Hi there, and welcome to our “Give me 5 Series!” where we share five useful eCommerce tips that will help improve your strategies and pave your way to success.
In our most recent episode, Nataliya Shadykulova, Head of Digital Sales, EMEA and Asia at 2Checkout (now Verifone), talked about the five essential features you should consider when choosing an online payment provider for your business.
Using a payment provider that satisfies your business’ needs is a key factor for success, especially if you are targeting international markets.
If you are just starting an online business or simply are in search of a new payment provider, here are five factors you should consider when evaluating your options:
1. Multiple payment methods
When you’re looking to expand your business globally, one of the most important aspects is to provide your customers with multiple payment methods.
Research the most popular global payment methods and ensure that your future provider enables payments through them. If you’re looking to target specific local markets, make sure that you also request local payment options and currencies. For an up-to-date, frictionless customer journey, also consider accepting alternative payment methods, like digital wallets.
As far as payments go, understanding your intended provider’s authorization or success rates can also help you decide if they’re a good fit for your business.
2. Security features
It’s critical when choosing your online payment provider that you review their security protection features and see if these are available out of the box. Online payments are tightly regulated, meaning that any provider you’re considering should be compliant in this respect. PCI DSS compliance, for example, is mandatory for card payments around the world. Working with a supplier who is certified to the highest PCI level can simplify your own company’s compliance efforts. Other local or regional regulations may also apply – like PSD2 for card payments in EU countries – so check these security aspects as well.
Beyond compliance, experienced payment providers should also equip merchants’ stores with fraud protection tools such as address verification systems, tokenization, dynamic 3D Secure, and AI-powered and manual review processes, as these tools will keep your business protected in the face of fraud.
3. Integration methods
Another important step to consider is the integration alternatives your eCommerce store has with your payment provider. Your provider should fit in seamlessly with the rest of your tech stack and it should allow for easy data aggregation and smooth integration with your ERP, CRM, or PIM.
Also make sure that your payment provider of choice has an organized Software Development Kit, as this will ensure an easy integration for your software developing team.
For full flexibility and control, API integration options are a good route to explore.
4. Automatic billing
If you are considering selling subscriptions or are already doing so, opt for an online payment provider that supports recurring billing with automation capabilities. This feature enables your clients to auto-renew their subscriptions without taking manual action each billing interval, contributing to a more pleasant customer experience. On the merchant side, automatic billing relieves sellers of calculating, communicating and collecting charges for their products and services, significantly boosting their retention strategy and reducing their revenue leakage.
Other must-have capabilities include automated invoicing – where invoices are instantly generated and sent to shoppers – as well as automated communication, to keep shoppers informed of their subscription evolution.
5. Cost efficiency
Naturally, cost efficiency is a factor that should not be overlooked when deciding if a payment provider is suitable for your business or not. Try to evaluate and compare the transaction fees that your provider charges, with what they actually offer. Are they compliant with the security payment standards? Do they offer fraud protection tools? Can they provide you with automatic billing and multiple payment methods, and can they integrate them seamlessly into your eCommerce store? These are the questions that you need to balance when evaluating cost efficiency.
Basic providers may enable you to process online payments inexpensively or even for free, but in the long run the additional costs may seriously outweigh present-day benefits.
You now have five key features to assess when looking into choosing the best-suited payment provider for your online business. Next, it’s time to evaluate your options thoroughly!
Thank you so much for watching! If you have any questions or suggestions, please feel free to share them in the comments. We wish you good luck with finding the right payment provider for your online business and see you next time for more cool new tips!
In search of additional tips on how to debunk five of the most common payment myths you hear from most payment processors? Then you should definitely check out our dedicated “Give me 5” episode here!
