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What are the key components of a custom payment gateway?

Tag: Tips

what-are-the-key-components-of-a-custom-payment-gateway
Mohab Ecommerce 0

Choosing the right payment gateway is crucial for an online business as these gateways can complete online transactions quickly, safely and efficiently. A robust payment gateway not only provides efficiency but also maintains integrity of the operations. There are several ways to incorporate a payment gateway into your system. You can choose to deploy a third-party payment gateway for processing your transactions or go for a personalized payment processing system. Each system has its own unique features, but a custom payment gateway can provide you with flexibility and efficiency which is unparalleled. Here are some of the key components of a custom payment gateway you should know about, to make informed decisions.

  1. Great Customer Experience:

    A custom payment gateway should be designed in such a manner that it maximizes the customer experience. The payment process should ideally have minimal number of steps to follow. It should also be intuitive so that the transaction proceeds in a smooth manner. You can also enhance the consumer experience by using well-known logos for different processes. The process should also be transparent so as to foster a sense of security and reliability in the clients. You can also enhance user experience by offering a wide range of payment options. Such flexibility will allow your users to maximize their utility and create brand loyalty.

  1. Sufficient Security:

    While speed and simplicity are desirable qualities in a custom payment gateway, it is equally important to ensure the safety factor of the transactions There are several security certifications available which will be helpful in providing a sense of safety to your clients. Ideally, your system should be PCI compliant. Further, you should also constantly upgrade your technology to effectively counter new spam and cyber-attack threats. End to end encryption of the transactions will ensure that the data transmitted remains safe and secure. Additional precautions should be undertaken to further secure personally identifiable information such as social security number and date of birth.

  1. Freedom of Customization:

    One of the biggest features of a custom payment gateway is that you can design it the way you want. You can add features while taking out some of the other complexities which you do not require. If you have a mainly subscription based business, you can allow for recurring payments on select dates. This feature will take away the hassle of recurring billing and will make the process more efficient. If your business deals with overseas clients, then it will make sense for your payment system to accept a wide range of foreign currencies. You may also want to display your payment system in different languages for making it easy to follow for your clients.

  1. Sensible Fees and Charges:

    Most payment gateways are able to provide their services at affordable rates due to economies of scale. However, the various benefits provided by a custom designed payment system can justify its higher costs. If planned properly, you might be able to reduce these expenses on a custom payment gateway as well. You should carry out extended and informed deliberation with various financial service providers to ensure that you optimize various charges and fees. Further, you should also pass down some of the benefits to your clients so as to build a solid customer base.

  1. Modular Feature:

    Setting up a custom payment processing system can be a daunting task. There are several variables to be taken care of, including the number of processors to collaborate with. Ideally, you should work with multiple processors to minimize the possibility of outages. This setup will also provide you with leverage in terms of negotiation. If you are building a custom payment system, then you should pay adequate attention to security features as well. Further, a foolproof process should be set up for handling arbitration, chargebacks and disputes. The process should be such that your clients do not face unnecessary hurdles while getting their grievances addressed.

All in all, custom payment gateways can indeed help you optimize your business processes. You can also ensure that your clients have the smoothest possible experience by incorporating features specific to your business. The process should also be flexible so that it can handle any changes in your business model.

4 years ago
PayTabs
Mohab Growth Hacks 0

5 Reasons to Avoid Cheap or Free Cloud Hosting

There is a plethora of choices available when it comes to choosing your web host. Cloud based hosting has become the norm now and there are several options to choose from. However, it is important that you undertake serious analysis before deciding to go with a particular course of action. While you may want to keep your costs down and opt for free or cheap cloud hosting, you should ensure that such freebies do not come with hidden costs. In many cases, such cheap services may actually cost you a lot more in terms of lost sales or credibility. Here are some of the top reasons why going with a free or cheaper cloud hosting option may not be the best choice.

