Why Choose Payment Gateway Integration?

What is a Payment Gateway?

Payment Gateway Integration is utilised when a merchant can accept online payments via their site, this is done by connecting the website and the payment processing bank to allow secure, encrypted payment transactions. A payment gateway can process credit cards for online and offline stores.

As e-commerce grows increasingly more popular, even the older generations are becoming more proficient and trusting in digital payments, particularly as payment technology improves its security and user experience.

Payment gateways are a great way to increase sales and drive more customers to your site. While a good payment gateway will enable a better user experience, there are many additional features and benefits your business can take advantage of.

How does Payment Gateway Integration work?

Once a payment gateway is integrated, the sale process on your site will likely look like this;

1. Once a user clicks ‘Buy’, and an encrypted checkout page will appear within the platform.
2. The user submits the required information.
3. The payment gateway processes the payment and either confirms or denies payment with the card association, via encrypted SSL connection.
4. The customer is informed whether the payment is complete.
5. This process takes as little as 2-3 seconds, and then minus any transaction fees, the money owed is paid to the merchant.

After payment gateway integration, you’re still able to accept payment types such as credit and debit cards, ACH (Automated Clearing House), and eWallets. The biggest difference for your business and customers is having a high-quality checkout experience on your site.

Why does your site need Payment Gateway Integration?

If you’re questioning whether you need a payment gateway for your e-commerce website, the answer is easy ‘yes’. According to Invespcro, shopping car abandonment reasons are 11% complex checkout process, 12% need too much information, and 7% do not have enough payment options. But with payment gateway integration, you can collect direct payments from your customers and utilise the many benefits of using a payment gateway. 

This includes:

• Saving time
• Improving user experience and staying competitive
• Expanding your customer base on a global level
• More secure transactions and avoiding fraud-related losses
• Convenient payments

This is why payment gateways are suitable for most sites. While this is essential for e-commerce, even traditional ‘brick-and-mortar’ stores stand to benefit significantly.

Payment Gateway Integration or Hosted Payment Gateways?

With payment gateway integration, you won’t be sending your customers away from your site to complete a transaction, which avoids the risk of lower conversion rates and customer mistrust in third parties, as you would get with a hosted payment gateway. 

A hosted payment gateway simply means that the payment gateway isn’t embedded onto your site, instead users are sent away from your site to complete the payment process. When payment gateway initiation is integrated on your site, you are responsible for the security and customer data used in the transaction process, whereas a hosted payment gateway provider would manage this for you. 

For payment gateway integration, you also need to consider your platform, as some have special requirements for compatibility, such as Shopify. If you don’t have the developer resources for an API connection needed to integrate, a hosted payment gateway may be the best option for you. Although, there are greater benefits for user experience and conversions with a payment gateway integration.

Choosing between integrated and hosted payment gateways means considering multiple factors and what satisfies the needs of your customer and your business.

Compliance & AML

As online payments offer ample opportunities for fraudulent transactions, so prioritising security when facing payment gateway integration is key. PCI-DSS compliance (Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard) should be made as easy as possible with a good payment gateway. Your business will also need to account for GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) when storing customer data, and SCA (Strong Customer Authentication) as part of PSD2 compliance from the European Union. Therefore, you must ensure fraud protection, AML compliance, and secure cardholder information storage when considering payment gateway integration or risk a nasty fine.

All payment gateways come with fraud detection applications, but you should still find a payment gateway that offers tools to protect your customers during the purchasing process and after. With a good API, modules for this will be readily available to integrate unless you run your site via a customer engine.

Generally, API is the most commonly used payment integration technology, so it’s important to consider the quality of your API. Can you directly adjust the code, does the API provide code samples, and whether you can trial it out via the documents are all potential signals for its quality? A quality API and payment gateway can bring further benefits to your business.

Payment Gateway Applications

You should also consider what future features you would want to add and how flexible the payment gateway is to that. If you’re looking to expand the number of transactions you’re completing, plan ahead when choosing the right payment gateway integration. Site’s with payment gateways are always convenient to customers, so make sure to focus on your own business strategy.

• Subscription for recurring bills.
• Notifications for verified transactions.
• Payment information storage for users to save their information.
• Customisation abilities via your API.
• Integrate with accounting software to automatically track transactions.
• Support for global transactions to aid cross-border sales.
• Accept and be flexible to different payment types and currencies.
• Easy customer onboarding.

Payment Gateway Costs

Payment gateway can have many associated costs to consider when choosing the right one for your business.

• Registration
• Set-up
• Monthly fees
• Transaction
• Processing
• Refunds
• Chargeback
• Fund transfer fees
• Termination fees

The most common transaction types include; authorisation, sale, refunds, and void payments. So, considering these costs in relation to your business will help you to identify how suitable a payment gateway is for your site.

Imburse Payments can help you manage your payments, and utilise technology to access global markets without lengthy integrations. Contact our expert team today to find out how our bespoke solutions can help you.