There’s one section of your business’s website that you can’t afford to mess up.
You guessed it…the checkout page.
It doesn’t matter if a customer wants to buy every single item available on your online shop; if their payment gateway doesn’t read their credit card or works too slow, the customer will take their business elsewhere.
Don’t worry…here at Quantum we’ve advised many young businesses starting off in the eCommerce space. Take it from us, we know what you’ll want to keep in mind when selecting the ideal payment gateway for your online business.
Easy Payment Processor Integration
Whoa, whoa…what does that even mean? Simply put, you want to make sure your payment gateway is compatible with your payment processor.
The payment gateway funnels each customer’s credit card information to your payment processor, who then sends that information to the customer’s bank. That bank then either approves or declines the transaction. If there’s a snag somewhere along the way, then that puts the customer’s card information – and the online business – at risk (more on that a little later).
First, make sure you choose the right payment processor for your business. Once you do that, check with your processor and see which payment gateways they’d recommend for you. They should list gateways that they’re comfortable working with – which is exactly what you’re looking for.
Now that you’ve narrowed down your list of possibilities, it’s time to evaluate which of those payment gateways can actually process payments efficiently.
Seamless Checkout
Your payment gateway MUST operate quickly and without hiccups. That’s absolutely a non-negotiable.
When a customer pays in store, they’re making a pretty big commitment. They’ve already gone out of their way to walk into your store, physically grab the items they want to buy, and then walk those items to the checkout station. That all requires a ton of time and effort; going somewhere else to do the same thing would just cost them even more time and energy.
Now what about online shoppers? All they have to do is type a few words and click a few buttons to get to checkout. If that checkout requires too many steps or freezes on them, the shopper can easily just click out and go to another site in seconds.
Ask the payment gateway you’re interested in what companies they work with. Then, test them out for yourself. Go to those companies’ sites and pretend you’re going to buy from them; if the payment process is smooth and efficient, then it’s likely that your payment process will also run smoothly if you were to use that same gateway.
Airtight Cyber Security
Of course, you can choose a speedy and efficient gateway that works with your payment processor, but it’s all for nothing if that gateway can’t keep your customers’ information safe.
When you search for your payment gateway, make sure that it is PCI-compliant. This means that the company running your gateway adheres to the security regulations set forth by the payment card industry. Don’t even consider a company’s gateway if they don’t claim to be PCI-compliant.
There’s more you can do, however. Do a quick Google search and read through reviews of the gateway you’re considering. Those reviews will give you an objective look at the company and whether or not they actually live up to their security standards – whether they encrypt the data they send off to their payment processor, whether they have measures in place to deal with fraud, etc.
Once again, securing your customers’ information should be your top concern. You want your customers to trust you with their sensitive information; they shouldn’t have to worry at all once they finish checking out.
Want to lock down a quality payment processor and a premium payment gateway in one go? Click here and we can chat about enhancing your online shopping cart with the right payment gateway!
