Recurring payments can be an efficient method to scale your business since it paves the way to create new, regular revenue streams that build strong customer retention.
Besides managing the customer relationship, the biggest aspect to consider when implementing recurring payments is the security behind the system you’re using. You’ll want to ensure you take the proper steps to avoid having security gaps in your payment systems. Avoid this hurdle by taking advantage of subscription-billing software with an industry-leading payments partner. We suggest adhering to the following steps when considering how to securely accept recurring payments.
Protect Payment Credentials with Better Security Protocols
Recurring billing requires gathering sensitive financial details from customers, you’ll need to work with a partner that can securely keep data on file so it can be properly processed without putting your customers’ information at risk. Businesses should rely on a payment partner who places value on security measures in their software and hardware payment solutions. Any transaction that occurs online should be encrypted to avoid being caught up in chargebacks triggered by fraud. Not protecting customer data can also lead to data breaches cut deep into your businesses line.
When we say better security, you want to remember a few basic terms: End-to-end encryption (E2E), tokenization and PCI Compliance. Those are some basic requirements you’ll want if you accept payments online and accept recurring payments with your business. Those industry-leading security protocols are standard with any payment processing partner worth considering to run your payments systems.
What exactly do these terms mean? Encryption protects sensitive data by making the data unreadable to those without a secret decryption key. Data encryption is the first step in protecting your cardholders’ information. Small businesses must rely on payment processing providers that focus on delivering E2E encryption across their entire payment platforms — especially for recurring payments that rely on stored payment data.
Tokenization is a highly-secure method of protecting payment credentials. Tokenization involves substituting the credit card/account numbers with a one-time number known as a token that has no value or connection to a person or their account. The customer’s 16 digit primary account number (PAN) is replaced with a custom, randomly-generated alphanumeric ID. This transaction process eliminates the link to sensitive data, and tokens are used in credit card processing to reduce exposure to breaches.
It’s also important to choose a payment processing partner that understands regularly requirements for accepting payments. PCI compliance is one of those complicated concepts that is required for businesses that accept payments online and store customer payment data. PCI Compliance proactively protects your business by preventing credit card fraud from occurring, and the right payment processing partner will handle this entire process for you.
Choose The Right Payments Partner
There’s more value in choosing the right payments partner than just the services they can offer you. It’s also important to consider how those partners work on your behalf to protect your customers and your business. Working with a larger payment processing partner, for example, might have the fancy tools that make your business feel equipped to accept recurring payments, but when you really need customer service? It’s the little guys that will be by your side.
As we mentioned above, protecting your profits and scaling revenue is all about having the latest payment industry security standards for your processing services. This is especially true for recurring payments. The above-mentioned security requirements are offered by both large and small payment processing companies, but corporations aren’t as worried about their individual customers. To get personalized protection that puts an extra team member by your side to protect your businesses at a moment’s notice, you’ll want to find a smaller, boutique payment processing partner that has a genuine interest in protecting your business.
At goEmerchant, we provide 24/7 tech support and practical assistance quickly and efficiently. When your team needs to manage a security issue, or learn how to onboard a new customer onto your recurring payments system securely and efficiently, that’s what our team is here to do: Serve you and your customers with a personalized experience. Having peace of mind that you have an actual person to turn to, instead of a computerized bot, to handle your payment processing needs is why the right payments partner can make all the difference in helping your business scale. You should focus on acquiring new customers and not the complex payment details associated with recurring payments.
