While it might seem that a credit card processor is simply a means for collecting and receiving payments from customers, your choice of provider can impact your business in all sorts of other ways. Depending on your business needs, here are some key things to look for in order to find the best credit card processor to meet your unique requirements.
Do You Sell Subscriptions Or Other Types of Regular, Ongoing Sales?
Look for a Solution With Recurring Billing
While subscriptions and other ongoing billing models are a great strategy for retaining business and growing loyalty, it can be challenging to manage the billing aspect of ongoing sales both securely and efficiently. For example, if you don’t have a compliant way of storing customer credit card information, you’re faced with the task of requesting and processing authorization forms and payment information on an ongoing basis – a requirement that can quickly erase the business benefit of offering such a model.
A solution such as PayJunction’s Virtual Terminal can sidestep these issues altogether, with PCI compliant recurring billing. This allows you to securely store customers’ credit card information and even allows you to automate future payments – on whatever schedule you’d like – based on a one-time authorization.
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Do You Sell Big Ticket Items?
Look For Signature Capture
Though it might seem like signatures for credit card transactions are becoming obsolete, there are still some situations where it’s beneficial to your business to have that backup verification. While credit card companies once absorbed the costs associated with fraudulent transactions, the EMV liability shift makes businesses responsible for these costs on EMV card transactions if they cannot adequately prove cardholder authorization. As well, Visa still requires signatures for magstripe transactions.
Though point-of-sale fraud has declined significantly since EMV cards were introduced in the U.S., your business may still want to take precautions to reduce the risk of chargebacks, especially if you sell items that are of particularly high value. In such cases, the best verification you can provide is a signature, which is why selecting a terminal with signature capture is key to lowering your risk. PayJunction’s Virtual Terminal stores transaction records and their associated signatures in the cloud, so that this information can be easily retrieved if needed. PayJunction's Smart Terminal is also capable of recognizing which credit card is being used, and applying that brand’s signature requirements, so that your cashiers aren’t tasked with remembering which transactions require a signature and which do not. If you collect payment online or over the phone, you can also capture signatures remotely to ensure you are protected.
Does Your Business Have Multiple Locations or Departments?
Look For A Single Login Solution
Managing a business with more than one location or department can require multiple bank accounts, each of which requires its own merchant account to process credit cards. Needless to say, this can add complexity to getting paid. A provider that allows you to manage all your accounts with a single login can help you to simplify and streamline related processes. PayJunction’s Virtual Terminal can further reduce the hassles of managing multiple locations with streamlined batch reports that allow you to filter transactions by department and/or location, and that provide cloud-based access to reports that don’t require you to physically pick up paperwork from each location.
Are You Getting Started With E-Commerce?
Look For An All-In-One Merchant Account Provider
Setting up credit card processing for online sales can be complicated – while paying for an item online should be a seamless experience as a customer, in the backend there is more complexity due to the fact that e-commerce merchants need both a Payment Gateway (the virtual version of a credit card terminal) and a Merchant Account Provider. When these two providers are separate, you must ensure they are integrated and pay separate transaction fees and monthly fees for each. An all-in-one provider that offers both merchant accounts and a Payment Gateway reduces the cost and hassle, with one-stop billing and support and less technology to manage.
Furthermore, with more than 80 existing shopping cart integrations, a provider like PayJunction makes credit card processing setup as simple as selecting your provider from a drop-down menu. That means that instead of spending time configuring your e-commerce solution, you can get selling faster.
Want to Promote Going Green as a Business Differentiator?
Look For Paperless Receipts and Storage
Once seen as a niche attribute, sustainable business practices are increasingly becoming a must for many consumers as they evaluate the companies to which they prefer to give their money. According to a report from Nielsen, 81 percent of consumers say it’s “extremely” or “very important” for companies to take steps to improve the environment. While this attitude is most prevalent in younger consumers, the preference was seen across age groups and at similar rates among men and women. Reducing or eliminating paper receipts is one way to demonstrate your business is committed to sustainability and grow affinity in the process.
Going paperless can help to reduce the 250 million gallons of oil, 10 million trees, and one billion gallons of water required to produce printed receipts on an annual basis. It offers other business benefits too: offering digital receipts can reduce or eliminate costs associated with printing and simplifies storage and retrieval, should you need to refer to your records in a chargeback dispute or for some other reason.
PayJunction can help you evolve with any of these changes.
What credit card processing features have you found to be most helpful for addressing specific business needs? Share your experiences in the comments.
