Business Tips Archives - Merchant Account & E Commerce Payment Processing Insights

July 9, 2018

Two Credit Card Policies Your Business Needs to Set in Stone

Credit cards are a big part of every business. If your store isn’t equipped for credit card transactions, you’ve already put a huge roadblock in the way of your company’s growth. But if you don’t have clear in-store and internal policies, even the best merchant services can’t help your business navigate new regulations. Here are two policies that your business needs to create and regularly review:

What’s your return policy?

Some stores don’t have a lot of returns. But whether you sell retail goods, professional services, or food, you need to have a return policy. It can encompass everything from a poor user experience to product exchanges depending on what you want for your business, but the allowances and limitations need to be clear. It also needs to be posted in your store and easy to find online. Making your return policy clear and visible is the best way to fight invalid chargebacks.

While you’re making any edits, make sure your merchant services can easily accommodate the policy. This includes more than making sure your equipment can handle reversing the transaction. Make sure the fees are low enough that you can afford the goodwill a good return policy brings.

What’s your information storage policy?

The benefit of a merchant services provider is that your company isn’t directly handling credit card information. This is incredibly important if you’re an online vendor. If you handle or store PII or credit card information, your company has to be PCI compliant and secure that information from cyber threats. Find a merchant services provider that acts as a third-party information handler. Also, train your in-store employee on how to treat any credit card information in the store. Ideally, your employees should never write down any details or even handle the cards. Find customer-facing machines to keep the line clear.

For more merchant services tips, browse our blog at BAMS.

June 26, 2018

Does Your Payment Processing Tool Protect You from Chargebacks?

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Whenever a credit card user disputes a charge they find in their credit card history, one of the provider’s first steps is to demand that the retailer returns the value of the charge. They protect consumers from fraudulent charges, but they can also be extremely costly to the merchant.

How can chargebacks hurt your business?

Even when the chargebacks are limited purely to potential credit card fraud, they can hurt your company’s bottom line. The revenue from a sale goes back to the consumer, and each chargeback usually has an associated fee. Having too many chargebacks can get your merchant account frozen, your company blacklisted, and your company fined.

Less straightforward incidents of chargebacks, like friendly fraud, can be even more damaging to your revenue and your company’s reputation.

What tools do you need to reduce the damage of chargebacks?

Get instant alerts so you can respond.

Chargeback alerts often come in the mail. Delays are bad for business. Text messages give you more opportunity to straighten out the dispute. Text messages can also be integrated with other automatic process tools so the alert becomes a case in the appropriate employee’s workflow.

Export your records to Excel.

It’s not just individual accounts of chargebacks that need your attention. Keep a living history of all the chargebacks issued to your company. Even if you don’t use the document to maintain a status report, you can use the report to know when your company is in danger of triggering fines, an audit, or the termination language with your payment processor.

Respond through an online interface.

Responding through faxes and letters is cumbersome. It also increases the risk of delays and the chance you won’t respond within the appropriate window of time. But an online management tool lets you respond immediately, keep track of responses, and organize the dispute.

Go to BAMS to find these and other tools for your company’s payment processing.

May 17, 2018May 30, 2018

4 Sales Tips to Influence People to Buy Your Products

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Want to increase sales? Use the following sales tips to sell more products, boost your revenue, and increase your ROI:

FOMO

FOMO stands for Fear Of Missing Out. This is what causes people to buy things that are on sale even if they don’t need them and to constantly check what their friends are up to on social media. A limited-time or limited-edition offer with a countdown clock is a great way to tap into the FOMO.

Get Them in the Right Mindset

Before you make your selling point or sales pitch, you need to first get your audience in the right mindset. An example of this is stressing how your product doesn’t cost X amount of money, that amount being much higher than your real price. This gets your audience in the mindset that your product is affordable and cheap because, in their minds, the bar of what is “expensive” or even the industry standard price is now much higher.

Pain and Pleasure

Human beings do things to avoid pain and gain pleasure. People will usually do more to avoid pain than gain pleasure, so don’t just stress how much pleasure your product will bring them; focus on the pain points that brought them to your sales page in the first place.

Cross-Selling and Up-Selling

If you are not upselling and cross-selling products to your customers, you will lose out on a lot of revenue. Many companies gain most of their revenue from the additional products that people purchase, as the first product sale is often needed to cover the costs of advertising. People who are buying are already in the mindset of spending money and will usually buy more than what they originally planned to.

For more sales tips and information on how to sell better online, contact us today and ask about our services.

May 10, 2018May 17, 2018

5 Ways to Tap Into Human Nature to Increase Sales

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Every good sales professional knows how to tap into human nature to increase sales. Understanding what influences people to make a purchasing decision will help you boost your revenue. Here are some important things that will bring you more sales.

Scarcity

Scarcity increases value. Human nature is to want that which we do not have. If something is in abundance, people will have less of a desire for it. You have to create a perception of scarcity to increase sales. One way to do this is by offering a limited-offer discount.

Reciprocity

People tend to reciprocate favors and good deeds. If you offer your customers valuable information and tips, great customer service and discount opportunities, human nature will lead them to reciprocate the favors by purchasing your products. They will also be more likely to recommend you to a friend.

Social Proof

We tend to measure something’s worth based on how other people value it. Social proof is very important when it comes to sales. Boost the social proof of a product by encouraging your customers to leave five-star reviews and testimonials. Boost the social proof of your company overall by building your social media channels and getting followers and likes.

Authority

Similar to social proof, people tend to place more value on a statement or product that comes from an authority figure. Build up your authority by becoming an information source online, both on your website, on Youtube, and on your social media channels. Start a PR campaign and book appearances on media channels.

Unity

People like to feel as if they are part of something, whether that be a family, a tradition, a belief system, or shared values. That is why your company needs to have a mission and a purpose.

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