As the world becomes increasingly digital, businesses across all scales and sizes have moved online, including eCommerce. And given its popularity, the need for an efficient and secure payment gateway has become more important than ever. Businesses need reliable and secure payment gateways to ensure smooth and hassle-free customer payments. Now people know that a payment gateway is a technology that facilitates the processing of payments between a customer and a merchant. However, there’s so much more to such gateways than what meets the eye. The authorization of such payments is a 3-step process, and they are as follows:
- Verifying and validating customer’s debit/credit card credentials securely
- Ensuring that there are sufficient funds available to make the purchase
- Approving the transaction safely and the amount transfer process to your bank account.
Therefore, choosing the right one for your business is critical to keeping your customer trust and giving them a safe and worthwhile shopping experience. For example, subscription-based companies, with the help of the right payment gateway, can gain access to essential tools for handling recurring payments and much more. How do you choose the right payment gateway for your business? In this article, we’ve put together a checklist that includes the different aspects to keep in mind while evaluating the right payment gateway for your business:
So, how do you choose the right payment gateway for your business? Here are some factors to consider:
Table of Contents
#1 Security
Reports state that corporate/commercial credit card fraud attacks increased from 24% to 26% in 2023. That should tell you why security should be your top priority when choosing a payment gateway. You’ll want to protect your customers’ sensitive information, such as credit card numbers, by choosing a level-1 Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards (PCI DSS) compliant gateway. Furthermore, payment gateways like Stripe also come with additional, in-built fraud detection/prevention systems such as 3D secure authentication, CVV cross-checks, etc.
#2 Payment Methods
Different customers prefer different payment methods, so it’s important to choose a payment gateway that supports a variety of payment methods, such as credit cards, debit cards, net banking, e-wallets, and UPI. This ensures your customers have a hassle-free payment experience and can pay using their preferred method. Additionally, apart from the popular payment methods, it’s also important to have relatively lesser-known payment options are included in the system, as it provides inclusiveness and maximum options to your spectrum of customers and could lead to higher success rates.
#3 Integration
You’ll want to choose a payment gateway that integrates smoothly with your eCommerce platform or website. Payment gateways generally provide an API that works seamlessly with your website to ensure a smooth and efficient checkout process for your customers, reducing the chances of abandoned transactions and helping customers to carry on with the checkout process to complete the transaction, irrespective of the platform. For example, if your online store is on any eCommerce platform like BigCommerce, Shopify, or Magento, your payment gateway must provide plugins to help with the integration. Moreover, you can also choose to have your custom checkout developed for your customers that are both safety standards compliant and effective—you can hire BigCommerce developers from agencies like CodeClouds. Their experts can help your business achieve more with its full-scale solutions that have been recognized worldwide.
#4 Fees
As a business owner choosing a payment gateway comes with a cost/fees incurred. Different payment gateways charge different fees for their services, including transaction fees, setup fees, and monthly fees. Make sure you understand the fee structure and compare it with other providers to ensure you’re getting the best deal. Look out for hidden fees such as setup, transaction, and monthly fees.
#5 International Transactions
If your business deals with international customers, choose a payment gateway that supports international transactions and accepts multiple currencies. Other facets of this feature make all the difference – the ease of onboarding, offering various foreign currencies, etc. Since most banks and payment gateways ask for a hefty fee to process such payments, choosing a checkout option that offers buyer protection and is also trustworthy is crucial. This ensures customers can pay in their local currency, reducing the chances of abandoned transactions.
#6 Developer & Customer Support
This pivotal aspect should be noticed, and as a business owner, you need to realize all that the payment gateway offers. Does it come with a development environment and documentation? What platform does it use for its API? Does it provide secure data transfer for migration? Does it provide round-the-clock customer support? What channels do they use to provide support- email, phone, or live chat? Such questions ensure issues are resolved faster and offer a seamless payment experience.
#7 Limits (if any)
Some payment gateways have an upper limit on transaction amounts, which is fine if you are a small/medium company. But, if you have a trade-in high-value goods, or have a large number of transactions, then you need to be aware of such limits to keep up with your potential target group.
Takeaway
Finding the right payment gateway can be daunting, especially the one that checks all the boxes. You must ensure that it fits your business needs, can be operational across your service region, receives global payments, and has comfortable pricing. As a business owner, you need to understand how money gets from one end to another, and for this, you need a reliable and trusted payment gateway. We hope the points discussed in this blog help you better analyze the evaluation process better the next time you look for the right payment gateway.
