Every business in today’s landscape regards happy customers as its biggest asset. An asset that reaps more rewards than anything else. Though their influence is given its due share of importance, businesses don’t do enough to create a memorable experience for these very customers. A single moment of indecisiveness can lead to a potential prospect never becoming a customer. One of the major contributing factors for this debacle is the reluctance to trust if the payment gateway is secure or not. More than often, businesses desperately need a payment gateway API to create the desired seamless experience for customers.
But what is payment gateway API integration?
An API can be defined as an application programming interface that ensures easy integration of different applications to enable a more innovative, trustworthy, and enjoyable digital experience. A payment gateway API integration in simple terms is the integration of a payment gateway on existing digital processes to bridge the gap between a company’s checkout page and the payment network. An alternative to the traditionally hosted checkout pages that we see on eCommerce businesses, a payment gateway API integration allows customers to complete their purchases without them leaving the website to process any payment. This seamlessness is invaluable to businesses in the online world.
So, how does Payment Gateway API integration work?
The process of having a payment gateway API integration on a website may look like an onerous task, but it is extremely necessary. These payment gateways connect the website and the processing bank enabling the secure transfer of financial details. For this to be carried out, credit and debit cards along with different payment methods have their information encrypted. Payment gateways are nothing but intermediates just like the POS systems in physical establishments. They are used to approve and authorize digital transactions that enable the purchase to move forward.
What are the different types of Payment Gateway API integration available?
Businesses in the present day have moved away from different traditional payment methods like bank transfer to having a payment gateway API integration as it builds credibility for merchants, enables instant transfer along with security. However, there are different types of payment gateways one must understand before looking at having a payment gateway API integration.
Here are the different types of payment gateways:
Hosted payment gateways
Common across different eCommerce players, a hosted payment gateway redirects the customer away from the checkout page. They are redirected to the page of the Payment Service Provider (PSP), where a customer fills in their details and is then redirected back to the website to complete the process.
Self-hosted payment gateways
Here all the required payment details are collected within the website and are then sent to the payment gateway’s URL. While some gateways require payment data to be provided in a pre-defined format, others ask for a secret key or hash key.
API hosted payment gateways
In the API hosted payment gateways, customers enter their details directly on the merchant’s checkout page with all the payments being processed using HTTPS queries or an API.
Payment Gateway API integration – Who is it for?
A payment gateway API integration is extremely important for every online marketer, vendor, and salesman. This is because the API integration helps marketers maintain control of the entire user experience, withholding the brand’s consistent imagery and experience across all interactions and channels. A payment gateway API integration is one of the pivotal steps in ensuring a smooth and seamless experience for the consumers as it reduces the friction that potentially slows down customer’s purchasing momentum.
What are the benefits of Payment Gateway API integration?
A payment gateway API integration brings with it myriad benefits that can greatly improve the performance of a business. Here are some of those advantages:
- Swift and seamless checkout experience
- Prevents cases of chargebacks
- Helps accept multiple payment channels
- Integrates with shopping carts
- Helps customers with their impulse purchase needs
- Ensures fraud management
- Equipped with requisite security standards to facilitate secure and safe transactions
What are the key features to consider while choosing a Payment Gateway API integration?
A payment gateway API integration is carried out by having it integrated with existing software solutions. Here are a few of the features that they must have, to facilitate a seamless checkout experience:
- A seamless integration experience
- Flexibility and malleability to work with other software solutions
- Security in the form of PCI compliance features
- Reliable and adept support
What are the challenges involved?
A payment gateway API integration is the bridge between buyers and sellers. Whilst this bridge offers a multitude of advantages, there are a few challenges too. These include:
- Card data security
- Cross-border transactions
- Regional and multi-currency adaptability
- Managing ever-increasing expectations
- Increasing costs with different feature sets
Key factors to consider while choosing a Payment Gateway API integration
Every business in today’s day and age is expected to find a way to secure their payments. While payment gateway API integration is looked at as the most reliable medium to facilitate this, there are numerous options in the market, making it a daunting task for any marketer to choose the one that best fits their needs. Marketers must not only keep in mind the logistical and technical challenges, but must also consider customer’s convenience, and security while choosing a payment gateway API integration for their business. Here are a few other factors that must be considered too:
- Fees and service agreement
- Average transaction amounts and frequency
- Gateway’s security and fraud policies
- Location and incorporation
- Appropriate payment flow
- Supported business models
- 24/7 customer support
How to choose the Best Payment Gateway API integration?
Whilst the features are helpful in narrowing down the right payment gateway API integration, there are numerous other factors that one must consider too. Here are a few of those steps that must be considered before choosing the best payment gateway API integration for your business:
- Decide the architecture of the payment flow and how the API works with the architecture
- Know what data is essential from the sales and analytics data for your business
- Know if you want to offer a localized shopper experience
- Understand your customer demographics and know what would be suitable for them
- Ensure it is optimized for all devices
- Become familiar with compliance measures
- Be thorough with cyber-crime and fraud solutions
By having answers to these questions, marketers can be sure of how they make the decision of which payment gateway API integration best suits their needs.
Cost of payment gateway API integration
Considering the number of options that are available in the market, marketers can find payment gateway API integration across all cost brackets. There are numerous options that are available free of cost, whilst charging marketers only for every transaction that is processed. Along the same lines, there are other options that charge a one-time set-up fee, a lower transaction cost, and a yearly maintenance fee. Depending on the size of the business and the number of transactions that are processed, companies and marketers can select the payment gateway API integration that best fits their needs.
Conclusion
Shortlisting and integrating a payment gateway isn’t the most onerous task. However, it requires a sound understanding of the business to integrate the right payment gateway API that can bring a positive impact on the business. By also partnering with the right payment gateway provider, an organization can experience elevated customer satisfaction and profitability.