No one could have predicted that at the end of 2021 we’d still be in the midst of a pandemic. Consumer and business payment trends that emerged in reaction to lockdowns beginning in 2020 have became mainstays over the course of 2021.
As our readers navigated this evolving world of digital payments, here are the top 10 blog posts that resonated the most:
Strategies for Avoiding the Pitfalls of Cross-Border Selling
BlueSnap CEO Ralph Dangelmaier recently spoke with Inc. about our survey on cross-border payments and the missteps some companies make as they continue to expand and sell in international markets. He also shares advice to help businesses optimize their payments to go global.
The Business Case for AR Automation [Infographic]
While manual Accounts Receivable is a definite time suck for your AR team, that’s really just the beginning. Such inefficient and unproductive practices can have widespread impact on all of your business’s resources, from people to cash flow projections to vendor payments. Learn more in this infographic that outlines why your business should ditch manual invoicing processes for AR automation. Your bottom line will thank you.
It’s Time for Your Software Platform to Join in the Payments Business
With so many growth opportunities as B2B transactions move online, payment facilitators (PayFacs) are now competing to integrate with software platforms by offering revenue-sharing deals and competitive advantages like cross-border payments, seamless customer onboarding,f raud protection, marketplace payments and invoicing. If you are a software platform, now is the time to partner with a PayFac that meets you and your customers’ needs, allowing you to tap a new revenue stream and provide your clients a better payment product and onboarding experience. But proceed with caution: while the right partner could increase your earnings potential and improve your clients’ experience, the wrong partner could do just the opposite.
5 Ways to Improve Your Debit and Credit Card Authorization Rates
No matter the size or reach of your company, card authorization rates matter. That’s especially true in global eCommerce, where cards are a fundamental pillar of online payments, even as other payment types, like digital wallets, grow in popularity. Simply put, this rate measures what percentage of the debit and credit card transactions that your business handles are authorized, as opposed to declined. If your customers’ cards are declined, they are unable to complete their transaction — and for big-ticket items or high-traffic seasons, that can be an expensive problem. In other words, card authorization rates reflect how much business you may be losing to declined cards.
3 Questions to Ask About Your Global Online Payment Processing Solution
For international businesses, accepting payments globally becomes more complicated as they add more countries and markets. Processing cross-border payments can quickly become cumbersome and overwhelming, and what works in one geography may not work in another. While many payment vendors do not offer the full suite of solutions to truly support and optimize global online payment processing, there is hope. Businesses just need to know what to look for when choosing a solution to help them accept payments globally.
Time for a New Payment Processor? [Quiz]
As your business grows, you’re going to have to overcome new challenges, but your approach to processing digital payments doesn’t have to be one of them. The right payment solution should provide the flexibility and expertise to boost your growing sales and reduce costs. Put your payment solution to the test with this short quiz to see if you’ve chosen wisely.
5 B2B Invoicing Missteps and How Invoice Automation Can Help
While invoicing and collecting payments are the lifeblood of any B2B business, many companies still rely on manual processes, which can lead to a number of issues. What many businesses haven’t considered — or may not even know — is that invoicing and collecting payments can be automated, making the process simpler, more efficient and more successful. Here are 5 common problems that manual accounts receivable processes present and how AR and invoice automation software can solve them for your business.
3 Reasons Why Your International Business Needs Local Acquiring
For businesses that operate in more than one country, local acquiring is critical. Local acquiring, or processing cross-border payments as if they were local, has multiple benefits. As businesses grow in size and depend more on international sales, the benefits of local acquiring grow exponentially; when your business is processing hundreds of thousands of transactions a month, even a 1% to 2% fee on some of those transactions adds up quickly.
Business Without Borders: A Guide to Local Currencies [Infographic]
Global eCommerce is growing, and every time you sell into a new market, you need to be prepared to meet the location’s unique needs. We’ve put together this infographic as your passport to business without borders. Read on for the currencies, payment types and most popular eCommerce categories for some of the world’s most popular eCommerce hot spots:
Integrated Payments for Education Software Providers: The Benefits of Offering Online School Payments
Education software platforms provide an incredibly valuable service to both schools and parents, and integrating a payment solution to enable online school payments makes that service offering even more robust and attractive. Parents want to pay school fees the same way they pay for many other items: electronically and friction-free. By integrating payments for things like school fees, field trips and after-school programs directly into the platform parents and schools already use, providers can add significant value for their clients. The right partner can also help you monetize your platform with a thoughtful payments integration.