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5 Common Mistakes in Online Payment Systems That Can Kill Your Conversion

Tag: secure payment gateway

5 Common Mistakes in Online Payment Systems That Can Kill Your Conversion

5 Common Mistakes in Online Payment Systems That Can Kill Your Conversion

Many online merchants lose significant revenues because of online payment mistakes. It is high time that these e-commerce mistakes are rectified, or else e-stores will keep facing repeated incidents of abandoned carts and incomplete purchases by customers. Some of the oft-ignored e-commerce mistakes committed by online merchants are:

  1. Redirection can be counterproductive: Some merchants get it completely wrong when it comes to the gateway for online payment. They redirect the customers to an external payment website with payment gateway charges and a different company logo. This is a big put off for many customers, who might abandon the transactions as they have security concerns about the new portal or might not be willing to pay additional charges. It is always best to have a single website where a customer can smoothly navigate through till the end of the transaction and the checkout process. This would result in higher chances of the purchase transaction being completed and reduce the loss of customers to competition.
  2. Mandating account creation: This might work counterproductively, especially in the case of first-time customers or customers who intend to purchase a small quantity of products. Creating an account involves time and prolongs the entire purchase process. This could result in customer frustration and even possible withdrawal by the customer before completion of the transaction. It is advisable to provide the option of buying as a guest user. Post the purchase, one can subtly encourage the customers to create an account through offers of promotional discounts or price benefits by email or SMS. Customers prefer shopping on e-commerce sites where they can exercise their choice.
  3. Expecting excess information: The transition to the payment gateway should be smooth for the customer to make the online payment and be able to close the transaction with minimum lag time. Asking for additional information with extra fields would delay the buying process. It may also increase chances of error while filling out the form, causing unnecessary frustration and might result in abandonment of the transaction. A good user experience on the e-commerce website can result in higher sales conversions and higher probability of return customers. It is prudent to have auto-fill options for forms that only ask for information relevant to successful payment, namely card number, name of the cardholder, expiry date and CVV. In the case of a website with a multi-step checkout process, it is recommended to have a progress indicator so that the customer is aware of the remaining steps before the transaction is completed.
  4. Assurance on security: This is critical in every digital transaction. With growing incidents of data breach and leak of confidential information, every customer would like to be reassured on the safety aspect of the online purchase. Thus, it is imperative to have secure online payment systems wherein the customers’ card data remains secure. It would be useful to indicate that the website follows the regulatory framework prescribed for data security and encryption standards. This includes security badges, the merchant logo prominently displayed on every webpage, SSL certification and PCI compliant payment gateway.
  5. Absence of customer support: Many times, the customer is unable to proceed with the payment or faces a problem completing the online payment. In such instances, it can be extremely frustrating for the customer if he can obtain no assistance or response on the toll-free number. Immediate support with 24*7 availability should readily address the customer issues and resolve the problem. Provision of timely help to the customer works as a strong customer retention strategy.

Don’t shoot yourself in the foot and kill conversion with these e-commerce mistakes. Following the above mentioned measures to correct them would result in better user experience for the online customer and higher sales conversion for the e-commerce merchant, truly a win-win situation for both.

How to retrieve your money from a not-so friendly fraud

How to retrieve your money from a not-so friendly fraud

A friendly fraud is probably a misnomer. In reality, it can be a harrowing experience for the merchant, who completed the transaction. Friendly fraud occurs when a cardholder files a chargeback instead of requesting a refund from the merchant for a legitimate purchase. It can be filed by mistake by the customer or even intentionally in some cases. While such incidents of disputed transactions are on the rise with the predominance of digital transactions, the following are the ways in which the merchant can mitigate the risks:

  1. Switch to a fool proof secure payment solution: It would be prudent to adopt a secure payment processor, which offers a comprehensive, multi-level risk protection to detect any fraud incidents or outliers and red flags the issue in a timely manner. Incorporation of verification tools like fingerprint, facial or retina recognition to work on mobile applications would also go a long way to prevent fraud risks.
  2. Adopt a 3D Secure authentication: Under this online payment platform, the customer’s card is promptly validated by the issuing bank, prior to the transaction. Thus, it’s extremely difficult for the customer to later claim any unauthorized charges. Some merchants are reluctant to adopt this approach owing to the fear of reduced sales conversion or cancellation of the transaction due to the customer being kept waiting for the bank confirmation.
  3. Keep the communication channels open: It is advisable to offer 24*7 support to customers for post sales services. A good business rapport would help clear any potential differences or misunderstanding with the customer. The merchant could also negotiate a lower chargeback charge or its cancellation by the customer and reduce potential monetary losses. One should also regularly apprise the customer before charging for recurring payments.
  4. Establish a solid return policy and delivery tracking mechanism: It is a good practice to make the customer aware in prior of the return, cancellation and refund policies. This would reduce the chances of chargeback filed by mistake. The merchant could also have a software to track the delivery status of the product, with a signed customer confirmation upon receipt of the product by customer at the shipping address.
  5. Maintain adequate data trail: Documentary evidence is key when it comes to validation of online transactions. This should ideally capture details of product description, agreed pricing and the date of transaction. This is vital as in many cases the chargeback is claimed on frivolous or false grounds like non-delivery of the products, delivery of counterfeit or wrong items, non-cancellation of recurring charges by the merchant inspite of customer requests and the original transaction was unauthorized in the first place. Hence the need for retention of sufficient papers to support the online transaction.
  6. Distinguish between accidental and intentional fraud: This identification is crucial. While the former can be settled by talks with the customer, the latter, being malicious in intent is a different ball game. The merchant is not in a very advantageous position as far as the law goes with limited power to get the chargeback reversed. Similar to a ‘guilty until proven innocent’ situation. This is because in most cases, it is likely that the bank would side with the customer than the merchant.

