Are you making your customers’ lives easier by baking in payments directly into your solution? If so, your customers will need to sign up for a merchant account, enabling them to process payments.
Sounds simple enough, but with so many payment service providers how do you know which has the right onboarding solution for your business? Here are a few features to look for:
Easy Sign-Up Process
A convoluted sign-up process is a good indicator that everything else will be complicated too, so look for payment service providers who make it quick and straightforward to get started. At Bambora, we run sign-ups online — which means your customers can skip the maze of long paper forms and get back to running their businesses.
Then, there’s banking integration. A lot of payment providers require users to sign up for a merchant account all over again, which means they lose valuable payment data. Instead, opt for payment service providers who have multiple relationships with Canadian and U.S. banks, so that your customers can use their existing account with your provider’s gateway. (Trust us, they’ll love you for it.)
The Option to Integrate Directly Into Your Solution
When you’re asking business owners to sign up for your services, you want to keep that process as simple as possible. Your payment service provider should fit right in. After all, if your customers have already entered their contact information in one place, why should they have to type it all again when they’re applying to accept payments?
A solid onboarding API helps your customers set up their merchant account with as little hassle as possible, and avoids duplication by pre-populating fields you already have data for. The best options exist on your own site, so no one gets re-directed, and take on its look and feel for a streamlined sign-up experience.
Risk Mitigation
When selecting a payment service provider to work with make sure to hash out who takes on the risk of your customers. Bambora underwrites and assumes all risk on your customers’ accounts. Other payment providers can push the risk on your business, leaving you liable if your customers go bankrupt.
A well-designed onboarding process is a sign of a great payment service provider. Features like easy sign-up, onboarding APIs, and customization options help attract customers and get them organized to accept payments right away — music to any small business owner’s ears. Of course, onboarding is just the beginning.
Looking for a payment service provider who ticks off all these boxes? Get started with Bambora today.
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