Tips for Success During COVID-19: How Businesses Can Thrive
News reports of businesses being forced to close during the COVID-19 lockdowns may be disheartening. The reduction of face-to-face interactions has placed more pressure on businesses to have working eCommerce solutions during this time. Financial experts agree that merchants will come to continue to expect these payment options to which they are becoming accustomed, even after the pandemic is a distant memory.
No matter the size of the business, there are a few things that businesses can focus on to remain relevant with their customers. These include internet merchant account services, website design, and PCI-compliance. This short guide is designed to help businesses understand the basics of what they need to process eCommerce transactions during the lockdowns and beyond.
1. Sign up for an internet merchant account
The single most important thing a business can do to increase its potential during quarantine is to sign up for a merchant account, if it doesn’t have one already. These accounts enable businesses to accept eCommerce payments such as credit cards, debit cards, and other forms of online payments.
These services can include payment options optimized for mobile devices or websites and can handle any volume of clientele. Needless to say, this is vital during lockdowns when people are actively seeking ways of paying for products and services without having to leave their homes.
With a diverse array of eCommerce payment methods, an internet merchant account can help a business succeed or even grow rapidly during these difficult times.
2. Design a well-optimized website
Not all business websites are created equal. Prioritizing security can go a long way toward giving the business that owns the site a huge edge over their competition.
Your site should also include state of the art shopping carts that allow customers to select their items and choose their preferred payment method. With the right merchant account provider, you can get free shopping cart software just for applying.
With so many stores competing for online attention, credibility will be a huge deciding factor in separating the businesses that succeed and fail moving forward. One quick way to increase the perceived credibility of your website is to make sure the credit card logos appear prominently on your website. In addition to letting your customers know that it will be easy to shop at your store with their preferred payment method, this will also let your customers know that your business has been vetted, and that important financial interests stand behind your website.
3. Accept eChecks
Accepting eChecks, which requires signing up for a second account can be crucial for two reason. First, there are still some consumers who either do not have a credit card, or have maxed out their card for the month, and will have to pay you another way. Second, even if your company has not been able to sign up for a credit card merchant account, signing up for an eCheck account is much easier, and almost any company can be approved, even if the company is classified as “high-risk” by the credit card industry.
The Takeaway
Businesses can accept credit cards by signing up for a merchant account to process their customers’ eCommerce payments.
Visit Charge.com or call (888) 924-2743 for access to these services and more in order to stay open–and thrive–during the COVID-19 lockdowns.