I recently needed to update my credit card info on several websites. I expected this process to be easy: find the existing card, click the Edit button, enter the new info, and click Save. However, the experience was anything but simple, and even the bigger e-commerce sites seem to have problems with this seemingly straightforward task. Based on my own adventures updating credit card info, here are 3 tips for websites who want to get this right:

– Let customers change all the info, and not just the expiration date. This means letting people edit the card number, expiration date, security code, name on the card, billing address, and so on.

– Ask customers if they want the new card info to apply to orders that have already been placed, but haven’t been shipped or charged yet.

– Ask customers if they would like the new card info to replace the old info for recurring or subscription orders. Believe it or not, there are big sites that make you update this separately for every single recurring order.

Granted, this all seems like common sense. But from what I’ve seen, very few e-commerce sites are putting any effort into the tools they provide for updating credit card info. That’s just sad, since virtually every long-term customer will need to update their credit card at some point along the way. By adopting the simple guidelines I’ve outlined above, websites would make it far easier for users to manage their card info, while maintaining a high level of customer satisfaction during this potentially frustrating process.