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In the ever-growing complexity of today’s E-commerce world, organizations are facing more and more the challenge of understanding their own needs and identifying and selecting the appropriate business partners for offering  E-commerce capabilities. This short blog is number one out of a series of four, addressing steps a merchant organization should take to choose & use their payment service provider. 

Your proposition is key
Planning the elements of  your end-to-end E-commerce strategy starts with your product and service and ends with the successful completion of the payment process. Your proposition is key, determines your online strategy and defines the payment process. Many merchants spend a lot of money and resources to develop incredible sophisticated web-shops and integrate best of breed e-commerce platforms that are enhanced  with Web 2.0 technology. Blogs, reviews, product ratings, chat functions and social media appearances create a sense of community and provide shoppers with forums to share their opinions. An excellent online experience however will immediately vanish when the shopper wants to pay and his preferred local payment method or currency is not available, surcharges apply or the payment pages are not customized to the look and feel of your brand. The effort to create a pleasant anticipation will not have the wanted effect if the checkout-flow and payment pages are not well thought through. In the end that’s where it’s happening, that’s where the deal is closed, where shoppers convert to buyers. Try to get PSP services as cost-effective as possible but don’t forget that the critical difference between you and your competitors isn’t always about who offers the better product or service, but the experience customers have while dealing with you throughout the end-to-end E-commerce process. 

When choosing your PSP be cost-effective, not cheap.