With a growing appetite for online shopping, it has now become imperative for you to be capable of processing payments through your website in order to gain more customers and significantly boost your sales.

But the question is: how exactly can you prepare your business to accept online payments? The experts at First Card Payments offer a few tips to help you start accepting payments through your website.

Find a Secure Payment Gateway

Before you can even start accepting payments through your website, you need to set up a payment gateway that will serve as your checkout system.

A payment processor will allow you to embed a checkout process to your website or redirect your customers to a page where they can complete their purchase. 

Even if you’re a small business or a high-risk merchant account holder, you can easily find payment gateways that offer low fees and are very simple to set up and maintain.

Offer Debit & Credit Card Payments

As most Americans own at least four credit cards, offering debit and credit card payment options on your website is vital. In order to be able to process payments online, you need a merchant account. 

The good news is that there are a lot of good merchant account providers that will work with you to provide the most convenient options for your customers as long as you meet their requirements.

Find a payment processing company that will give you the best rates for their service and they will set you up so you can start accepting payments through your website.

Embrace Mobile Wallet Payments

If you already have a merchant account or checkout system in place, this is the time to add an option for mobile wallet payments because they’re fast and convenient. According to a NerdWallet survey, about 79% of Americans use mobile payment apps.

Popular apps like Google Pay, Apple Pay, and Samsung Pay are among the most popular mobile payment methods available and therefore the most widely accepted.

Take note of the mobile payment apps your customers use most to make sure you provide the options most convenient for them and therefore get the most value from your investment.

Use Recurring Billing Software

If your business model requires you to bill customers regularly, we suggest you install recurring billing software that automatically sends bills to customers and allows them to pay right away.

This will encourage customers to pay their bill on time so they don’t miss a payment or incur late fees, which could cause issues in the future. 

Depending on your type of business, you can also find software that sends invoices for the services you rendered to clients.

This will save time and manpower in sending invoices to customers as well as help you manage payments because everything is done online.

Leverage Your Business with Online Payment Processing

If you still haven’t embraced online payment processing systems yet, this is the perfect time to start accepting payments through your website.

You just need to do some research to see which of these options would best fit your business, your clientele, and your budget.