As a small business owner, you’re probably already busy enough just trying to keep up with the company. When things never seem to stop, it’s easy to overlook nuances like improving the systems and strategies – particularly when it comes to auditing the way you accept payments.
Despite the ever-evolving challenges in your organization, payments shouldn’t be one of the roadblocks preventing you from scaling your business. Instead, with the right payment provider equipped to eliminate friction at the point of sale, every small business owner can focus on doing what they do best: growing the business and maintaining solid customer relationships.
The Key Elements of SMB Payment Processing
Today, small business payments are about much more than just channeling the flow of money into your merchant accounts. Modern payment processing enables all of your systems and software to continuously sync with one another, providing the information you need to power your company toward its next big revenue goal.
Whether it’s optimizing your POS with new integrated payment methods, enhancing your online payment methods, managing your eCommerce marketplace, or upgrading your mobile payments interface, there’s one concept all small business owners must embrace today: Omnichannel. Particularly, as the SMB market shifts toward the next-generation of business trends centered on how customers choose to browse, shop and purchase, omnichannel systems are the glue that holds everything together.
More specifically, small business owners must devise an omnichannel strategy that empowers them to tap into rich data to gain insights into the purchasing habits across multiple commerce channels. Having a strategic, analytical approach to payment processing provides your company with a comprehensive view of who your target customer is, what services/products are driving the most sales, and the channels your customers prefer.
SMB Payment Processing Partner Checklist
Before selecting which payment service provider best fits the needs of your business, it’s helpful to have a checklist of must-have items to make your customer’s checkout experience as seamless as possible.
First, business owners must think about how the right credit card processing will help to scale their business in the future. Not only do you need to think about software and solutions that fit your business’ needs today, but you must also ensure you’re selecting an option that can adapt to your evolving needs for tomorrow.
Future-proofing your payments mean connecting your retail, eCommerce and mobile solutions under one system to have a consolidated report of your daily business activity. It also means being able to easily integrate and accept alternative payment methods like ACH and mobile payments.
The greatest benefit to having an optimized payment processing solution that fits your SMB needs is the ability to boost your revenue streams through a multitude of dynamic payment solutions. This includes the opportunity to integrate recurring payments, automatic reconciliation and the option to enable scheduled billing, so you know when funds will be flowing into your merchant account. Other key features to look for are tools like an automatic card updater that keeps the cards on file up-to-date with the necessary credentials to reduce card declines.
Beyond the features that directly correlate to your bottom line, the final element small business owners need to think about is what protects your profits most: A robust security system. Not only do your physical POS terminals need to be safeguarded with enhanced fraud protection, be PCI compliant and EMV capable, but your payment processing systems must also be equipped to protect sensitive data with E2E tokenization capabilities. This also applies to your online, mobile and in-app payment solutions.
Optimized Payments Reduce Anxiety
Regardless of what type of small business you’re running, optimizing your payment processing through a modern, forward-thinking payments partner is the only way to give you peace of mind that your business is equipped to grow steadily and strategically.
Having a fully-integrated omnichannel solution allows your business to accept payments anytime, through virtually any device, but it also gives your customers peace of mind they can connect with your business whenever and however is convenient for them. Having multiple ways for customers to engage with and pay for your products or services will streamline credit card processing and helps gets your business paid faster.
Your payment processing solution should align with your business’ short and long-term goals. If you’ve found your current system has left you behind the curve, it’s time to find a partner that can take your business into the world of frictionless, scalable, and technologically-secure payment processing.
