Why Credit Card Processing Matters for Your Business

This "Why Credit Card Processing Matters for Your Business" originally published Feb 3, 2022 by Ashok Sharma.

The advancement of online payment processing methods and the presence of leading technology companies have specifically improved payment experiences. 

There is no reason why consumers wouldn’t shift towards credit card processing platforms. This allows them to experience a higher level of ease and convenience.

With the digital payment ecosystem evolving, how can businesses create value and seize opportunities? Let’s find out.

In this blog, we have outlined the following.

• Why credit card processing matters for your business
• Frequently asked questions
• Ready to Find the Perfect Credit Card Processing Solution for Your Business?

Let’s explore why credit card processing matters for your business

• Avoid Bounce Checks
• Using a payment processing platform allows your business to avoid the hassle and costs associated with bounced checks. Additionally, your merchant account will enable you to accept recurring payments from customers by setting up an automated payment recurring option.
• Ease of Payment
• With the advancement of technology, digital payment platforms are rising and evolving. Some businesses may be resisting the change, but when a customer visits your website and sees that your business does not accept digital payments or credit card processing is slow, they’ll likely take their business elsewhere.

Instead, when a business offers access to an efficient credit card processor with a seamless experience, customers will recognize your services and maybe repurchase your product or service again.

• Reduce Declined Transactions
• Declined transactions can cause a lot of inconveniences and incur additional costs to businesses. But it can be avoided using a payment processing platform.

Generally, the payment processors identify the availability of funds immediately when users enter their banking information. After that, the request either gets approved or declined in its initial phase only. Therefore, it will save your time from running after customers to remake their failed transactions.

• Improve Efficiency for Your Customer
• While going with a robust payment processor might seem like the most efficient move. It will enable you to save your customers time (and a lot of headaches!) by helping them understand the nuances of a credit card processing platform that will fit their needs.
• Open Business to New Market and Sell More
• Utilizing credit card processing solutions is fruitful for small businesses to establish their online presence. Businesses can easily target prospective customers via an online digital platform.

This online traffic turns into sales leads and improves conversion rates. The US Census Bureau reports state that the estimate of eCommerce sales rose by 12.4% in Q1 2019, while total retail sales increased 2.7%. 

Such online shopping platforms require digital payment sources. Customers prefer shopping on a secure company website using an online payment processing platform. This is when resilient credit card processing comes into play. To convert your online traffic into leads, you need to ensure customers’ good credit card processing experience. E-commerce also opens up business opportunities in the international market, which is ideal for expanding capabilities and operations.

• Money Management
• Switching to an online payment processing platform simplifies how your business handles transactions. With electronic payments, you can avoid counting and handling cash regularly. Overall, it helps you optimize cash flow management and forecasting.
• Boost Customer Retention
• A seamless process and robust platform for credit card processing lead to customer satisfaction. A happy customer means word of mouth marketing, which eventually enhances business ROI and boosts customer retention. Today, it is critical for a business to become customer-oriented by delivering a seamless user experience.
• Increase Productivity
• By incorporating credit card processes, businesses can save time and effort. This hassle-free online payments process reduces manual tasks, like processing paper invoices, data reports, and handling customer grievances
• Fraud Detection Features
• Protecting the customer’s sensitive financial information and dealing with the chargebacks is still a major challenge for some businesses. The online payment processing platforms offer several security features like PCI complaint standards, tokenization, and data encryption to ensure maximum security to you and your customers.
• Meet consumer demand across sales channels.
• Today’s consumers are integrating their online shopping with other media. According to an hbr.com study, the majority of 73%—are Omni commerce shoppers whose buying journey consists of in-store, online, and direct mail experiences. And credit card processing is easy to access on multiple sales channels, which eventually helps you retain your customers.
• Keep Up With The Trends
• Credit card processing offers a secure, faster, and seamless payment experience. It indeed stays true even for the future.

Keeping the payment processing platform efficient and up to date will allow you to stay ahead in the digital payment landscape.

FAQ’s

What does a credit card processor mean?

A credit card processor, also known as a payment processor, is an entity that acts as a financial intermediary between businesses and their customers’ credit card companies. They facilitate or manage the payment procedures for any sales transactions involving credit card purchases by credit/debit cardholders. 

What are the benefits of a credit card processor?

A credit card processing platform is easy to access, secure and efficient for both businesses and their customers. Also, it offers various features to users that enable them to manage their finances, such as rewards and offers. It gives users the flexibility to make payments from anywhere within a fraction of seconds.

What is a recurring payment?

Recurring payments allow customers to set up an automatic payment option that enables a business to pull funds from a customer multiple times on a specific date range, i.e., quarterly or annually. 

Then with regular reminders of credit card billing, customers stay informed and in control of their subscriptions without going through the checkout process every time. 

What are the steps of credit card processing?

Credit card processing consists of three steps:

• Payment Authorization
• In this phase, the customer pays by either swiping or inputs their credit card details into a payment form on an app or website.

• Payment Authentication
• In this phase, the issuing bank receives the payment request, verifies whether the cardholder has the available balance to make the purchase, and executes security measures to authenticate the cardholder’s details.
• Clearing
• The clearing stage is when transaction details are forward to the cardholder and merchant services as bank statements.

Ready to Find the Perfect Credit Card Processing Solution for Your Business?

Getting started with credit card processing need not be overly complicated. By familiarizing yourself with the ins and outs of digital payment processing solutions, you can make credit card processing a valuable asset for your business and your prospective customers.