Finding the ideal payment system or solution for your business is important as a business owner. This step is particularly necessary, considering there are so many payment options to pick from. As you want to offer your customers a convenient way of transacting business with you, it’s also essential to have a secure payment system that will protect both parties. Your ideal payment solution will depend on your business model, target market, and business goals. Here are some tips to help you decide what payment solution is best for your business.
- Consider your business type or model.
Different payment solutions will suit different businesses better, depending on the nature of your operations. You need to assess your business model and target customers to identify what payment solution will perfectly meet the needs of both parties. For example, if you’re a B2B, you probably send invoices to your clients and prefer online wiring. A B2C business may prefer a payment solution that charges monthly or per transaction.
Aside from your business model, consider the type of product you sell. For example, if you sell CBD or hemp products, you may want to find the best CBD merchant partner that offers the right payment processing solution for a CBD business.
- What payment fees do you prefer?
When choosing a payment solution, you can’t ignore or overlook your processor’s transactional charges. Most payment processors offer two main payment fees – an initial setup fee and a transaction fee. With the transaction fee, you may have to choose between a monthly option or a pay-by-transaction option.
It would help to consider your processor’s payment percentage for each transaction. A credit card processor may charge between 1% and 4% on transactions, although other online payment processors charge a tad more.
Your payment pricing model is also an essential factor you need to consider. For example, in most cases, you’ll have to choose from a flat-rate fee, a subscription, a small fixed fee plus percentage, and a tiered pricing model.
- Look for reliability.
Every business needs a reliable payment gateway or solution. Frequent issues with system breakdowns, interruptions, and unavailability will lead to costly downtimes and might even cause you to lose some of your customers. A reliable payment solution will also ensure that your customer’s payment details and transaction data are safe and that payment processing won’t come with unexpected interruptions. In short, a reliable payment solution will give you peace of mind knowing that all transactions will go through regardless of the time or location. The best way to determine if a payment solution is reliable is to check its track record with other businesses. The more complaints other businesses have with a system, the less reliable it may be.
- Check the security features.
Security is crucial when picking the best payment solution provider or processor for your business, especially regarding online transactions. Your ideal payment gateway should have advanced fraud and scam protection features and robust security features in general. For example, it should come with data tokenization, end-to-end encryption, and PCI compliance to protect sensitive customer data.
