Presently, it is surprising how most of the world’s business organizations are now accepting payments through credit cards. There is a positive perception that credit cards are a safer way of making payments and less additional costs compared to other modes of payment. Are you planning to add a credit card payment option in your business? This should, in turn, make financial sense while at the same time, customers expect this payment processing system to be secure for them. In order to create this eagerly anticipated payment process, it calls for keen research depending on your business model so as to ideally choose the right or best credit card processing for your startup, small or large business.
This article features some of the important factors to take into consideration when choosing a credit card processing system for your business.
1. What rates and fees are favourable to your business model?
According to figures from a research document by Small Business Administrator, it records that most customers would find the convenience and acceptance to a credit card if the cost of payment does not exceed at most 5 per cent of the total purchases. Credit cards include the interchange fees that are deducted every time a payment is being processed. You ought to know that the credit card processing company might charge some amount of interchange fees for the payment processor. However, it gets more expensive if you are processing online sales which might be insecure as compared to a customer swiping their card and inputting their PIN at your physical store.
2. The Data quality you get from this system
What type of data and accompanying metadata does the payment processor return to you at request? If you conduct a good research, you find that the credit card processing being part of a POS system, some of the POS systems have efficient customer data capture tools as compared to others. Be keen to enquire of what type, format and description of reports can be generated and also the frequency at which the system does the same. Is this data being availed to business, managers in real time or on a near real-time basis? ask that too!
3. Do they provide customer support in the future?
Notice that a credit card processing system has a critical role to play and should work continuously with no or few downtimes if any. In the computing world at times happens a technical glitch, so will be all alone in fixing this bug? Look for a credit card company like Americard whose team of experts will offer you 24-hour based support every day of the week. You can hear from people’s review and recommendation of the processor does provide and how they provide the customer support. Even better is when the processor offers protection against payment system breach thus can assist you to recover from the loss of income through cyber-attacks and hackers causing financial damage.
4. Level of Interoperability
For ease of use and reporting reasons, you’ll likely want to connect your processing network directly to your point of sale system. Some processors offer POS software that integrates natively into their system and hardware, while others build out a network of partners for merchants to choose from. It really boils down to the needs of your business and the complexity of your inventory when deciding what POS software to go with. As you get further along, look for a processor that provides more than just processing, such as invoicing, reporting and bookkeeping. Also look to see that a processor has a robust partner ecosystem beyond the POS, which will make connecting to other services such as Shopify, Big Commerce, and Intuit hassle free.
5. Does it also include a marketing campaign support?
In addition to being able to accept credit cards, look for a payment processor who offers advanced marketing support through loyalty programs, gift card and value cards might a good choice for your business. With this marketing technique in place, know that it might be the beginning of making large turnovers, creating repeat sales, turning one-time customers into loyal customers.
Wrap Up
Choosing credit card processing for small business is a key decision. Before you decide on a processor, be sure to ask all the candidates probing questions about all the above topics before making a final decision.
