With the development of the online eCommerce industry and the trust of consumers, there is a demand for better, seamless and efficient payment gateways. The innovative integrations, advanced solutions, effective customization, card control solutions and adaptive technology have implied the necessity of a better payment landscape than before.
As the bar has been set so high, there is no room for mistakes. In this blog, we will be discussing the payment gateway and the things to consider while choosing it. Lack of personalization can fail thousands of online stores. Thus, one needs to focus on improving the payment gateways of one’s online store.
Payment Gateway
A payment gateway refers to the integration or software that securely executes payments between a customer and an eCommerce website. The modes of payment are usually bank accounts, credit cards, debit cards, gift cards and other wallets.
Some of the recognized payment gateways are Paypal, Skrill, Stripe etc. An electronic payment gateway provider saves both parties to run a bunch of software, hardware and security connections. It makes several types of electronic payments easy and secure.
Just before you choose any payment gateway provider, depending upon the nature and requirement of your eCommerce business, go through these factors that you need to consider.
Choose an Appropriate Payment Flow
With your business growing, the payment gateway must get smoother and swifter. You will need the most relevant and appropriate payment flow to add a payment gateway to your website.
- Secure Payment Forms: A site offering an integrated payment form is secure for transactions. The form has all the payment details that are sent over to the payment gateway through API calls. It increases the overall cost of the payment gateway integration process as it requires additional programming.
- Redirect Payments: With this option, your customers will be redirected to a secured and hosted payment page. It usually takes less time than usual. Hence, it can deliver an effective user experience.
- An Escrow System: An escrow system will allow your customers to hand over their money to a secured authority unless the administrators confirm the order and the payment. For example, some companies work as an intermediary and hold payments of both parties until completion of the process.
Right Payment Provider
You have to sell your services and products online. You need to integrate a smooth, swift, hassle-free payment gateway. You will be missing out on major sales if your payment gateway is problematic. A smooth and secure payment gateway will convince your customers to purchase from you. You must keep in mind the adaptability of the payment method to the nature of your business while choosing it.
It is very important to figure out the right payment gateway for your business. You might misjudge it. You must hire a card control solutions expert to figure it out for you.
Safety and Security
As big companies have taken the customer experience to new heights, the expectations of the customers are far higher than before. Customers should feel safe and secure while purchasing and sharing their payment details. Even from a small businessman, customers expect a high-quality online store that promises a secure payment method.
Some of the payment gateways owners require you to customize your payment experience to depict their brand’s typeface, logo and color palette. Most of the customers have no idea that they might be redirected to a third-party website for transaction purposes.
Your payment gateway provider must be certified for security standards like PCI-DSS. The PCI standard is supervised by the PCISS(Payment Card Industry Security Standards) Council.
Fees and Service
We have to pay for everything. It is just like the law of thermodynamics or like Karma. There will be pricing for the payment gateways you will be using for your website. It depends on the type of payments a business conducts, business sales, transaction frequency, revenue consistency.
Payment gateways require fees, contracts or they may charge fees on each transaction depending on the size or volume of the transaction. But, make sure that these gateway providers are not charging from your customers. It will deliver a negative impact on your customers. You can adjust such charges in the prices of the products without making them known.
Effective Transactions
You will lose a potential customer if you are enforcing registration before the checkout. You can allow a guest checkout via a third-party shopping cart with an enrollment procedure built in the shopping cart.
Make sure that your customers may not go through unwanted form fields for a simple checkout process. Big companies take care of such disturbing things and boost their sales. They take out redundancies like the requirement of both billing and shipping information.
All Devices Adaptability
Smartphones have dominated personal computers. Smartphones, being the partners, are helping people to buy groceries, clothes and all other essentials of life these days. With around 60% of people utilizing mobile phones for such purposes, the curve is going to see a bullish trend over the years.
You must adapt to the requirements. For a successful online business, you need to optimize your website for smartphones as well. With a website optimized for smartphones and tablets, there is a greater chance of getting success in less time.
Multiple Features
Go with several features depending on the type of your business. If you are targeting an audience all over the world, you should provide a global solution by accepting credit cards, debit cards, and different payment options from different countries.
Payment gateways influence the website’s efficiency. The payment gateways you are choosing must support electronic invoicing, all payment types, smart chargeback management, text reminders for customers, etc.
Merchant Account
With a merchant account, you can add an extra security shield to the funds of both seller and buyer. A merchant account enables the transfer of payment to a temporary account rather than the actual bank account. By the time it is approved by the customer’s processing bank, it is transferred to the actual account.
It reduces the high processing fees of the payment gateway providers. It gives the customer an extra sense of trustability.
Recurring Billing
You can set up an automatic billing cycle for your customers with recurring billing. It is an absolute feature for companies with monthly payment plans. Companies like Netflix, Amazon run on a recurring payment model.
With recurring billing, organizations can collect funds effortlessly from the regular contributors.
Mobile Payments
Mobile payments will be replacing credit cards in the coming years. Consumers are now able to transfer their payments through top branded applications. With mobile payments, consumers do not even need to share their details with the retailers.
Payment gateways are empowering mobile payments. Digital wallets like Google Pay, Samsung Pay, Apple Pay have changed the ways of transacting payments.
24/7 Customer Support
The days were long gone when payment gateways used to have limited support. Now, users do not need to follow manual instructions. With live chats and bots, you can provide support to your customers at all hours of the week.
Final Words
Payment is the last thing your customer will go through. Your design, content, navigation, SEO are all top-notch. But if your website lacks effectiveness in payment gateways, all of your efforts are in the mud.
So, be very picky with your payment gateways. Good luck!