To conclude, in case one does land in the soup and has to face monetary losses from chargeback charges, loss of shipping costs and transaction processing fees, it is best to hold one’s ground. In case, the quantum of money is huge, it is best to get professional, legal advice. Further, repeat transactions with such errant customers should be absolutely avoided as the adage goes “once bitten, twice shy.”

What Is Online Payment Fraud and How PayTabs Deals With It?

What Is Online Payment Fraud and How PayTabs Deals With It?

Every now and then people become victim of payment fraud in various ways. You must have heard news of someone transacting with someone’s money without their permission. Well, that is the perfect definition of payment fraud. In short – illegal transaction of money is defined as payment fraud. You can save yourself from such frauds by using secure online payment systems.

How Payment Fraud Takes Place?

Today, there are many ways through which your card’s data gets copied and that’s how such a fraud takes place. Payment frauds can be done in different ways such as identity theft in which the personal information gets stolen and further gets used for illegal activities.

Another way is page-jacking in which the traffic from your e-commerce website is taken to another website by hackers. However, the most common way of payment fraud is phishing in which emails and messages asking about bank details, personal information, etc. are circulated to people.

These are the commonly used methods for payment frauds. However, the good part is that with a little awareness, you can save yourself from falling into such a trap. Read on to know more.

Things to Keep in Mind to Avoid Online Fraud:

  • Always shop from reputed and well-known websites.
  • Create a proper profile by registering your email and contact number so that the shopping experience is hassle free and if any unknown activity happens, you get notified via email or SMS.
  • Set passwords which are not easily recognizable.
  • Make sure that you have your number registered so that online payment platforms ask for a one-time password before processing online payment request.
  • Turn on the message alert so that whenever some unknown activity happens with regard to your account or card, you get instantly notified.
  • Keep your credentials private and safe. Do not share important passwords and OTP with anyone.

Payment Fraud: What Can Be Done On a Bigger Level?

Since people have started paying through online payment platforms, the risk of payment fraud has also increased. To have a risk-free online payment experience, you can use different options available on the internet. One of the most reliable ways to have a safe online payment experience is using PayTabs.

PayTabs is a highly recommended and reliable payment gateway. It is one of the most reliable payment platforms and accepts payments in around 168 currencies. The user-friendly dashboard helps users in monitoring & managing their online transaction details with ease.

In the world of digitization when most of the businesses are marking their online presence, it is necessary to have a platform where all the payment related aspects can be taken care of without any hassle. This is where PayTabs comes into the picture.

From transparent pricing to user-friendly interface to 24/7 assistance, there are many reasons for you to give PayTabs a try. With PayTabs, you can quickly get your payment deposited, accept payment in 168 currencies, enjoy customized pricing solutions, and much more.

PayTabs is a PCI-DSS certified payment platform, equipped with dual-layer fraud protection mechanism which lessens the chances of payment frauds. In addition to these, 3D secure authentication and EV SSL certification ensure foolproof transactions at all times.

Conclusion

Though there are many risks associated with online payment, the truth is that it is quite convenient and saves a lot of time. Therefore, foregoing online payment is not a judicious choice. What you should do is attain a good amount of knowledge about the measures you can take to avoid online payment frauds.

6 Ways to Ensure Secure Online Payments

6 Ways to Ensure Secure Online Payments

Today, even though so many people depend on online transactions extensively while shopping or paying bills, there are many others who are afraid of going digital. Since some myths about online payments are still out there, it can be tough for people to trust the authenticity of this payment mode.

So, as an online merchant, you need to assure your customers that the payment gateway you use is safe. Only then can you expect increased traffic and better sales. There are plenty of ways to eliminate the risks associated with online transactions and ensure secure payments. Read on to know about them.

Online Payments – The Need of Every Hour

The reason why a huge number of people go online to shop for everything from fashion garments and groceries to pet food and baby products is because, it is simple, fast and reliable. Naturally, seamless and safe online payments are what they look forward to.

So, before you take payments online, make sure you are aware of at least the basic security measures. Educate your employees and customers about the same, so that frauds and scams can be avoided as much as possible.

  • Do Not Underestimate a Strong Password

Most of the times, people set obvious passwords – such as name, date of birth, mobile number – that anyone, with a little effort, can decode. Hackers are especially adept at this. So, make sure you insist that the customer provides a password that comprises of more than 6 digits including special characters, alphabets, and numbers. But at the same time, they should choose a password that they will not forget.

