Perhaps you have been chatting with your merchant service provider about how to enhance the efficiency of your business.
During that conversation, they may well have offered you the chance to invest in what is known in the industry as an all-in-one payment solution to aid you in seamlessly taking customer payments and maximizing the efficiency of your back-office operations.
Before you make a decision, take a few minutes now to understand this concept so that you can determine if your business is a good candidate.
The basic idea of an all-in-one payment platform.
As the name suggests, this type of payment platform consolidates everything that is necessary to accept customer purchases.
This eliminates your having to obtain the features you need a la carte; instead, everything is incorporated into a single package. But just what does this bundle of features contain?
Payment gateway.
Whether you take purchases in a physical store, online, or both, you need a way to securely transfer the customer’s card details to the payment network for processing.
A payment gateway acts as the intermediary, assisting in all of the back-and-forth communications and security steps that result in a fast, safe, and smooth shopping experience for the customer.
Gateways also help you to broaden the range of payment choices that you can offer to your customers. If you do business internationally, a high-quality system will enable customers to pay in their local currencies of choice, thus helping to increase their trust in and comfort with your international brand.
Integrations.
Your 21st-century company is a complex hub that interfaces with numerous separate pieces of software, hardware, and third-party tools to run your business.
For that reason, you need a payment processing system that plays nicely with all of them to ensure that your data flows smoothly across all systems.
As you can imagine, ensuring seamless communications requires ongoing attention. When you invest in an all-in-one platform, you will find that your provider will offer you access to a dedicated integrations team to ensure that the components continue to interface smoothly with each other.
Online payment portal.
Customers have demonstrated that they will leave their transaction mid-purchase if they are unhappy with the checkout experience or become wary of the security of the website on which they are shopping. This is known as “cart abandonment.”
An all-in-one payment platform is set up to ensure a fast and secure buying experience via an intuitive, uncluttered checkout portal.
Data security.
You might have superior products and unparalleled customer service, but all will come to naught if you don’t protect your customers’ payment data. Your all-in-one platform contains built-in tools that will help you to shield their information and protect shoppers from identity theft.
This happens through safeguards such as tokenization and encryption that mask buyers’ sensitive data, preventing it from being useful to digital criminals.
Additionally, the platform will be in compliance with the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS), a set of measures released by the major credit card companies that is designed to protect cardholder data.
When you use an all-in-one platform, the payment processing company is responsible for ensuring ongoing compliance with all security regulations. Of course, it is your job to do careful research to ensure that they remain in compliance and keep their systems updated.
Flexible payment choices.
You work hard to predict what products your customers will need and want so that you can have them available to them when they ask. The same should be true when it comes to payment methods. That’s because today’s shoppers are not content to just settle their purchases with cash or a credit/debit card.
Modern shoppers want multiple payment options: cash, credit and debit cards, digital wallets like PayPal, Apple Pay, and Google Pay, ACH or echeck transfers, recurring/subscription billing, and even cryptocurrency.
A good all-in-one payment processing system should be equipped to give your customers most or all of these. Moreover, your international customers should be given everything they need to pay in their local currency of choice.
Furnishing your clients with this choice and flexibility shows them that you care about their preferences and want to go the extra mile to accommodate them.
Finally, never underestimate the power of offering recurring billing. Giving people the option to split their payments into smaller, more manageable bites boosts their satisfaction while also providing increased predictability for both of you.
You gain more reliable access to your cash while the customer is less likely to be left with the stress and hassle of a late payment. An all-in-one payment solution will come with the tools you need to set up custom payments, track invoices, keep in touch with customers, and make changes as required.
Mobile payments.
Your all-in-one platform might be combined into a single package, but don’t believe for a minute that it isn’t a powerhouse. It will also come equipped with everything you need to accept payments from anywhere, including those that are made without a physical card present.
Benefits of all-in-one solutions.
If you are still wondering whether this style of payment processing is right for you, consider the following advantages. For one thing, you can reduce your costs when you bundle all services with one provider.
In addition, working through a single gateway simplifies returns and other payment processes. Finally, the single platform makes it easier to gather and manipulate the data that you use to learn valuable insights about your customers and their shopping behaviors.
For businesses looking to simplify their operations without compromising on features or customer choice, using an all-in-one payment platform is a terrific way to consolidate tasks. If you would like to look into how one of these bundles can help your business, talk to your merchant service provider today.
