Customers are increasingly leaning towards brands that solve their problems while providing a seamless, consistent, end-to-end experience. This presents SaaS companies with a unique opportunity to handle processing payments and essentially become a payment processor. By providing integrated payments solutions as part of their offerings, not only can they deliver greater value to their merchant customers but also generate additional revenue streams for themselves.
Cash is almost a thing of the past now. A 2020 study by the Federal Reserve found that only 19% of Americans still use cash for payments . As such, non-cash and digital payment methods like credit card payments, mobile wallets, and online payments, don’t just offer greater convenience for consumers, they also provide immense flexibility for merchants to expand their large or small businesses into non-conventional spaces (think pop-up stores, mobile dog groomers, etc.).
For this reason, SaaS providers that offer integrated billing and integrated payment processing as part of their software can gain a significant competitive edge while boosting customer loyalty. However, most don’t have a great understanding of what features may add the most value to their customers. In this post, we’ll discuss 6 ways in which software companies can offer exceptional integrated payment system experiences to their consumers and help increase financial transactions for your users.
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1. Make Payment Processing a Standard in Your Package Offerings
Convenient, on-the-go integrated payments processing solutions are a basic customer expectation these days, and businesses that don’t provide such flexibility are likely to fall behind the competition. Most consumers find it inconvenient to be redirected to an external site to complete their checkout.
If you can offer an integrated payment system (that supports a range of ways to process payments) as part of your native packages that don’t require consumers to use third-party payment processors, your solutions are likely to be in extremely high demand. Essentially, they can be a one-stop-shop for your customers.
Native packages with integrated payments are a great way to provide an easy, seamless user experience and controlled payment processing to your software users. Their clients can easily load their credit or debit card payment data, set up a security PIN, and start making sales right away via your point of sale system within your software (the integrated solution). There’s no need to re-enter credit card data for future purchases when using a integrated payment processing solution – this is true regardless of payment method.
Most importantly, integrated payments enables merchant clients to accept payments on their website or app directly without having to use a third-party website as a payment processor. And with features like tokenization, software users can securely process recurring payments or credit card-not-present payments without ever having to worry about handling any sensitive credit card processing and payment transaction data directly.
This is also a great way to future-proof their business by facilitating the adoption of new modes of payment in the future and stay up-to-date with the latest in payment acceptance and modern integrated systems.
2. Provide a Branded Customized Payment Integration Experience
Businesses today strive to provide a consistent brand experience across every marketing channel and customer touchpoint. This is because such consistency can boost loyalty and create a strong positive impression in the minds of their customers.
Allowing your business software users to facilitate integrated payments through a portal that has your branding on it can greatly elevate the customer experience. Depending upon your business needs, you can choose to provide a fully or partially branded experience to your software users.
For example, with Stax Connect’s full API enrollment, you can allow the payment enrollment to happen within your app or website itself. Your users won’t need to leave the platform at all—right from application to approval. This ensures that they have a consistent branding experience at all times. However, this typically requires significant developer resources as well as API knowledge.
Small- to medium- SaaS businesses that don’t have these resources can opt for the hybrid API method instead. This would allow you to start the payment enrollment process on your website or app and then redirect users to a co-branded landing page to complete their application (using the Stax Signup Application).
This still allows you to provide an on-brand payment acceptance experience without using too many developer resources, unlike the full API enrollment method. Since the enrollment process is not embedded in your software, you don’t require a large team of developers.
3. Ease the Payment Application Process
To retain their competitive edge, SaaS companies must provide a simple onboarding process with convenient and flexible payment processor enrollment features to their business customers. Despite this, some customers may still find it challenging to maneuver their way through the process.
To encourage greater adoption of your software solution and your integrated payment processing, you need to make sure that the integrated payments application process is simple enough to use. This can be done in two ways.
- You can allow users to fill out the applications online, or
- You could provide a white-glove service as a helping hand to your clients.
With the white-glove service, users can benefit from the assistance of your customer-facing team who fills out the form for them. This does not require any developer support and can be easily implemented using the platform. Although you won’t need a dedicated team of developers to provide this service, you are going to need a good customer support team.
4. Centralize All Required Hardware in One Place.
Offering hardware as part of your software company business offerings is a great way to add more value to your clients. Any user who wants to monetize payments from consumers is definitely going to need hardware in the form of payment terminals (both countertop and mobile credit card readers) that support a range of different payment methods and technologies (e.g., EMV, NFC, etc). By offering hardware that’s compatible with your integrated payments solution, you can position yourself as a one-stop-shop for all your customers’ needs.
5. Assist Users in Implementing a Seamless Payment Integration
Some customers may find it challenging to onboard themselves and set up their payment processing solutions. You can add more value to your offerings by providing them with the assistance they may need. Based on the industries or businesses you cater to and the types of issues your users are most likely to face, you could offer a number of services besides your product offerings. These may include:
- Configuring the software or payment platform and terminal settings
- Integrating the software with other apps and other software
- Migrating the data to the platform
- Training their team on using the product
6. Specialized Support Team Available for Assistance
A dedicated support team that can answer and address all payment-related concerns of your users can greatly elevate the customer experience you offer. When your team is easily accessible, it adds to customer satisfaction and helps build loyalty towards your brand.
