6 Questions to Ask Your Payment Processing Provider
Your payment processing provider handles your entire payment transaction, from authorization to settlement, to make sure you get paid for your services. You need to find the right payment processing partner to protect your business from fraud and data breaches and enjoy a smooth payment process. Here are six questions to ask your payment processor to determine their suitability:
1. Which Payment Methods Do You Accept?
As a business owner, you don’t want to turn clients away for not accepting their preferred mode of payment. This can cause a loss of customers, reducing your business’s sales and profitability.
Customers choose payment methods based on their credit availability, personal preferences, and rewards programs. You need to offer them multiple payment options to enhance their convenience and satisfaction.
The best payment processors accept many payment methods like credit cards, debit cards, digital payments, and automated clearing house payments. Choosing these service providers can enhance your brand perception and increase your customer base.
2. Are Your Systems Secure?
Cyberattacks can cause operational disruption and reputational damage to your business, resulting in a drop in revenue. They can interfere with your customer’s personal information increasing the risks of fines and regulatory sanctions. You need to employ the best security measures and oversee all your partners do the same to minimize the chances of cyberattacks.
The right payment processing partner can implement measures like encryption and tokenization to protect their systems. Tokenization involves replacing sensitive data like customer personal identifying information with unique non-sensitive symbols. Encryption involves encoding data so that it can only be accessible to authorized individuals.
Payment processors who use such measures can safeguard your customers’ information since they have lower chances of experiencing data breaches.
3. Can Your Systems Integrate With Mine?
Some businesses use software like enterprise resource planning and customer relationship management solutions to streamline processes. How well your chosen payment processor integrates with your business’s existing systems determines whether you still enjoy the convenience of using your previous software.
Find out if your service provider provides an easy-to-use application programming interface. This allows your solutions to communicate with each other, reducing the chances of human errors since you won’t need any human input.
4. How Fast Will I Get Paid?
You won’t get paid immediately after your clients process their payments and checkout. Payment processing involves processes like payment approval and banking transfers, which may take a few hours or days.
Understand your chosen provider’s payment cycle before working with them in the long term. The shorter the payment cycle, the faster you’ll get your money and continue running your business. Ask them about circumstances that would delay payment processing to be prepared should they occur.
5. How Is Your Customer Support?
You need to offer exemplary customer support to keep your customers happy and encourage their loyalty. Being available only during the day or on weekdays won’t cut it. Customers want to process payments anytime and get immediate help if they encounter problems.
The ideal processing partner will offer round-the-clock customer support. They’ll also be willing to invest in continuous customer management training so their employees know how to handle clients.
6. Do You Have Payment Processing Limits?
Businesses rely on money to keep running, so your operations may be interrupted if you can’t access your finances on time. This can occur if you work with payment processors who limit the amount of money you can transact over a specified period.
You need to find out if your service provider imposes limits and, if they do, what those limits are. Ask them if there are ways to lift the limits when your business grows or when you expect a large transaction volume.
The right provider will be willing to accommodate your needs. They’ll be ready to go through your projections and eliminate or increase the processing limit. You can avoid back-and-forth emails if you alert them about your business’s average transaction volume.
Work With the Right Payment Processing Provider
A payment processing provider can influence your business’s credibility and profitability, so you need to ask the right questions to find the most suitable partner. You can ask about their payment methods, security, integration options, processing speed, customer support, and processing limits. Choose a payment processing partner who offers an easy and convenient payment process to enhance your customers’ satisfaction.
