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Five Payment Processing Challenges For Small Businesses

Category: Ecommerce

Five Payment Processing Challenges For Small Businesses
Mohab Ecommerce 0

Five Payment Processing Challenges For Small Businesses

The payment industry today seems to be thriving with each passing day. While there is nothing more enjoyable than making money from your business, collecting money seems to be a totally different game. Unlike in the past, people now have no qualms about making payments online. More and more people, especially the current generation prefer using online modes of payments and like to go cashless. With an easier than ever acceptance of credit and debit cards, online payment has become much more sorted and simple, but it does come with its own set of challenges. If you run a small business, payment processing can get a little bit confusing and demanding. To prepare you for the worst, here are five biggest payment processing challenges that you are likely to face:

  1. Frauds

Well, who has not heard of credit card frauds?  Those still remain the biggest reason for most customers to opt for cash on delivery. They have been in existence since a long time and pose a threat to not just customers but to business entities as well. While advancement in technology has made online payment easier, it has also given birth to new types of frauds. Hence businesses need to be proactive about keeping the information of their clients secure. It is also important that as a business owner, you complete the audit of your processor. This can be done by hiring an audit expert who can evaluate your current security measures and warn you against possible vulnerabilities.

  1. Chargebacks

Chargebacks are one of the biggest challenges faced by business owners. Also known as processing fee, its amount depends on various factors like type of business, types of card used, and modes of payment and size of transactions. It is important that you remain in constant liaison with your provider and discuss how each fee works. There are ways to negotiate or avoid a few charges. So it is advised that business owners stay informed.

  1. Payment support

The world is always up, round the clock, so transaction issues are also expected to pop up anytime – even in the middle of night. It is important to have a payment processor support in after-hours too. If your provider refuses to offer that, you may want to rethink about sticking to your current provider. The processor should not leave you or your customers hanging and should always be ready to troubleshoot any problems that arise.  Having access to tutorials and video how to-s is a bonus.

  1. Payment integration

Payment processing is one of the most crucial components of any business. This seems like a common knowledge, yet, many businesses do not pay enough attention to the importance of an effective payment system. The technology available to collect payments is quite complex and needs to be given careful consideration. That is not all, even when your payment processing is successfully integrated, the cost can go up very significantly, especially for small businesses wanting to accept payments online. It is suggested by experts that business owners look for payment integration providers that have built an API suitable for your business.

  1. Compliance

There are a myriad of compliance issues that can appear for businesses in the online payment landscape. Technology certifications and challenges like PCI are just a couple of them. Needless to mention, the regulatory requirements can sometimes get extremely overwhelming for a small business entity as a non-compliance with any of legal regulations can lead to hefty fines and penalties. This makes it all the more important for business owners to work with a processor who can help you stay up to date with legal norms and regulations for your business type.

It is not only imperative, but mandatory that as a business owner you look for a processor that offers a broad set of solutions and products along with best in class support system that fits well with payment processing needs of your business.

6 years ago
The Questions to Ask Before Evaluating Payment Processors
Mohab Ecommerce 0

The Questions to Ask Before Evaluating Payment Processors

The journey of entrepreneurship is not easy. Your day starts with a fresh challenge and most of your time is spent clearing obstacles. In the meantime, you are unable to pay attention to the small details that might be critical for your business if not taken care of. Choosing a payment processor in a hurry is one mistake that may cost you dearly in future.

Take a pause before you zero in to select a payment processor.

Don’t get swayed by the sweet talks of the sales guy.  Ask questions that will help you choose the right payment partner for your eCommerce business or physical store.
Always keep your objectives in mind and projected data ready, when you start asking questions.

As a business, your business model, priorities, and strategy can be different from other businesses.  So, a processor that works for your neighbor or a friend may not work for you.

To help you with this, we have created a list of things you should check before you give a nod to a payment processor:

 

Additional fee charged 

Processors normally charge a transaction fee, but some of them can also charge an additional fee in the name of a regulatory fee, some monthly fee, compliance or statement fee, etc.

