How To Create A Flexible Payment System For Your Business

UNITED STATES—Payment is one of the significant customer experience factors prospective buyers look at when choosing a business to purchase goods or services from. Customers want a business that has the necessary technologies that enable them to make payments easily. What’s more, customers also want a business with several payment methods.

Below is an extensive guide on how to create a flexible payment system for your business.

Card Payments

A high percentage of customers use credit or debit cards to make their payments, so it only makes sense for businesses to accept card payments. A lot goes into ensuring that this payment method is seamless for both the customer and the business.

The first step to setting up card payments as a payment method in your business is determining whether your company is considered high-risk.

High-risk businesses are treated differently because they are more likely to get chargebacks, leading to a higher risk of fraud. A business figuring out whether it is categorized as high-risk will enable it to work with a card payment service provider that caters to high-risk merchants.

The next step to setting up card payments is choosing a payment service provider. Businesses need to pick a card payment service provider that caters to their specific needs. For starters, if a company is deemed high-risk, it should choose a high-risk merchant account payment service provider that specifically works with high-risk businesses.

Setting up card payments as a payment method in your business also involves determining the necessary software and hardware you’ll use to enable you to accept card payments. This mainly depends on whether you have a physical or online business.

Physical companies need a card reader that enables customers to insert or swipe their debit or credit cards to initiate payment processing. On the other hand, online businesses need to have payment getaways that verify customers’ card details before initiating the payment process.

Digital Wallets

Many people are switching to digital wallets as their preferred payment method, mostly due to their convenience and security. Digital wallets allow individuals to link their credit and debit cards, enabling them to pay with their smartphones rather than pulling out their credit or debit cards.

With this type of payment method, businesses need Point of Sale systems (POS) or check-out sections (if they are online) that have the following technologies that enable customers to pay using their digital wallets.

The first one is Near-Field Communication (NFC) technology. This technology enables two devices to exchange data (in this case, the customer’s smartphone and the store’s POS) when they are placed close to each other. NFC-enabled POS allows buyers to make payments using their digital wallets at stores’ payment terminals by “waving” their smartphones over the POS.

The next technology is Magnetic Secure Transmission (MST). This technology generates a magnetic signal, like the magnetic strip on credit and debit cards. So, when a buyer wants to make payments using their digital wallet, all they need to do is place their smartphone near the store’s POS. This enables the magnetic signal to be transmitted from the digital wallet app to the POS, initiating the payment processing procedure.

Another technology used by digital wallets is the QR code. With this technology, the retailer makes a payment request using their POS then, and then a list of the digital wallets the store accepts appears. Once the customer selects the digital wallet they use, a QR code is generated, and the buyer scans it using their smartphone, initiating the payment processing procedure.

Cash

While many people are switching to cashless payment methods, it’s still not a reason for businesses to put aside cash payments. Accepting cash as a payment method has its benefits, especially for businesses.

For starters, cash as a payment method eliminates the charge such as transaction fees that a business has to pay if they accept credit and debit cards as a form of payment. Customers paying with cash also eliminates the chances of fraud associated with credit and debit card payments.

Moreover, with cash as a payment method, businesses receive their payments immediately, unlike credit and debit card payments, where it takes several days before the money reflects in the retailer’s merchant account.

Conclusion

A payment system consists of technologies, institutions, rules, and regulations that allow customers to transfer money to businesses. The above payment methods discussed in this article are among the payment systems a business can have.

Accepting a wide range of payment methods is an important growth step for your business. However, it’s still essential for companies to consider all the possible factors before setting up a payment method. Doing so will enable them to choose a payment method that is suitable for them.