- Welcome to The Journey.
Today, we're gonna help you understand
digital payment options for your website.
Thanks in growth in e-commerce sites,
pain with our credit card on a website has become so easy.
And thankfully, because I never carry cash.
(Emma chuckles)
- And there's no denying when it comes to accepting
and receiving payments.
PayPal is the reigning champion.
In fact, it's the standard online payments solution
for online customers, freelancers, and business owners.
And while people tend to love PayPal
for a variety of different reasons,
technology has really opened up the door
to have other companies step up to bat
by offering either cheaper fees, faster transactions,
and even enhanced security.
- Now, which provider you choose depends on your needs
and we're gonna go through a list of them now.
- Hold on, Emma.
Before we really jump into that,
there's a couple of terms that we need
to just get out of the way before we jump
into the actual companies themselves.
So let's get some definitions going.
So a merchant account is a bank account
that allows a customer to receive payments
through credit cards or debit cards.
Many processors act as both the merchant account
as well as the payment gateway.
Which leaves me to payment gateway.
It's a third-party service that evaluates
and processes payments, and transactions.
The payment gateway is the middleman between the merchant,
which is you and the sponsoring bank.
- And that takes us to payment processors.
So payment processor is the company
that the merchant actually uses
to handle the credit card payments
which this is super helpful because then you can make sure
that you're taking anti-fraud measures
to ensure that both the front end
and the merchant are protected.
And we've talked about this before
on videos for The Journey.
But PCI compliance.
Now, this is when a merchant
or a payment gateway sets their payment environment
to meet the PCI DSS.
Let's break that down.
So that's Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard.
The PCI DSS standard was actually created
by the Payment Card Industry Security Standards Council
to increase security of the card holder data
to reduce fraud.
- Let's jump into why these online payment services
are actually necessary.
So when a member, customer, or supporters
are ready to sign up, register for an event,
or even make a donation,
they want to do it quickly and easily.
In fact,
websites that don't support online payments can be seen
as being out of step and into the Dark Ages.
The whole process from submitting an online payment
to updating your bank account can take a matter of seconds.
End result is improved cashflow for your organization
and almost immediate confirmation of transactions.
- Plus, automated payments save you the trouble
of depositing the check and recording the payment manually.
Now, once you set up online payments for your websites,
the really cool part is
that they are automatically processed.
So in other words, think about it this way,
you don't have to handle
or store any credit card information.
Any updates to member accounts, records,
they're happening automatically.
- It'd be great
if customers would just drop off bundles
of cash at your doorstep.
I know I would personally love it
but your best bet is to choose a payment solution
that's most convenient for them.
And even though online payment providers
will take a small cut of your profit,
increased convenience and securities make them well worth it
for you.
We're gonna break down some of the most popular providers
and give you a rundown of whether it's right for you.
- Let's start off with Point.
Point's great because it's jam packed with features
that are all going to fit our 21st century needs.
And you can use it on mobile device, website,
even in the app.
And because it offers that broad spectrum
of different forms of payment,
you guys, it's a great choice.
- Next up, we have Stripe.
It's probably one
of the more flexible payment processors on the market.
Whether you're a large nonprofit
with different donation streams,
or a small club, or association,
Stripe's API will easily link
into your payments anywhere you need it.
And you can even transfer from LLC to corporate status
if you have that in your business plan.
- So for online payments,
Apple Pay is definitely the most seamless.
I do have yet to hop on board with Apple Pay,
I will. Nealey is probably shaking his head.
(Emma laughs)
But basically, what users can do
is they can instantly pay using their existing Apple Wallet
and you can do it just in touch of a button
or your fingerprint.
Now, it's important to note
that they are not a payment provider.
And so,
you'll need to be set up through one of the others
in this list if you want to accept other kinds of payments.
- Next up, we have Dwolla.
I hope I'm saying that right.
But they have a wide variety of integration
and it's pretty flexible too.
And if you're requiring multiple payment structures
like installment payments, multiple stage interests,
and varying recurring charges,
Dwolla can handle it all.
And best of all,
their structure of their fees and payments
is very competitive too.
- PayPal, definitely heard of that, right?
It's the most widely used payment provider.
That's definitely their biggest edge.
And with that in mind being the most widely used,
think about it this way,
chances are most of your potential supporters
and customers probably already have accounts.
So that's just gonna add ease to the payments in the future.
And it's also important to note
that PayPal takes all security concerns on themselves.
So what does that mean for you?
It means you don't have
to be storing any credit card information
like most other payment processors.
- And let's not forget about Square.
Square was the first in the game
to introduce a credit card swiper
that could be attached to a cell phone.
You know going down to the farmer's market,
there was always the vendors
with the little Square app.
Pair with the app
and then they process the transactions there.
Their technology has only improved the advanced tap features
as well as fully inclusive software to safely
and securely process your transactions.
- And you cannot leave out Authorize.net.
They've actually been around since 1996.
I won't tell you how old I was (chuckles)
and you can pretty much do anything you'll ever need,
payment processing-wise with it.
With Authorized.net,
you'll never have an unsupported payment type,
since they stay up to date
with the trending payments that are going on out there.
And they even won an award
for their outstanding API integrations.
- So, I mean, you can lose out on sales
if your customers can't easily find
what they're looking for,
can't use their preferred payment methods,
or just have difficulty checking out.
Don't let online payments be the issue.
Choose the solution that works for their needs
then turn your focus to marketing and optimizing
for conversions.
- Alright, that's a wrap.
You just learned about digital payment options
for your website.
Be sure to like this video.
And hey, comment below.
Which of those payment options have you used in the past
that help out your business transactions?
Or which ones do you plan on using in the future?
- I look forward to seeing your comments,
but while you're there,
make sure you subscribe to this channel
and ring that bell so you get these episodes first.
This is The Journey and we'll see you next time.