These are charged upfront, but if the cumulative fees cross $200 per year for physical stores and $300 per year for E-Commerce retailers, it’s a red flag. Remember, there are additional service charges associated with the online shopping cart already.

Connectivity or speed of payment

This is a big issue as most of the payment processors use a software known as authorize.net. This software connects your shopping cart with the processor, but in some countries, they use some proprietary software, which may or may not work with your shopping cart and this may lead to connectivity issues. So, make sure that you are able to receive the payment from day one.

User experience

User experience should be good for both the merchant and the payer. The processor should offer robust customer support so that the merchant can handle different issues quickly and resolve the technical issues as well. As far as payer is concerned, payment process should be easy and convenient.

Deterrence against risk

If you are running a business where frauds are frequent, you should partner with a processor which offers excellent risk management capabilities. As the business grows, the probability of fraud also increases, so be proactive.

Share in payment processing fee

E-Commerce companies also get a small share of revenue from the fee that the processor charges for processing payments. This might be small in individual transactions, but when the transactions multiply with sales growth, this can become a big source of revenue.

Robust customer support

Make sure that you partner with a processor that offers robust customer support. They must take care of their clients and respond to their emails and phone calls instantly with a positive mindset.

Feature-rich processor

Sophisticated processors come with several exciting features that enable excellent services being offered to merchants such as “push to debit” solutions so that they can get access to their cash quickly.

Data analysis

Some advanced and sophisticated processors offer data analysis facilities, where in the merchants can see the data and analyze it themselves. It is beneficial from different angles and these features can be used by merchants for monitoring and understanding data for decision making.

Finally, make sure that your processor is known for offering excellent customer support. Check reviews and word of mouth recommendations. All of the above points are important. Analyze your business needs, keep your projections ready and engage in some straight talk.

One right question may alter your destiny for good.

6 years ago
A Guide On How You Can Bring Automation To Your Online Business Part III
Mohab Ecommerce 0

A Guide On How You Can Bring Automation To Your Online Business Part IIIImage credit: MaxPixel

Make the most of the latest and greatest in tech and save valuable business resources. From financials to marketing, all elements of your business can be streamlined and speeded up. 

In our last post in our automation series, learn more about time-saving tech.

Time-saving tech

Running a website and busy inbox can take its toll, so save time with the help of technology.

  1. Cloud computing is a massive leap forward when it comes to managing content and files. Don’t risk losing valuable data because of a messy folder structure; automate file management and version control with a cloud-based system. This is feasible for even the smallest startup, whereas larger firms have the option to upgrade to more bespoke enterprise cloud computing solutions.
  2. Automated backups of your website database and file and database cleanups aren’t difficult to implement. Use smart tools and plugins to help cut down on admin time when it comes to website management.
  3. Email filtering and auto-responders are more sophisticated than ever thanks to AI technology. You can create email ‘recipes’ and funnels that massively cut down on time spent filtering inboxes and dealing with inbound requests. You may even want to invest in helpdesk software to scale your operations.
  4. Inventory and supplier automation often have significant cost-saving and profitability benefits. Models like Amazon FBA and dropshipping aren’t for everyone, but they can help massively decrease your overheads as an e-commerce brand. Even if you got it alone, it’s recommended that you select an online store builder that works with other tools and services. For example, building a store through Shopify means having instant access in-built refunds and returns, whereas store owners on Drupal would have to separately code a lot of features — including basics like social sharing and blogging. Think about how the technology you choose helps — or limits — your choices.

Whether it’s customers, suppliers, or virtual assistants, it’s important that automation is an end-goal all departments share.  Automation should never be a dirty word in your business. As an online entrepreneur, you are in the perfect position to explore automation across your business — from marketing to finances.

About the author

Victoria Greene is a branding consultant and freelance writer. Big fan of automation when it comes to content marketing. Helping ecommerce brands and startups scale faster and better.

