It makes no difference what industry you are part of or what you sell or provide. In today’s society, you need a payment processor in order to take card payments. After all, it seems to be the way forward, as less and less people rely on cash these days.
1. Quick and secure transactions
A good payment processor will allow you to receive payments faster than ever. It may seem irrelevant to you, but it will provide a top-notch experience to your customers. After all, everyone wants everything to be instant over the Internet.
Not only is the process super-fast, but it is also secure – make sure you choose a reputable processor.
2. Time-saving solution
Saving time is one of the top reasons to invest in credit card processing for small business. This is what people love the most about it – not just customers, but also merchants. Everyone wants things to be almost instant online. If, for instance, a website takes too long to go, the tab is closed – simple as that.
The same rule applies to payments. It makes no difference where the customers come from. They will appreciate being able to pay within a few seconds – the same convenience works in your favor as well, so everybody wins.
3. Low setup expenses
There are a few payment processors out there with no setup fees and costs. Most of them will, however, charge you a fee. These costs are normally set and will not change with time. They are not occurring either – instead, you only pay them in the beginning and forget about them.
The fact that people tend to avoid stores without such payment solutions makes the costs worth it.
4. A trend that becomes a necessity
Payment processors provide fast and smooth solutions, as well as more convenience. A couple of decades ago, they were seen like an innovation – a trend that caught up. Today, there are all sorts of payment solutions and things are less likely to change too soon.
In fact, a modern payment processor will ensure you are always up to date with the latest technologies.
5. Better customer experience
You are probably aware of it already – shopping cart abandonment. It happens to every business out there. Customers are happy with the products and they proceed to the checkout – limited payment options they do not have access to, so the shopping cart is abandoned.
The more options you offer access to, the less likely it becomes to encounter this problem. You need a wide variety of payment options in order to cover as many customers as possible. With time, abandonment will become history.
6. Worldwide payments
Multiple payment solutions will also give you the opportunity to expand your business worldwide. If it is an online business, there are no reasons to overlook this possibility – after all, you can ship stuff anywhere in the world, so why not? There are no differences in the service you provide – just change the address.
A payment processor will let anyone with access to the Internet shop over your website. You can also take payments in a bunch of different currencies – different methods too. You can practically increase the international customer database without worrying about payments.
7. Less declined transactions
This is another good reason to consider a payment processor for your business. Declined transactions represent another financial issue for businesses – an unnecessary headache. They will bring in plenty of inconveniences and more importantly, they will add to your expenses.
A payment processor will most likely prevent these issues. When customers try to pay, the processor will check the availability of funds upfront. The request can, indeed, be declined if there are no funds. However, it is declined in the initial phase, so there is no need to chase customers for money.
8. Consistency in the cash flow
At this point, it depends on what payment processor you choose. Reputable companies will credit the money within a couple of days since transactions were made. Some of them go even faster than that, but they may also cost a bit more – a better service for more money.
Now, a few days is what you need to aim for when choosing a processor. You want consistency in the cash flow – money coming in on a daily basis. If you have to wait for over a week, there might be disruption in your income – no balance at all.
9. Payment automation
Last, but not least, a payment processor will most likely do everything by itself. There is no need for human interaction – unless something unexpected occurs. Payment processing is an automatic process that does not depend on whether or not someone is actually working on it.
Payment automation is excellent from more points of view. It saves time, but also money. Furthermore, it is less likely to cause errors. Human errors are very common when dealing with money, but proper software is less likely to face such issues.
Bottom line, payment processors could be seen as an innovation these days – indeed, they are. However, they have grown so much that they also represent an actual necessity. Payment processing is no longer about being in front of your competition, but about keeping up with it.
There are numerous advantages to consider and most importantly, they will save you both time and money in the long run – the perfect addition to any business out there.
