Integrating Recurring Payments Efficiently into Your Business

Safety and efficiency are at the top of one's mind when implementing any new financial system. This is not only to ensure a smooth transition and payment flow for your customers, but also to make sure your teams are able to provide the best possible service to these customers. What should you keep in mind to establish seamless recurring payments within your store?

Join us as we determine the key factors to keep in mind when attempting to introduce recurring payments into your business. By prioritising security, transparency and flexibility, you can rest assured that your customers will thank you for an effortless payment flow.

This blog rounds out our education series on recurring payments. If you're aiming to broaden your knowledge on this payment system, be sure to give our previous blogs a read to understand whether recurring payments is right for you and the benefits of implementing this system.

Security is your number one priority.

To process recurring payments, one would need to store and process sensitive card or banking information. As with any financial system, compromising security for this data can lead to consequences like card fraud, data breaches, identity theft, or worse. These incidences will not only reflect poorly on your business, but could also cause significant financial harm to your consumers.

Fret not, as there are many ways to secure your customer's data. For starters, you should strive to become PCI compliant. By adhering to the PCI DSS, or the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard, you can handle credit card information securely as well as remain legally compliant.

While this seems tedious and complicated, this process can be simplified by choosing a payment gateway that is already PCI DSS compliant like senangPay. senangPay has achieved PCI DSS Compliance Level 1—the highest level certification—a proven statement towards its commitment towards data security and consumer trust.

Another way you can increase your transaction security is via tokenisation. This process involves substituting sensitive data with non-sensitive data known as "tokens", which can then be used in an internal database without compromising the original data. Unlike encryption, tokenised data cannot be reversed or deciphered, making it virtually impossible for bad actors to obtain your customers' card information even in the event of a breach.

Transparency is the best policy.

How does your business handle billing cycles? What is your cancellation or refund policy? What payment methods do you support? Answering these common questions would instill confidence in your customers and convince them to proceed with their subscription or instalment.

It's generally a good idea to share as much of your company's payment policy as you can with your consumers. No one likes being surprised with hidden fees or secret conditions, all of which makes your business come off as dishonest, regardless of your intentions.

To address consumers' concerns regarding pricing, terms and charges, you could set up an FAQ page on your website or social media page. This would serve as a hub to answer all these queries quickly, ensuring your bases are covered and establishing your reputation as a trusted, honest business.

Communication, communication, communication.

Just like a healthy romantic relationship, building rapport with your customers to trust your new recurring payment system also comes from effective communication. When introducing this new payment option to your customers, take advantage of all your channels including e-mail, social media, and e-receipts to inform your customers of this system. 

As recurring payments would likely result in some changes to your policies and billing systems, these updates should also be communicated to your customers promptly to gain authorisation to any charges as early as possible. Frequent and effective communication will keep your customers well informed and save you from the hassle of chargebacks.

Offer flexible billing cycles.

When beginning to charge your customers for recurring payments, there will be situations where the transaction fails due to insufficient funds. This could be a result of a misalignment with your customer's payday cycle. Providing the option of flexible billing cycles can help alleviate this problem by ensuring they have sufficient funds to be credited.

While sometimes it is necessary to impose late fees or charges, it's better to communicate with your customer as to whether they need an extension on their current cycle. Informing them shortly ahead of time before their account is charged via e-mail or an in-app notification is also helpful to ensure they can plan their finances accordingly. Penalties should only be used as a last resort for defaulters and should be clearly communicated early on.

Up-to-date information matters.

For you to successfully charge your customers every billing cycle, their card information should be updated and relevant. Whether it's due to expiry, loss or theft, your customers' card information could change for various reasons. While it is their responsibility to provide updated information to your business, screening your database for outdated info and notifying your customer accordingly will greatly ease the transition for both parties.

To further reduce card payment failures, you can also offer alternative payment methods such as direct bank debit. Direct debits don't need to deal with expired or outdated card information, not to mention there is a more immediate payment process with fewer points of failure, contributing to their reliability in payment recollection.

So, what's next?

It's no secret that implementing recurring payments can be quite complicated, especially in the initial start-up phase. With considerations for security, billing cycles, card information, and so on, it may seem a bit daunting and maybe even not worth the effort. However, considering the multitude of benefits that this payment system could bring to your business, it might be worth the commitment.

The initial setup can be made much easier by partnering with a reliable and secure payment gateway platform like senangPay. With an integrated recurring payment option, automating the whole process from checkout to the customer receiving the product or service can be as simple as ABC. Request a free sandbox account from us and enable your payment transformation journey today!