How To Select The Best Merchant Services Agent Program

Every modern business, be it retail or online, strives to provide flexible payment solutions to its customers. And for that, you need to ensure a safe and secured payment environment for your buyers and hence, require the support of a trustworthy merchant service provider.

Gone are the days when customers used to purchase using only cash, mostly because retail stores did not offer support for card payments, or because people were skeptical about the security of such a procedure. Today, almost every consumer looks for fast and seamless payment methods, including debit and credit cards, and other electronic or digital online transaction modes.

To enhance customer experiences, you need to switch to a better merchant services ISO agent program and subscribe to an efficient POS, which would meet your store’s basic requirements. So, here are the things you must look for before partnering with any merchant service provider.

Transparency

Your merchant service provider must maintain transparency and keep you informed regarding everything they are selling or offering. Being transparent is not limited to simply providing clear and concise details about your contract terms. Your provider must be able to provide solid, well-grounded explanations about their services.

In short, your merchant account partner should provide you with valid answers to all your queries. The team must be genuinely willing to build a long-term relationship with you. Also, never invest in a provider that has way too many hidden terms and conditions or even make fake promises. It is a long-term partnership and a decision made today might make or break your business. So, choose wisely!

In the end, you must know your business and visualize future prospects in numbers. And without the help of a trustworthy provider, you cannot achieve your end goals. An ideal partner would spot any cases of inefficiencies in your business, and immediately advise you to take the right path to overcome such obstacles.

Multiple Payment Processors

As mentioned earlier, your customers like to have numerous options of making payments and your merchant service partner must offer them that flexibility. The more options you provide, the better. Because you cannot afford to lose a potential buyer due to lack of suitable payment modes. Hence, the POS you are using must have support for multiple payment methods and processors. The basic payment options include credit cards, debit cards, mobile payments like UPI and e-Wallets, and accumulated customer loyalty points.

A Flexible Fee Structure

Always ask for quotes from a couple of merchant account providers and weigh them against the benefits you are getting from each. Also, check whether the quotes provided are reasonable and are working for you. You can try to negotiate with your provider to have the best deal. But never compromise on the quality of services and products offered. Ask for a proper breakup of the price scheme and ensure that it is justifiable. Also, check the payment processing fees your agent is charging and check whether it’s reasonable.

High-Quality Customer Support

Customer support is a must for any merchant account holders, especially for the high-risk ones. Make sure that the people on the other end are properly trained and are supportive enough to assist you in times of need. Also, go for providers that would offer help in fixing technical issues immediately to ensure business continuity.

Your merchant services agent program might deliver good products having advanced technologies, but a poor support service won’t be beneficial for your marketplace. At the end of the day, you need someone to guide you and solve your queries. For example, if you have a payment issue and you can’t get proper support at that time, it might lead to loss of money. So, you get the point!

Good Training Material

It won’t make any sense in purchasing a POS if you don’t know how to use it. Make sure your agent provides step-by-step guidance along with the necessary training materials to explain the entire procedure. In short, your agent must be skilled in giving a good, easy-to-understand demo of the product or the platform and tell you how the system works. Also, check whether the information materials provided are helpful and are enabling you to get familiar with the system.

Residual Analytics

Always shortlist those merchant service providers who have an efficient CRM or similar other tracking systems. Because you will need a good residual analytics platform to grow your business. Choose a CRM that comes with in-built dashboards that enable you to track and evaluate your residual income trends across various merchant processors.

You must also be able to view the performance of numerous merchants along with useful data like their average ticket and net profit. With this facility, you can make better-informed decisions for your business.

Efficient Hardware

The modern marketplace is highly dynamic and so are the payment technologies. The modern-day payment modes may not be valid a few years later, and there would be more advanced methods available then. To strive in the industry for long, you need to keep your systems and machinery updated and adapt to modern modes that are widely accepted.

There is a wide array of payment processing products available today that are designed to enhance customer shopping experiences. Opt for one and make sure that your product offers the following features –

• Safe and secured payment gateways
• Smart terminals
• Check processing
• Various POS options tailor-made for specific customer needs
• Mobile payments
• Loyalty or gift-card programs

Conclusion

In a nutshell, offering flexible payment options would drastically improve your conversions and hence, boost your sales. Customers, today, are constantly looking for safe and convenient payment options and you are ought to offer them such facilities in order to survive.

Moreover, during this COVID-19 crisis, consumers are preferring online modes of payments now more than ever. It helps them to maintain social distancing and have a contactless shopping experience. So, make your business flexible enough to adapt to changes and work on providing more value to your buyers.

Choose your merchant services provider carefully by considering both sides of the coin and go for the one that is offering lifetime support. Put your customers first, and visualize your end target. Having these goals in mind, it will be a lot easier throughout your selection process.