Reliability: The dependability of the service provider is one of the biggest criteria while choosing a hosting partner. This will ensure that your website is up at all the times and will run in a smooth manner. These factors are essential for providing the best services to your clients. In the case of free or cheap cloud hosts, there may not be any certainty about the longevity of their business. If they decide to close their business at any point of time, you will be left with a non-functional website. You may have to incur high expenses to transfer your content to an alternate site. Apart from causing financial loss, this situation will also hamper your daily operations.

Security Issues: Security should be foremost in your mind while selecting a web host. This is especially important if you are hosting an e-commerce website. In such cases, there is a lot of sensitive information at stake. Your free or cheap cloud host may provide unsatisfactory security measures or none at all. Since their servers are shared by a number of websites, the security issues may become even more pertinent. Further, the lack of security tools for the purpose of cost cutting may make things worse. Ultimately, such cheap services may prove to be far more expensive for you.

Poor Performance: There are several factors which determine the efficacy of a website. Some of the main performance metrics are page-load speed, loading error and downtime. Page load speed denotes the time a website takes to display its content. Your free or cheap cloud host may not be able to provide enough bandwidth for the speedy loading of your website. This situation may translate to dissatisfied clients who may choose to take their business elsewhere. Furthermore, many search engines use loading speed as a criterion for ranking purposes. In such cases, you may incur further losses as your website may be ranked lower solely due to its poor loading speed.

Technological Issues: If your host does not have the right technology then your website may show loading errors, again leading to loss of business. If your website frequently faces loading errors, then your clients may switch to a different service provider to avail seamless services. Free or cheap cloud hosts may also experience more frequent downtime, again leading to client loss. Such downtime may be scheduled but they ultimately eat into your business and may cause client dissatisfaction. Such issues are more prevalent with free or cheap cloud host since they may not have resources to offer the latest technological tools.

Lack of Support System: If you do choose a free or cheap cloud host, you may have to run your website without much support. These hosts generally do not provide any support system. In case of any website issues, you are on your own to figure out the problems and resolve them. Further, you may also receive a limited set of features which might not let you design your website according to your requirements. They may only have set templates which you can choose from, limiting your creativity and hampering the productivity of your website. Free or cheap cloud hosts generally provide limited storage and bandwidth which may not be enough to fulfill your requirements.

This is why you can safely conclude that free or cheap cloud hosts are only suitable for temporary websites or when you are just starting out to test the waters. If you are running a professional website and hoping to provide a seamless and fuss-free experience to your clients, you may want to look at other options available in the market.

4 years ago
PayTabs
Mohab Growth Hacks 0

Why Do Online Payments Fail?

Making online payments is a complex process. Transactions can fail to materialize many times and there may be several reasons behind them. In order to fully understand the reason behind such failures, it is imperative to look at the various components of the payment processing chain. Any one glitch at any stage may cause the payment to collapse. Not only do these payment processes involve money but also highly sensitive data related to a business and its clients. This is why it is important that such instances of payment failure are dealt with properly and in a timely fashion.

Types of Payment Failures

Payment failures can be broadly divided into two categories. The two types of failures are a) where the amount is not charged and b) where the amount is charged. In the first instance there is less to worry since no money was transferred, but it is still important to look into the reasons behind such failure. In the second case, there is bigger cause for concern since the money has left the person’s bank account but cannot be traced further without deeper analysis. Whatever the case may be, you are advised to undertake proper investigation in either of the circumstances as the incident may reveal some other issues in the processes.

Reasons for Payment Failure

Following are some of the most common reasons which may lead to payment failure.

Connectivity: Since payment processing uses internet, any issue with the connectivity may cause the payment process to stop midway. Even if there is only fluctuation in the speed of the network, the payment may fail. In other cases, the user may have unwittingly closed the browser before the process was completed. The payment process will fail in all such scenarios.