  • Be a Trusted Website

Malicious websites can expose the customers’ personal as well as account information. So, you need to make sure that you are a trusted website. How can you achieve that? You need a valid SSL certificate for this, and make sure that the terms of services and privacy policy are clearly mentioned, and payments are processed via secure payment processors.

  • Authenticate Everything

When it comes to your business and customers, it is really important to not be careless. After all, it’s really hard to grow a business and even harder to maintain a healthy relationship with your customers.

You should make sure that the transactions which are done on your website are 100% secure. Some of the ways of authenticating online payments are using two-factor authentication (2FA), using a 3D secure pin, and so on.

  • Install Anti-Malware Software

The chances of getting hacked increases when your website doesn’t have any anti-malware protection. So, you should install the latest anti-malware software as it shuts down all the online attack vectors. Not only does it deal with the old malware or viruses, but takes care of new malware attacks as well.

  • Secured Connection is All That You Need

Now, we don’t know if you already know this or not but you must keep your connection secure by figuring out the difference between a secure connection and an unsecured connection. The secure connection starts with https://, and the unsecured one with http://. You must install an SSL certificate to ensure a secure connection for taking online payments.

  • PCI Compliance Is Important

It is very important to make sure that the cardholder’s data is safe. To ensure this, it is mandatory that the merchants fulfill all requirements mentioned by PCI SSC. Since online payments require holding and processing cardholder’s data, you must ensure that your online shopping portal is hosted on PCI-compliant servers.

Conclusion:
All in all, it is possible to secure online payments effectively if you follow the tips above. Adopting a PCI-DSS compliant payment gateway can solve your problems to a great extent. Also keep all your software updated and inform your customers about security measures for better results.

5 Effortless Money Saving Tips for your Business

5 Effortless Money Saving Tips for your Business

A successful business is not just about generating higher revenue but also about cutting down on expenditure without compromising the operational efficiency. Hiring cheap labor, avoiding technology solutions, and trimming down marketing budget do not qualify as smart decisions. You will witness a decline in the growth rate if you follow these.

Instead, you should adopt innovative and easy ways to save money in your business. Here we elaborate on these ways that will assist you in generating more profit without decreasing the quality of your product or services.

Watch & Analyze your Expenses

The most basic, simple yet crucial step to save money is watching and analyzing your expenses. The financial statement gives you a complete overview of each and every expense. If the expense is not necessary, you can simply avoid it or replace it with an affordable version. This is not applicable to just tangible holdings but intangible ones as well. For example, time is also a resource. When you are wasting it on an unproductive task, it is an unwanted expense. Therefore, you should manage it judiciously to attain maximum value out of it.

There are various tools and apps that let you record and analyze expenses, generate in-depth reports, and recommend feasible ways to cut down on unnecessary expenditure.

Ditch Paper and Adopt Digitization

Use of pen and paper is unavoidable. You cannot completely eliminate the need but you can minimize it by adopting digital means. Instead of relying on paperwork for maintaining records, printing receipts and documents, preparing reports, etc, simply digitize the tasks associated with paperwork. For this purpose, you can invest in an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system or project management software.

In addition to saving stationery expenditure, you will save money by not buying associated equipment like printers, fax machines, cartridges, etc.

Invest in a Secure Payment Gateway

Financial frauds have been the most dreaded way of incurring unwanted expenditure. If you want to prevent any monetary losses, you should invest in a secure payment processor that complies with the latest security standards. Some of the latest compliances and security protocols comprise AES 256-bit encryption, Two-Factor Authentication (2FA), and so on.

Moreover, opt for a payment solutions company that abides by the PCI DSS compliances, government rules and regulations, and other legal guidelines. While investing in a payment gateway, check out the subscription costs and associated costs to avoid hefty transactional charges.

 Adopt Cloud Computing & SaaS

Setting up your own IT infrastructure and deploying a team of IT experts can be an expensive affair. But when you have the provision of cloud computing, you don’t need to invest in physical infrastructure. Simply avail cloud computing services to store your data and operate seamlessly without any obstructions. Cloud computing ensures secure operations, ease of scalability, and affordable solutions.

Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) is a cloud-based subscription mechanism that allows you to invest in tools, applications, and software to manage business operations. You can avail a customized package based on your requirements, thereby avoiding any extra expenditure.

Outsourcing & Work from Home

Due to globalization, technological advancement, and access to high-speed internet, the world has become a small place. Now instead of setting up an in-house business operation, you can outsource to service providers who provide expert services at reasonable costs. And if outsourcing is not on your cards, you can allow employees to work from home. This saves your money that would otherwise be spent on setting up the infrastructure for the employees.

You can also consider opting for a co-working space. Purchasing property, customizing it, and maintaining it can be a costly affair. A co-working space saves you from all these hassles.

Conclusion

There are numerous other ways to save money in your business. But these are some of the most effective and easy-to-implement ways to cut down capital and operational costs. Adopt these before it’s too late to streamline business operations according to these changes.