Payment technology is changing all the time. And lately, the new features getting introduced have been really good for the little guys. Small business owners who are just getting started with accepting payments are benefiting from access to new markets, higher close rates for sales, increased security, and less time spent on admin tasks. Here’s how.
1. Access to New Markets
With online payment technology, small businesses can access markets around the world. They’re not stuck with targeting customers in their backyard anymore — potential buyers could live in Timbuktu, so long as they have a device and access to the internet! When you can easily pay anywhere, from a mobile form to your desktop, conversion rates go way up. That means that well-designed, responsive forms are critical.
E-commerce is spreading around the world fast, including emerging countries, so the sky’s the limit for potential market reach. That means small businesses just starting out already have huge growth potential — and when paired with flexible payment processing that can grow with them, they’re pretty much ready to take on the world.
2. Higher Sales-Closing Rates
For many customers, complicated checkout procedures are the make or break moment in a sale.
The best payment processing solutions today focus on customer convenience and offer solutions that close a sale in as few steps as possible. Apps and mobile wallets that store customers’ payment information will allow purchases to be made with a quick screen tap. By using integrated payment processing solutions built right into their websites, small businesses can provide their customers with a seamless payment experience that takes seconds to complete.
3. Improved Transaction Security, Starting with Tokenization
Traditionally, one major challenge for small online businesses has been security. Why would a customer risk typing their credit card number into an unfamiliar website, when they could make the same purchase on Amazon and know their transaction security was guaranteed? Luckily, security concerns are being addressed with easy access to tools like tokenization.
Not familiar with tokenization? The idea is that instead of transmitting a customer’s real account information, the payment processor replaces that data with a string of meaningless numbers and letters (a token). Then, when the customer wants to make a purchase, the business just sends over the token instead of the real credit card number, and the payment processor knows what data to use. That way, the transaction gets completed without the account number ever being exposed.
And, that’s just one of many available fraud prevention tools. With Bambora, Address Verification (AVS), 3D Secure, and Card Verification Values (CVV) come standard with any account.
4. Less Time Spent on Admin Tasks
Nobody likes paying bills—especially when it takes up time you could be using to bring in new business. Batch processing means you can pay all your bills in one go, just by uploading a CSV file. With Bambora, you can do it up to 30 days in advance. Everything gets validated as soon as you send in the file. Beyond payments, features like automated accounting and reporting make daily operations a snap.
Payment processing solutions are dramatically shifting the way small business owners operate — giving them new opportunities and making business simpler. Thanks to the global increase of e-commerce, online businesses can now reach buyers around the world while offering tailored solutions on the go. As payment processing solutions continue to evolve, small business owners can look toward to dramatically growing their customer reach.
Looking for a payment service provider that will simplify your business operations? Get started with Bambora today.