Yes, if you use separate plugins for each one. Using a single unified gateway integration prevents site slowdowns because it loads only one script to handle all methods, protecting you from technical Payment Gateway failure.

4. What is the average cart abandonment rate in Malaysia? While global averages hover around 70%, Malaysian abandonment is similar. A complex, cluttered checkout payment process is responsible for roughly 22% of these lost sales.

5. Does Razorpay Curlec support recurring payments? Yes, Razorpay Curlec specializes in recurring payments via Direct Debit and card auto-debits. This is ideal for gyms, SaaS, and subscription box businesses, as it removes the need for manual payments entirely.