Payment processing is essential to the operations of any modern business. For the more than 150,000 companies using Salesforce as their CRM, it would only make sense to handle billing through Salesforce as well.
By using a native payment processing app, businesses avoid having to use separate apps or migrate data. This scaling of billing operations within Salesforce leads to better cash flow management, increased customer retention, and better financial forecasting.
This article will serve as a guide to making the switch to a Salesforce payments processing app. We’ll explore the benefits, important terminology, popular features, security capabilities, and questions to ask when choosing the right app for your business.
Why Should I Use Salesforce Payments?
You may find there are plenty of reasons a Salesforce-native payment processing app fits your business’s workflow, but here are some of the main reasons companies use them:
- It saves time: You’re turning multiple payment steps into one. A streamlined quote-to-cash process means faster deposits and fewer errors, which leads to a better customer experience. Data only needs to be entered once, lowering the chance for human error.
- It gives you a 360-degree customer view: Having one source of truth gives increased insight into your data and reporting efficiency. This opens up opportunities for upselling and contract renewals. Seeing your customer’s payment history and account activity in Salesforce can help your team stay better informed and equipped to provide support, ideally decreasing churn.
- It provides more flexibility in the way you take payments: With Salesforce payments, most users can leverage their preferred payment processors in the way that best works for them, such as taking payments through Field Service Lightning, community for partners or clients, over the phone, via text message, embedded in contracts, and much more. These can offer customers a quick, seamless checkout experience that’s optimized for their device and location.
Note: it is essential to understand when considering an app to integrate Salesforce payments that several features and components are working behind the scenes to complete a transaction.
Many businesses find success using Salesforce-native payment solutions – here are two different examples:
SaaS organizations
SaaS organizations that offer multiple software solutions can manage customer payments through subscriptions and adjust based on multiple usage tiers.
Customer data and subscription plans live in sync within a payment processing app. Companies do not need to switch between programs to view customers and their subscription selections, or manually send invoice data. Credit and debit cards can be processed directly from a Salesforce account. Transaction data is connected to a customer’s records through a unique transaction record, and their payment data isn’t stored within Salesforce.
Since organizations are better able to keep track of invoicing information, customers are also able to receive better support through the process, if needed.
Vacation rental app
Payment processing is a large part of rental agreements, from sign-up, to funding and invoicing throughout the entire relationship. With large monetary transactions occurring between parties, customers and business owners want a streamlined process that is easy to understand and use.
By using Salesforce payments solutions, businesses can automate transactions safely and securely while also having access to view statements and payout timing within their Salesforce system. This keeps the information accessible and all in one place.
As well as this, customers have an efficient onboarding process that makes it easier and safer for them to input payment information and have payments processed. Both charges and refunds are managed in a PCI-compliant fashion, ensuring their information is safe and secure.
Payment Gateway vs. Payment Processor
If you’re unfamiliar with the terminology and components of payment processing, you may now wonder about the difference between payment gateways and processors.
Payment gateways are the bridge between your business and your customers. Examples include Stripe and Auhorize.net. They capture a customer’s payment information and send it to the payment processor.
Then, the payment processor passes that data onto the issuing bank. The bank verifies if there are enough funds to run the payment. The processor, such as PayPal, ApplePay or Google Pay, then tells the gateway if the transaction was successful or not.
Popular Features of Payment Processing Apps
There are several different features between the apps on the market. Here are four that you may find to be essential for business operations.
Subscriptions
Subscription models are increasing in popularity. While many customers like the “set it and forget it” method, they can be complex for businesses. You need to track revenue generated, who has or hasn’t paid, who is on what plan, etc.
Some payment processing apps can create forward-looking transactions in Salesforce based on your preferred criteria. That includes automated invoicing, scheduling recurring and open-ended payments, and sending new card requests after declined transactions.
ACH payment processing
Not every customer will want to make a payment with a credit card. ACH payments provide a way to transfer money from one bank to another through the Automated Clearing House Network. The timing of the transfer will vary depending on the financial institutions involved.
Real-time reporting
Real-time reporting leverages your data, allowing for more accurate sales forecasting, and fine-tuned planning. It can be cumbersome if you have to look at your revenue in your billing platform and then go into your customer database to see what accounts have been updated, flagged, or are past due. Real-time reporting can show cycles of decline and growth, why customers cancel service and when, or what payment methods and channels your customers prefer.
Security
According to the Identity Theft Resource Center, data breaches reached a record high in 2021. The number of data compromises was up more than 68% compared to 2020 and 23% over the previous all-time high. This shows the importance of finding a PCI-compliant app that offers built-in security capabilities.
One example of secure handling is client-side tokenization. That means the card details are sent directly from the user’s browser to the gateway. The card details never hit Salesforce, only the tokenized form of the card is stored. If a data breach were to occur, hackers would not see the card information because it would be encrypted – and therefore safe.
Which Payment Processing App Do I Select?
Now that you’ve taken all of this information into account, it’s time to explore the option of a payment processing app for your business. Here are some questions to ask when inquiring about a potential app.
- What features in the app make the process more convenient for the customer?
- How many payment gateways and processors does the app support?
- Does the app process in any currency?
- What are the built-in security features?
- Is it easy to set up, and does it require any coding?
- Does the app offer quick support if you run into issues?
Accepting payments from customers can be more challenging than it appears. Once you have answers to the questions above, you’ll be able to narrow down the options to see what’s the best fit for your company. You can then review your current procedures and decide whether it’s time to switch to using a Salesforce payments solution.
Final Thoughts
Overall, a payment processing app is a great addition to an organization’s Salesforce workflow. We have learned how switching to a native solution could help your company to capture more revenue, increase operational efficiencies, and strengthen customer relationships, while offering a secure and easy method for handling your payments.
If you feel that Salesforce-native payment processing could benefit your company, this guide will be a great starting point when researching which app will be the best fit for your business needs.
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