This guide dives into everything you need to know about selecting the right payment processing platform for your business. In the guide, we’ll look at crucial factors, and best practices for migrating to a new system.
Why Choosing the Right Payment Processor Matters
A seamless and cost-effective payment process is essential for any business. The right payment processing software can streamline transactions, enhance customer experience, and simplify financial operations.
Factors to Consider When Choosing
- Compatibility and Integration: Ensure the platform integrates with your existing hardware, software, and business management tools.
- User Experience and Interface: Look for a user-friendly platform that requires minimal technical expertise.
- Customer Experience: Ensure the customer interfaces are straightforward and easy to use to enhance customer satisfaction. 59% of merchants say payments are critical to the customer experience
- Reporting: Choose a platform that simplifies reconciliations and other time-consuming tasks
- Scalability and Flexibility: Choose a provider that can grow with your business and offers customization to how you do business.
- Supported Payment Methods and Options: Offer a variety of payment options, including digital wallets, mobile payments, and cost reducing customer pays the fee based options.
- Transaction Fees and Pricing Structure: Transaciton fees can be the next highest cost after labor for many merchants. Understand the fee structure and avoid hidden charges. Interchange-plus pricing models are typically lower cost than flat rate models.
- Security Features: Ensure the provider is PCI-DSS compliant and offers robust security measures to protect your business and customers.
- Customer Support and Service: Choose a provider with reliable U.S. based customer support options, such as phone, email, and live chat.
- Merchant Account: Select a payment processor that lets you use a merchant account, not sub-account to the processors account, so you maintain complete control.
Best Practices for Migrating to a New System
- Review Your Current Setup: Identify your needs and any specific features required from the new platform.
- Understand Your Contract: Be aware of termination clauses and work with your current provider to ensure a smooth transition.
- Backup Your Data: Protect your valuable customer and transaction history with a secure backup.
- Create a Contingency Plan: Minimize disruption by considering a temporary overlap with your current system.
- Inform Your Bank: Notify your bank about the upcoming switch to avoid service interruptions.
- Initiate the Change Process: Migrate your data to the new platform after completing the above steps.
- Test Thoroughly: Conduct rigorous testing before going live to ensure everything functions properly.
- Monitor Customer Feedback: Pay close attention to customer experience after launching the new system.
- Analyze Performance: Regularly monitor data to identify areas for improvement.
Look Beyond the Marketing Hype – Choosing the Right Platform
Well-known payment processors use marketing copy and images to sway merchants to make quick decisions with fast onboarding and flat-rate pricing. However, when you dig deeper, you will find you don’t own the merchant account but a sub-account to the processor’s main account. While onboarding is quick, you give up control. Making it more difficult to make a change should you need to. You can learn more about sub-accounts here. Plus, you often pay higher fees on lower-cost transactions with a flat rate model. More about pricing models here.
The Intangibles
Further, do you need all the feature functionality built to accommodate enterprise customers or a system designed around how SMBs work? Feature bloat can hinder SMBs’ efficiency. Functionality and reporting are essential when it comes to data access and reporting. How will your staff interact with the new platform? Is the solution intuitive or does it require users to bend to the payment processing platform?
Finally, how will it impact your business operations? What changes to processes, procedures, equipment, and possibly employee skill sets will the new processing platform require? These are very real issues we have seen users encounter when using other systems, and they have tangible costs beyond processing fees.
Once you’ve taken into account the abovementioned considerations, you are in a better place to compare providers and make an informed decision that will help, not hinder your business’s growth.
FAQs About Payment Processing Software
- Most Cost-Effective Option?
- It depends on your budget, transaction volume, and the features needed. Interchange plus pricing pricing benefits merchants of all sizes.
- Ensuring Security?
- Look for PCI-DSS compliance and robust security features to safeguard your business and customers.
- Signs You Need to Switch?
- Poor customer support, restrictive contracts, hidden fees, compatibility issues, and high per-transaction fees are all red flags.
- Mobile Payment Support?
- Reputable providers offer virtual terminals, mobile apps, and card readers to facilitate mobile payments and digital wallets.
- Expected Support?
- Your payment processor should assist with migration and offer ongoing customer support through various channels.
Additional Resources:
Merchant Services Provider – What is a MSP?
Credit Cards Fees – What are you actually paying?
Payment Service Providers – Stripe
Payments Play a Critical R0le in the Customer Experience
How IntelliPay Can Help?
If you would like a free, non-obligation review of your current system and an analysis of how IntelliPay can help you streamline payment processing for your business, contact sales at 855-872-6632, option 3, or send a request here.