Downtime: Online payment process entails several intermediaries such as payment gateways, banks and credit card firms among others. If any of these constituents are undergoing downtime, the payment may fail. In most of the cases, the companies announce their downtime ahead of time, so that their clients may schedule their payments accordingly. However, in other cases, such downtime may be unscheduled. It is also important to adhere to any applicable time constraints. For example, certain transactions may be undertaken only during scheduled hours. If you attempt a transaction outside such limit, your payment is bound to fail.

Security Issues: Financial intermediaries may refuse to process the payment if they are not convinced about the authenticity of the transactions. Such refusal causes the payment process to fail. The reason may be as simple as the bank not finding the transaction to be as per the customer’s usual spending pattern. This generally happens when there is a charge from a foreign country. The customer’s bank may flag the transaction if it detects any security threat. In other cases, the payment gateway may decline the payment if it is above the threshold set by the merchants.

Wrong or Missing Data: Online payments have very stringent requirements when it comes to authenticating the data. The transactions are bound to decline if there is even a slight mismatch between the data and your credentials. If the customer enters the wrong password or OTP, the banks may choose to decline the payment. In order to ensure the security of financial payments, the financial institutions may also impose time limits within which the transaction is must be completed. It is important to adhere to such directions. Even if the data is entered correctly but an element is missing, the payment transaction will be declined.

Other Reasons: Apart from these broad categories, there are several other reasons why a payment may fail. Sometimes, the reason may be as simple as there not being sufficient balance in the customer’s account. If the transaction they are undertaking is beyond the limit of their debit or credit card, then the payment will be declined. Another reason may be that their chosen payment method may not be on the list of approved methods.

Payment failures may adversely impact an online business in a significant manner. Apart from causing financial loss, it may also lead to loss of reputation and trust among your clients. In order to provide the best services to your customers, you should look into each and every incident of payment failure to find out the underlying reason.

4 years ago
How to generate funds to grow your business
Mohab Growth Hacks 0

How to generate funds to grow your business

Are you an entrepreneur with a great business development model? If you are, you need to get started with generating adequate funds that will facilitate the growth of your business. Sufficient funds are essential for the expansion and growth of your company. Money is required to ensure smooth production, marketing, administration, etc. of your business. The revenue you generate will go a long way for all of these, but this revenue can be seasonal at times and money may fall short. This is why you need to have a backup plan for generating outside funds for your business. Some ways to generate funds are quite traditional while others are more creative. You have to figure out what you can work well with and find the best way to generate more funding.

The following are some of the best ways to generate funds for your business:

  1. Launch a crowdfunding campaign

Over the recent years, there have been a lot of crowdfunding success stories that might have caught your attention at some point or other. If you have the right product and can make the right pitch, you can definitely be one of them. First off, you have to create a good story for your business that people can connect to. You need to make your product look appealing to them. You should also use this opportunity to get feedback on how your product or business can improve. Your pitch should demonstrate the value of what your business offers and how it will serve people. Show them why your business requires more monetary support and how you will be using it. If you do it right, crowdfunding will provide a lot of external funds.

  1. Capital from friends and family

Statistics show that people are more willing to invest their money with someone they know or are familiar with. If you have friends or family with a lot of money, pitch your business to them. Give them shares in exchange or just borrow on interest, according to what works for them. Show them a good business plan that they can rely on. They will need to know where their money is going. You also need to be very clear about any risks involved. Document everything and move forward if this works out.

  1. Apply for loans

Loans are probably one of the most traditional ways to generate funding for businesses. Statistics show that the majority of small businesses raise capital through business loans or some form of credit. You need to find loan schemes that offer you the best rates and favourable terms. See if you meet their requirements and have all the documentation ready. If your bank credit score is bad, you might have trouble getting a loan. Be ready with your business statements like balance sheets and tax returns. If you meet all the requirements, you can get a lot of capital through loans.

There are other ways to get funding for your business. However, these are some of the most commonly used and successful ones.

5 years ago
5 Effortless Money Saving Tips for your Business
Mohab Growth Hacks 0

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.

5 years ago