A reliable and seamless online payment system benefits a business and its customers as it ensures money is paid and received easily and quickly, thus leading to a healthier cash flow cycle and more sales. Most times, late payments occur due to inefficient payment systems, and selecting a suitable payment system can be difficult with the plethora of payment solutions available.
Not to worry, though; this article provides a guide on how to find a suitable online payment system. Interested? Read on, then!
Table of Contents
Advantages of Online Payment Solutions
The world has seen a surge in e-commerce in recent times, with a 46% increase in 2020. With this surge came a 200% increase in mobile banking and digital traffic of over 85%. Due to the amazing growth of mobile transactions, businesses cannot deny the many benefits of online payment solutions.
When you collect payment online, you can reach a wider audience. By combining multiple payment methods, you have data to analyze and determine what products your customers are more interested in. Besides, mobile payments offer payment safety and security for customers and businesses. With the use of security tools, including tokenization, SSL, encryption, and so on, customers can use a one-time password or save their card details when making transactions.
Also, many payment solutions provide post-payment workflows with which businesses can automatically send follow-up emails to customers after making a purchase. The method helps to organize payment in a place, making it easier to manage rather than having stacks of receipts piled up in the office.
Online payment gateways provide more convenience and flexibility. Customers can make payments on the go, buy goods on credit, and pay later. The e-business won’t have to send reminders for payment as you can automatically get your money after a specified period.
Features to Consider When Choosing an Ideal Payment System
Not all payment systems fit all business models; thus, it’s important to consider the payment gateway best suits your business needs.
Consider the following when choosing the ideal payment gateway for your business:
Expectations From The Payment Platform
Start by listing the requirements and see which ones provide the ideal solution for your e-business. Most online payment gateways provide several features and services including:
- Easy Access: The best payment solution should be as simple and user-friendly as possible. It should be easy to access and understand even by those who aren’t technologically inclined. You want a payment platform that makes things easy for your customers and not a steep learning curve.
- Analytics and Reporting: With analytics in place, you will better understand your cash flow patterns and trends, which will help you keep track of any anomaly in the cycle. Besides, it makes reporting payment updates to external authorities or senior company management easier. Hence, ensure you consider a gateway that has this feature.
- External Integrations: The payment gateway should automatically link with your CRM and other software. This will reduce manual labor, thereby minimizing the risk of human error and promoting efficiency.
- Multiple Payment Support: Scaling your e-commerce business universally requires multiple payment options. Hence, consider a payment gateway that offers several payment types, as this will enable your business to scale fast.
- Security: This is the most important feature to consider when looking for a suitable payment solution for your business. Not only is security important for your business, but it’s also important for your customers. When selecting a payment system, ensure it features robust and water-tight security, including fraud protection. However, this should not be a problem if the payment gateway is PCI DSS complaint.
- Invoicing Option: A secure payment system with an in-built invoicing capacity can do wonders for any e-commerce business. With invoicing, the payment process can be streamlined, providing a more convenient means to receive payments.
- Quick Payment Processing: The payment solution under consideration needs to process payments at a very fast rate as this can either make or mar the business. With a faster processing speed, customers can experience hassle-free shopping, and the business can receive its payment immediately, thus making cash available to run the business and build trust with customers. One such payment solution with vast industry experience, provides fast processing speed and security, has easy integration and many other great features is Ecommpay Company.
- Great Customer Support and Experience: You will always have questions and queries, and you don’t want a payment gateway that doesn’t offer great customer support. Hence, consider a payment platform that offers efficient customer support, as this will help you get up and running in no time when there’s downtime.
Types of Transactions Being Processed
The best payment system should be able to handle all types of payment transactions. Hence, it’s important to ensure the payment system under consideration is one that can handle all the main transaction types that you need.
There are several online transactions that payment platforms handle, including:
- Internet banking
- Digital wallets
- Credit/debit cards
- Unified Payments Interface (UPI)
- Mobile payment apps
Pricing of Online Payment
When choosing the payment system for your business, consider the price. Some payment systems charge a fixed cost for each transaction, while some have a maximum amount of transactions allowed in a day or month. For the latter, each transaction attracts a fixed cost and a percentage cost for the total transactions made.
When choosing a payment solution for your business, endeavor to reach a compromise between percentage and fixed charges; this way, both large and small amounts are charged at a decent rate.
For instance, some popular payment gateways charges between 1.9% and 3.5% for each transaction, along with a fixed charge of below 50 cents. Transactions of $100 cost between $2 and $4, but in most cases, the exact cost depends on the type of product in use.
Conclusion
While several payment solutions have similar features and characteristics, choosing the ideal options comes down to what works for your business model. We hope we have helped you make the right decision by providing this guide.