Streamlining Credit Card Processing With Core Operations

It used to be that when selling a product or service to your customers, cash and check were king. Now, can you remember the last time you wrote a check to pay for a purchase? Paying with a credit card — and increasingly, utilizing mobile payments — is the preferred method for many of your customers. Streamline your credit card processing, and work to increase sales conversion, with these four tips.

Decrease the Time Needed to Check Out

Image via Flickr by Phillip Taylor PT

This tip is aimed at online payments but also holds true for brick and mortar stores. Let's face it — most people don't love parting with their hard-earned money, so any impediments to completing checkout increases their chances of clicking (or walking) away. Design the customer's online shopping experience to make checking out quick and painless.

Brick and mortar retailers have experimented with decreased checkout times by arming sales associates with devices that can ring up a customer anytime, anywhere. While paying for merchandise used to be relegated to interacting with a person behind a counter, now credit card customers can check out anywhere. If you take this route, be sure your payment processing devices are compatible with your credit card processing provider.

Make the User Experience Seamless
Especially for online sales, having a seamless user experience can increase conversion as well as customer confidence. Recall a time when you purchased a product or service online and were redirected to another website to pay. Was that experience satisfying or concerning? Customers need to feel confident that their information is safe, and constant redirects to previously unseen web pages can cause customers to stop the transaction.

This applies to brick and mortar businesses as well. Many restaurants can now bring the credit card processing device directly to the table, ensuring that a customer's card never leaves their sight. This type of seamless experience saves the customer time, as well as increases confidence.

Allow Customer to Easily Fix Mistakes
When shopping online, customers have come to expect the opportunity to review their purchase once all their information is entered. It is up to the business to provide an easy way to fix mistakes. Perhaps the customer got their address wrong, or maybe they realized they wanted two of an item instead of one.

As part of a seamless process, provide ways for the customer to easily fix these errors without having to enter their information again or click back through their entire order. Businesses that can overcome these simple pain points stand to increase their conversion rates and gain favorable regard by their customers.

Consider Currencies
When your customers pay by credit card — either online or in person — consider giving them the opportunity to review the purchase in their own currency. This is particularly important for businesses that see a lot of international traffic on their online store, or for brick and mortar businesses that are in areas with lots of tourists. Look into what type of currency conversions your credit card processing company offers, and decide whether utilizing those services would create a positive experience for your customers.

As a business owner, you want to make sure that your payment process is seamless and easy. Using these four tips, you'll be well on your way to providing a positive experience for your customers.