According to the 2018 Global Payments Insight Survey, businesses are now advised to further invest in their payment capacities due to intensifying competition and mounting customer expectations.

For business owners such as yourselves, the decision of whom to entrust with the sensitive payment processing information of your company is a tough one. And many still opt for the easiest route by relying on their respective banks for solutions, despite not having the most appropriate or cost effective option to handle your payment needs.

To ensure that you get the best deal in the market, we have highlighted 8 important questions to get you started on picking the best payment solutions provider for your business.

 

1. Does the payment provider support your type of business?

Each industry will have different standards in payment terms, frequency and value. If the payment provider has experience serving merchants in the same industry as your business, they will be in a better position to offer you a perfectly tailored solution.

 

2. What are the key payment methods you should be processing?

Alternative payment methods represent approximately 50% of online business transactions, plus, cash-on-delivery and credit/debit cards are not the only payment methods made available in today’s society.

More and more customers are now opting to use new payment methods such as Direct Debit due to its convenient one-time authorisation for recurring payments.

 

3. Will the payment system be easy to implement?

Let’s be honest, implementing a fully fledged payment system can be expensive and timely undertaking, so you would want to know if the system is easy to implement.

Make sure the system is easy for you to use as well as making the customer sign up process as smooth as possible.

 

4. What is the cost?

Whether you will be charged a flat fee, % of transaction value, tiered pricing or a monthly fee, your choice will depend on your budget and how you expect your business to perform.

Additionally, you should always consider time saved on administrative tasks and the increased productivity of your employees as the key benefits of a payment solution.

 

5. Does the payment provider integrate with your accounting software?

If you have established your own system, you probably would not want to change your existing software and would like to ask the provider to integrate the new system with your existing platform.

While some providers are easier to integrate than others, most providers will provide you with their APIs to integrate their system onto your website, app or social media page.

6. Does the payment solution provide ways to keep track of successful and unsuccessful collections?

Being able to monitor successful collections in real time will help your business tremendously in focussing its collection efforts. And in the event of unsuccessful collections, certain payment methods such as Direct Debit can be programmed to reattempt collection without human intervention.

 

7. How secure is the payment process?

Dabbling with business payments mean you will need to choose the right provider that could safeguard your customers payments and offer secure data processing. The payment method should also provide fraud prevention tools to protect both the merchant and customer.

Indirect settlements whereby the customer’s payment is routed through a third party acquirer before being settled into your account can also jeopardise the reliability of getting paid on time.

 

8. Are you tied into a lengthy contract?

Since your business will continue to evolve with time, you should always factor in your long-term needs, but also have flexible options to ensure that you and your payment solutions provider can keep pace with the changing technologies.

 

Curlec: A Smarter Way to Collect Recurring Payments.

As the only payment solutions provider that utilises online Direct Debit in Malaysia, Curlec creates a seamless payment experience that enables you to get paid on time, every time via Direct Debit and Instant Pay (FPX) based on 5 key attributes.

Simple, low pricing: We charge 1% per transaction, capped at RM10. Given that we utilise PayNet’s bank-to-bank network, our Direct Debit payments are routed outside expensive credit card networks such as Visa and MasterCard, hence reducing the processing costs for you.

Flexibility: Once your customer has authorised payments with you, you can control how much to “pull” directly from your customer’s bank account as long as it has been previously communicated and the amount is below the maximum amount. With a click of a button, you can easily customise the day, date, frequency and duration of payments accordingly.

Less admin work: Not only would you save cost utilizing Curlec’s payment method, it would also save you time and manual administrative work, allowing you to focus on growing your business. Curlec’s simplicity is a powerful platform for businesses of all shapes and sizes.

Lower rejection rates: There would be lower rates of attrition and higher retention rates as bank account details do not change as often as credit or debit card numbers. Additionally, Curlec is also compatible with both Credit and Debit Cards issued by a Malaysian bank.

Improved cash flow: Using Curlec would immensely help your cash flow as Direct Debit provides same-day and direct settlements into your bank account. This means that you can get paid faster each time.

Read more on how Curlec’s Direct Debit can work for your business needs here.  

Want to talk to us about swapping your current payment solution provider to Curlec? Contact us below and we will get in touch soon!