Online sales experienced a 15% growth in 2020 compared to the prior year. At this rate, it is predicted that online sales will grow as much as 17% by the year 2022.
The key to making your e-Commerce site work for you and your business is to integrate a solid payment gateway solution to your website.
First, The Requirements
It is well-established that a payment gateway is a must to process your customers’ payments safely and efficiently. However, one must not rush the process of finding the right payment gateway.
There are some key requirements that your payment gateway must have to set the precedent and position your e-Commerce business to remain a well-oiled, revenue-generating machine.
Here are some important requirements to take into consideration before choosing a gateway for your business:
- Price: It’s not about getting a rock-bottom price for your gateway. Simply make sure that the price you are paying is competitive.
- Security: This is an absolute must. Your payment gateway should have nothing less than a PCI DSS certification in order to accept credit card payments.
- Flexibility: As your business grows, it will change. Your gateway must be able to adapt to your current as well as your business’s future needs.
- Global Reach: Look for a payment gateway that can support you all over the world. You should also have a wide base of payment methods and providers.
- Ease of Use: A good payment gateway should come with an “intuitive administration panel”, business intelligence, and reporting tools. A monitoring and the alerting system will also be beneficial.
- Scalable: Your payment gateway should grow along with your business.
How To Integrate A Payment Gateway Into Your Website
In order to properly integrate a payment gateway into your website, you must first decide which type of gateway will suit your business best. There are essentially two to choose from: Hosted and Integrated payment gateways.
Hosted payment gateways are when customers move forward to make their purchase on your website and then get redirected off your website and into a host network where the customer will enter their credit card information. PayPal is considered a good example of a hosted payment gateway.
An Integrated payment gateway uses an application programming interface (API) to connect your website to gateway services. Providers can make a direct payment via your store online. They also happen to be mobile-friendly.
Once you have decided which payment gateway is best, there are a few general best practices to follow.
If you are moving forward with a hosted payment gateway, you will need to connect your website to the gateway in order to get an SSL certificate. You will also need the gateway’s credentials such as a secret key, an MWS access key, a merchant ID. A great benefit is that you have the ability to customize the gateway however you desire to do so.
If you choose the integrated payment gateway, you must first ensure that all security measures are up to standard. You can achieve this by using APIs and modules that are readily available. If this is not available, you will need to seek out custom payment gateway development in order to integrate the payment gateway into your website.
Just as important is to ensure that your payment gateway accepts a wide variety of payment options as well as making sure it’s mobile-friendly.
Final Thoughts
Without question, the type of payment gateway you choose will greatly impact your customers’ user experience. If you choose well, you will definitely draw more customers. The wrong gateway can significantly mar your reputation and lose sales.
Following the aforementioned tactics will also help you set up your payment gateway in a way that will help your business scale reliably and securely.