In the digital era, everything is shifting online, including payment gateways. Making online payments for products and services is becoming the norm. Customers find it easy, convenient, and secure to purchase products and services online rather than visit a shop.
Recent research has shown that 86% of customers often make online purchases through their credit and debit cards, while more than 60% consider the use of credit and debit cards as their favorite method of payment when making a purchase.
A Payment API enables customers to make payments without any hassle. It lets you submit your credit card details, and then it passes this financial information from the customer to the seller and then between the seller and the bank. The Payment API will then inform you whether the cardholder’s bank has approved the charge and then it submits your charges for settlement. The amount from the payment is then deducted from your customer’s credit account and deposited in your account.
With that in mind, you should consider the following factors to before you choose a Payment API for your business.
Ease of integration
The process of using a payment API should be easy and swift. It should be straightforward, simple and it should take the developer a minimum time to integrate. The developers should ensure that the merchants handle the updates without having to make changes to the integration code.
As a merchant, you have to consider the Software Developer’s Kit size; it should be light to enable and it should occupy a minimum amount of space on a user’s mobile phone. This is because apps which are large in size occupy more space and are often deleted from the phone after the transaction because of this. This makes customers much less likely to reinstall the app with the Payment API in it to make future purchases. While doing your research on payment API, ensure that it offers support for the platform and framework that you require. You should choose one which offers multi-platform and multi-framework like iOS or Android.
The user interface
As a merchant, ensure that you choose a Payment API blends in well with your brand. It should ensure that the bank pages are mobile-friendly and optimized so that the customers can perform their transactions smoothly. The payment process should involve as few steps as possible to make it both fast and efficient.
The payment API should have a customized check out that may include your brand colors and brand logo.
Security
This is a vital factor to consider as a when taking payments as a merchant. Ensure that you only use a provider which is level 1 and that complies with Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards. It should also offer built-in security functions such as tokenization.
When choosing a Payment API, take into account the fraud protection and screening tools that are provided. Most of these Payment APIs provide some tools to protect you from fraud, such as filters which determines who or where you receive payments from. These tools are essential, especially if you are receiving payments from people that you don’t know well.
Settlement period
Even though customers and their needs come first to any business person, quick payment settlement is necessary for the business to operate smoothly. The settlement period should happen between a few days to a few weeks depending on the nature of industry you operate in or the size of your business. Ensure that you go through the details as far as settlement is concerned so that it doesn’t interfere with your business financial needs.
Consider fees that may be available
Before you choose a Payment API, check out if there are transaction fees that may apply. Some services may require setup fees and contracts, while some can impose transaction fees if the order or transaction volume that was anticipated when the service was established isn’t met.
Payments Receipts
After a customer has made the payment, you should send them an automatic email which has the details of the transaction and purchase, this will the customer’s trust in you. Because these Payment APIs have direct access to the transaction status, they should send confirmation emails directly to your customers. These email receipts can increase the merchant’s brand engagement.
Customer Support
As a merchant, when choosing a Payment API, ensure that it offers live technical support or a mobile number that is accessible 24/7 so that you can resolve any technical problems that may arise as fast as possible.
