For an online business, ensuring secure transactions is as important as driving sales in the company. With the number of online businesses growing by the day, your business needs an edge with respect to the ease of online transactions to aid potential customers. Secure and user-friendly payment gateways solve this problem.
A payment gateway is a software that enables a transaction between your company and your customers’ preferred mode of payment. Without a reliable payment gateway in place, your e-commerce website may not be able to function to its full potential.
Selecting a payment gateway service provider is an integral part of your online business. It is perhaps the first critical decision you take for your online enterprise. Payment gateways come with a range of features that can make your life easier without requiring you to constantly look into each transaction. Most importantly, the right payment gateway will protect your online business from fraudulent transactions and will not limit your business in any form.
Before picking the right payment gateway for your business, you may want to consider asking yourself these questions.
- How much will the payment gateway provider charge me?
- To what extent can I trust a payment gateway?
- Will the quality of their service be good enough to boost my sales?
- Are the features of a payment gateway in tandem with my business?
We understand that the search for the best Indian payment gateway service provider can be overwhelming. Keep these 10 features in mind before selecting the best payment gateway for your online business.
1. Have diverse modes of payment
Online businesses must remember that the preference of payment modes differ for each customer. While some may want to proceed with a UPI transaction, others may want to go ahead with a credit or debit card transaction. Failure to have a diverse choice of payment modes on your payment gateway can bring the likelihood of transaction completion down.
Data shows that the usage of debit cards and credit cards has increased from 20 percent to 25 percent within a span of two years in 2018. The UPI mode of payment has gained massive users since 2016.
Therefore, make sure your preferred payment gateway hosts debit cards, credit cards, net banking, UPI, COD, and other popular modes of payment options.
2. Consider the fee structure
Payment gateways have a vast pricing range that they offer to businesses. The pricing is based on the volume of transactions on your website, sales, consistency of sales among other factors. Ensure that your business model is in tandem with the fee structure offered by a payment gateway provider. Look for any setup fee or transaction fee that the provider may be charging.
3. Ensure secure transactions for your customers
Customers expect a hassle-free and secure experience while purchasing from an online store. However, with online transactions, comes the risk of fraud. Therefore, make sure the online payment gateway service provider you choose comes with added security features that facilitate secure transactions.
For this, ensure that the service provider of your choice follows mandatory information security standards. Additionally, make sure to check how the provider deals with redirection to third-party websites.
4. International transactions
Having a payment gateway that supports international payments is crucial for businesses with a customer base abroad. Nevertheless, as a growing business, you do not want to let go of the potential opportunity to cater to a global audience.
This can be validated with a payment gateway that not only enables cross-border transactions but also does not mandate a hefty deposit or a massive setup fee. The right payment gateway for a growing business should offer transactions in multiple currencies.
5. Quick payment gateway settlement
Payment gateway settlement is the time taken for the transaction amount to be credited to the seller’s account after it has been debited from the customer’s account.
Find out the duration of time online payment gateway providers will take to credit the amount to your account. Every company has different protocols; choose the one that best fits your business model.
To ensure you select one of the best Indian payment gateway providers, make sure they do not take more than four days to make the credit.
6. Effortless check-out experience
A smooth check-out experience on an online store’s own website is integral to customer satisfaction.
Suppose a customer is redirected to another website without any notice that has no customized branding or logo related to your product for payment by a payment gateway provider. In that case, the customer will hesitate to complete the payment and leave the transaction mid-way. As a result, you will lose the sale and gain negative reviews.
Look for payment gateway providers that host checkout on the seller’s own website and can customize the payment gateway with your brand’s logo, theme colors, or name.
7. Swift onboarding
Time is money for new businesses. A delay in the onboarding process by the payment gateway provider can set you back and lead to a loss of sales.
Therefore, it is important to understand the formalities of account activation thoroughly before choosing a payment gateway. Choose a service provider that offers account activation and onboarding within minutes.
8. Efficient refund policy
Trusting a business with refunds is a major concern for customers during an online transaction. An efficient refund policy with a minimal waiting period is reassuring for the customers.
Talk to your potential payment gateway provider if they have an instant refund feature. Make sure your customers don’t have to wait for days to get their refunds, as it has a negative impact on your business.
9. Smooth recurring billing
According to a Global Payment Report in 2018 by Worldplay, mobile payments will keep increasing in the upcoming years and may turn out to be second to debit cards by 2022. With the growing use of mobile payment applications, a feature that allows setting up recurring billing can attract customers.
The recurring billing feature makes frequent/monthly payments easy for both the customer and your business. With recurring billing, your customers won’t have to worry about feeding the same information every time they have to make a scheduled payment.
10. Top-class customer service
Good customer service is the backbone of a great company. In case of a problematic situation, you should be able to connect with the customer service department of the payment gateway service provider at the earliest to ensure speedy resolution of the issue.
Payment gateways that limit customer support to emails can make matters difficult for an online business. Round-the-clock customer service is a key to rectifying payment failure and other issues quickly.
best Indian payment gateway provider will complement your business and provide a cost-effective payment gateway solution. Finding the right payment gateway is not a tough job, all you need to do is understand what your business needs and select a payment gateway that enhances customer experience and eases transactions. Read reviews online and ask existing customers about their experiences before you pick yours.
