Digitalization has brought about a revolution in the world of payments. Most businesses have started selling online and would like to have a website payment system in place, i.e. an eCommerce payment gateway.
With lots of online payment processors in the market, choosing the right payment gateway for your business can be a challenge. How do you know which is the best online payment gateway?
Not to worry, here are 6 tips that will help you determine which online payment gateway would be suitable for your business needs:
Customer support
An online payment gateway for website can cost merchant thousands of dollars. A downtime of an hour can lead to a merchant losing out on a huge portion of their earnings especially if it has a lot of customers.
Therefore, it would be a good idea to choose a payment services provider that offers customer support which can be reached easily. 24/7 support is ideal but a business that offers support robust support during office hours may be also be a good option. A good customer support could be in the form of live chat, telephone and email. A comprehensive manual explaining step-by-step processes of resolving common technical issues can also be useful and help avoid a queue of customers waiting for their issue to be resolved.
Data Analytics, Reporting & Reconciliation
Data is extremely useful for merchants since it enables them to identify the following:
- inefficiencies in processes
- fraudulent or suspicious activities
- patterns in consumer behaviour.
Addressing the issues above and making use of associated findings will help the merchant increase their sales and ultimately grow the business. AI driven data tools and useful reports will help the businessowner solve all the problems mentioned above: the merchant will be able to generate valuable consumer insights, eliminate inadequacies in operations and prevent fraud.
A good merchant dashboard gives the business owner access to useful reports including a payment reconciliation. A reconciliation report is particularly important since a merchant needs to ensure the payments in the bank account match the billed amount; they also need to see if any fees they are paying are in line with agreed terms.
Therefore, a strong reporting and reconciliation system will help the business gain competitive advantage.
Recurring Billing & Subscriptions
Most businesses these days bill their customers periodically for their services; it could be on a monthly or quarterly or annual basis. Some examples of such subscription-based businesses include Netflix, Amazon Prime, etc. A good payment processor will ensure this process runs on autopilot. Recurring billing allows invoices to be sent out to customers at preset schedules which is usually at an optimal time of the month; this helps avoid instances of declined payments due to insufficient funds in the customers’ bank accounts. In case of declined transactions, a good payment gateway should automatically retry payment collection.
In this day and age, almost everything is digitalized. Therefore, a payment processor that does not allow automated processes for payment collection is lagging far behind its competitors. Therefore, a merchant should always go for a payment gateway provider that offers recurring billing.
Integration With Other Systems
A payment gateway is not a standalone solution. It forms part of an infrastructure. A businessowner should choose a payment gateway that integrates seamlessly with other software and systems on their website platform. A reputable payment gateway should be able to integrate with all website platforms – be it WooCommerce, WordPress, Shopify or Magento.
A good payment gateway should also be able to connect with your accounting software so that when a payment is made, the associated invoice is automatically updated in the bookkeeping system.
Another aspect to consider is the ability of a payment gateway to offer multiple payment options ranging from debit and credit cards to digital wallets including Apple Pay and Google Pay. Popular cards like Mastercard, VISA and Amex should be supported
Other payment options like bank transfer, e-cheques and cash on delivery are a bonus. Customers no longer just want a card payment processor. Most big businesses want to go for an international payment gateway that supports payments across the world.
This will reduce friction at checkout pages with customers being able to choose their favourite payment methods. Hence, the online sales of the business will grow and so will the profit!
Security
Security related to data and transaction is a top priority for online businesses. Hence, most merchants want a secure payment gateway. Security breaches will cause financial as well as reputation loss to the business. Therefore, merchants should opt for a payment gateway that ensures the highest level of cybersecurity. It must follow the security standard vital in the industry.
Measures like PCI Compliance, Data Encryption, payment tokenization, 3D Secure Implementation, Card Verification Value (CVV) and Strong Customer Authentication (SCA) make online transactions completely secure and safeguarded from fraud or other security threats.
Such security measures and fraud detection checks ensure that a wireless transaction is processed without compromising the customer’s information. Having these tools in place will help build trust with your customers.
Same/Next Day Payment Settlement
When it comes to payments, there is usually a time lag between a customer’s transactions and appearing of funds in the business bank account. The time delay is called the settlement period. A merchant would like to keep this settlement period to a minimum to ensure their cashflow runs smoothly. Some payment gateways offer a settlement period of 1 day which means you can have the funds in your business bank account the same or next day. Other payment gateways could take over 30 days to settle payments. Therefore, it is advisable to go for a payment gateway that comes with same or next day settlement. This will help you avoid disruptions in your cash flow which will ultimately ensure your bills are paid and your operations run smoothly.
CutPay Can Help You Get A Merchant Account & A Payment Gateway!
The process of obtaining a merchant account and a credit card payment gateway is not complicated, but it can be difficult to manage it seamlessly. CutPay is going to make this process much easier for you.
We at CutPay understand the needs and requirements of online businesses. We hope these tips from us help you in running your business.
If you want to apply for a merchant account and a payment gateway for your website, you have come to the right place.
Just fill out the form below and give us some details about your business and one of our representatives will reach out to you shortly!
