For business-owners, choosing the Payment Service Provider (PSP) that best suits their needs is vital. A PSP is a third party that helps merchants to accept payments. Via a PSP, a merchant can accept credit and debit card payments, direct debits, bank transfers and more. The PSP will provide both a merchant account and a payment gateway, allowing businesses to collect and manage payments simply and efficiently.
Listed below are the key factors to consider when choosing a PSP.
Reliability
Reliability is crucial. A PSP should be able to consistently process transactions in a timely fashion, offer support on a 24/7 basis and have an excellent reputation for its customer service provision.
Provides a Quality Customer Experience
Ruchi Rathor, founder of Payomatix Technologies, knows that the customer experience is a powerful differentiator; if customers don’t have a great experience, they may not patronize the business in question in the future. Ideally, the customer should feel positive about every aspect of their dealings with a business, including the payment process.
Certified and Compliant
The PSP should be fully PCI compliant to ensure customers’ data will be kept safe and secure. A business can check the PCI’s website to find out whether a PSP has been fully certified and view its status. This website also provides information about other certifications held by a PSP and details of security protocols followed.
Security
To get an idea of a potential PSP’s security credentials, a business could attempt to discover whether the PSP has experienced a security breach in the past and how it responded to this event. This information may be on the PSP’s website, or there are numerous online sources that can be helpful in uncovering these details.
A business is also advised to consult reviews of the PSP given by existing and former customers to gain a better understanding of the nature and effectiveness of its security processes.
Payment Methods Offered
When choosing a PSP, a business also needs to consider the payment methods on offer to ensure they meet its needs and those of its customers. For more information about other important factors a business should take into account when choosing a PSP, take a look at the embedded PDF.