Payment processing failures are one of the biggest issues faced by merchants and this can result in serious customer churn. Of course, a merchant can manually process any failed payments after speaking to the customer, or manually input credit card payment information by manually entering credit card payment data. But this has serious implications on administrative costs, cash flow, and profitability. Not to mention the high risk of human error, and wastage of time and resources. Simplifying your process with the right integrated payment solution can eliminate many of these unnecessary credit card payment hiccups in your business operations.
Many SaaS companies that provide integrated payment solutions, leverage algorithms to reduce failures and improve the success rates of payment retries. This is essentially a pre-emptive action that can help merchants avoid the huge administrative business costs that come with manually handling failed payments.
Likewise, by ensuring that your customers can reach a live person whenever they need any help with payment-related issues, you can add greater value to them. Stax Connect’s partner-centric dashboard allows you to assign unique roles to your support team members and give them access to the info they need (e.g., enrollment status, credit card processing activity, payment processing costs, etc.) to be able to resolve customers pay processing issues. Plus, you can also reach out to the Stax team for any additional integrated payments support, right from the dashboard.
Final Thoughts on Integrated Payment Systems.
In the current landscape, SaaS companies that can facilitate a more connected and streamlined experience for their users will always have an edge over others in the market.
SaaS business solutions with integrated payments allow businesses to process consumer payments securely and conveniently thereby improving the customer experience and ease of cash flow. But if you want to truly stand out above the competition, focus on ways you can add more value to your offerings. And that starts with choosing the right integrated payment systems partner to handle your payment integration needs.
Stax Connect can help you provide a frictionless onboarding process for your software users while giving you greater peace of mind. With its top-notch support, pre-built enrollment platform, and enhanced risk management capabilities, Stax Connect can help you build an integrated payment system from scratch in as little as 30 days.
FAQs about Integrated Payments
Q: What is an integrated payment system for SaaS companies?
An integrated payment system for Software as a Service (SaaS) companies is a solution that enables these companies to handle their customer’s payment processes within their platform. This eliminates the need for external payment processors, providing a seamless and efficient payment experience for the end-users.
Q: Why is integrated payment processing a standard in package offerings for SaaS companies?
Integrated payment processing is crucial as it provides convenience and improves the user experience. It saves users from the inconvenience of leaving the platform to complete transactions on another site. Moreover, integrated payment processing enables secure and easy handling of recurrent and credit card-not-present payments without dealing with sensitive credit card and payment transaction data directly.
Q: What are the advantages of a branded customized payment integration experience?
A branded customized payment integration experience ensures consistency for users across all channels and touchpoints, leaving a positive impression and boosting brand loyalty. This can be achieved using different methods, such as full API enrollment or a hybrid API, depending on the resources and needs of the SaaS business.
Q: Why is easing the payment application process essential in SaaS companies?
Easing the payment application process encourages more users to adopt the software solution. This can be achieved by making the integrated payment application process as simple as possible or providing assisted services in filling out the application forms.
Q: Why is providing hardware as part of business offerings important for SaaS companies offering integrated payment solutions?
To effectively facilitate payments, users need hardware such as payment terminals that support a variety of payment methods and technologies. Offering this as part of the business offerings positions the SaaS company as a one-stop solution for all user needs.
Q: How can SaaS companies assist users in implementing a seamless payment integration?
SaaS companies can support users by configuring the software, integrating it with other apps, migrating data to the platform, and training their teams. By providing these additional services, SaaS companies can help users overcome the challenges of onboarding and setting up their payment processing solutions.
Q: How do specialized support teams enhance the customer experience in integrated payment systems?
Specialized support teams can effectively address all payment-related concerns, enhancing the user experience. They reduce payment processing failures, improve the success rates of payment retries, and provide rapid assistance for resolving payment processing issues. This leads to higher customer satisfaction and loyalty.
Q: What is the role of integrated payment systems in improving the customer experience and facilitating cash flow in SaaS companies?
Integrated payment systems in SaaS business solutions enable secure and convenient processing of consumer payments, thereby improving customer experience and ease of cash flow. These systems also help businesses stand out from the competition by adding more value to their offerings.
Q: Why is it essential to choose the right integrated payment systems partner?
Choosing the right integrated payment systems partner is critical to ensure efficient and secure onboarding of software users. With the right partner, SaaS companies can benefit from top-notch support, a prebuilt enrollment platform, and enhanced risk management capabilities.
Q: How can Stax Connect assist in building an integrated payment system for SaaS companies?
Stax Connect can provide a frictionless onboarding process while offering peace of mind. The platform offers a partner-centric dashboard, facilitates access to essential information like enrollment status and payment processing costs, and provides additional integrated payment support as needed. It can help build an integrated payment system for your SaaS business in as little as 30 days.