6 years ago
A Guide On How You Can Bring Automation To Your Online Business Part II
Mohab Ecommerce, Guest Posts 0

A Guide On How You Can Bring Automation To Your Online Business Part II

Image credit: Flickr

It doesn’t matter whether you sell services, products, or even just share content with your online audience: any online business is ripe for automation — including yours.

Set out an automation framework to help you scale and manage your automation operations — find out how to do so in part II of our automation series. 

Create an appropriate framework

The main challenge with automation is having the right framework to support your new processes. This means having an all-informed business with robust documentation. Without it, your automation drive will be lost.

You need to embrace:

  • Bots
  • Smart integrated systems
  • Cross-platform and cross-device formats
  • Workflows, processes and tasks — not individual ability
  • Zapier
  • Inventory management automation

Part of successful automation is process management. You can always automate a process.

This is really the crux of the matter when it comes to automation. Do you fancy staying up all night, packing the latest orders of your store? Or manually having to schedule every single blog promo piece for the next 6 months?

I’m guessing the answer is no…

So create a process, automate it, and move on to the more important stuff instead.

A Guide On How You Can Bring Automation To Your Online Business Part II

About the author

Victoria Greene is a branding consultant and freelance writer. Big fan of automation when it comes to content marketing. Helping ecommerce brands and startups scale faster and better.

6 years ago
A Guide On How You Can Bring Automation To Your Online Business Part III
Mohab Ecommerce 0

A Guide On How You Can Bring Automation To Your Online Business Part I

Image credit: Flickr

Do you NEVER seem to have enough time to deal with the important stuff in your business? Struggling to keep up with the demands of becoming a brand publisher?

Wouldn’t it be great to have more time to focus on the strategic elements of your business…?

Well, automation can help you achieve that.

Here are some online automation hacks to help inspire your business strategy reboot — read part I in our blog series now.

Fintech innovations

Let’s start with the financials: after all, every business in the world needs money to keep the wheels turning.

From managing supplier payments to keeping up with the demands of bookkeeping — financial tasks and admin can massively eat into your profit margins.

The trouble with financial tasks is that if they are not done correctly, it could spell disaster.

  1. Financial technology has seen some exciting developments these recent years — from blockchain to cloud accounting, there are so many ways to improve and simplify your financial operations.
  2. Even simple choices like what payment gateway you go for will determine your business’s financial ecosystem. Opt for a system that’s smart and integrates with other services and platforms so that you don’t have to rely on expensive workarounds.
  3. Accounting is a big business overhead, especially when it comes to expenses and taxes. Invest in a smart system that allows you to automatically sync paper receipts into your online finance system.

Martech leads the way

Marketing technology is another ally of automation. Nowadays, there are enough tools and platforms to automate pretty much any marketing task under the sun.

Martech scales up and down, and can be leveraged by organizations large and small. From simple things like automated proofreading to automating your content strategy with HubSpot, there are tools out there that can help you create, launch, and share better content.

Key areas where you need to embrace automation:

  1. Remarketing is a great way to target interested parties — whether that’s website visitors who haven’t converted, or people who’ve engaged with your content. The beauty of remarketing automation is that once you put in the work to create a funnel and populate it with ads, you can just click ‘play’ and let the system do the rest!
  2. Email is a big marketing channel, whether you are in B2C or B2B. Create funnels using services like Pardot (a Salesforce tool) and run your lead generation campaigns more cost-efficiently.A Guide On How You Can Bring Automation To Your Online Business Part I
  3. Social media can be a massive time sinkhole, so be more efficient about it and embrace automated content creation, mass scheduling, and social listening to help you do more. Social media tools aren’t just about saving time — they will actually bring you better results by optimizing posting times, lengths, and formats.

A Guide On How You Can Bring Automation To Your Online Business Part I

About the author

Victoria Greene is a branding consultant and freelance writer. Big fan of automation when it comes to content marketing. Helping ecommerce brands and startups scale faster and better.

6 years ago