The ultimate implementation guide for software payment processing

How to implement a software payment solution to elevate your business management platform

The software industry has always had the reputation of advancing at breakneck speeds. Driven by the ever-present urgency to meet market demands, software providers have consistently been in a race to deliver a customer experience that rivals their competition.

In recent years, many have discovered the value of Embedded Payments to elevate that experience. What once functioned as a cost center for software providers, has become one of the most strategic moves for unlocking competitive differentiation and overall growth.

In this guide, discover the different models of software payment processing, the benefits, and the steps for effectively implementing payments solutions that elevate your software.

The value of embedding payments solutions into software

While certainly an expedient path for generating new revenue streams, the benefits of embedding payments go beyond monetization opportunities. Especially as software companies turn their focus to optimizing the user experience, there are advantages to expanding platform capabilities with software payment processing.

Gain greater control of the customer experience

Historically, software companies outsourced payments, which gave them very little say in the experience their users had once they moved from the software interface into the payment environment of a third party. Embedding payment processing capabilities directly into a platform, however, grants software companies greater control over the payment experience. It offers opportunities to remove any points of friction, maintain brand continuity, and design and deliver an ideal overall user experience at every stage — from onboarding to ongoing customer support.

Boost user acquisition and retention

Keeping your customers within your own environment to process payments gives you the opportunity to drive deeper engagement and create longer-term value for them. With a more comprehensive platform, complete with built-in payments solutions, your customers have greater reason to depend on your software for every part of their business management and view your platform as their overall operating system.

Six steps for embedding payments solutions into your software

Once you’ve made the decision to integrate payments into your platform, it can be difficult to know where to begin. We’ve outlined these six steps to help you easily create your path forward and implement an Embedded Payments strategy designed to elevate your software.

Step 1: Identify the best Embedded Payments model based on your business goals

Software payment processing integrations can take different forms. Choosing the model that best complements your platform will depend on the needs of your customers, your appetite for risk versus reward, your current available resources and capabilities, and your business goals.

The different types of Embedded Payments models

There are three common models of Embedded Payments and each offers its own level of control, complexity, risk, operational requirements, and monetization opportunities.

• Referral partnership
• Payment facilitation (PayFac^®)
• Payment facilitation-as-a-Service (PayFac-as-a-Service)

Step 2: Find the right payments solutions partner

As you embark on a journey into the payments world, you’ll quickly discover its many complexities. Finding a partner that can guide you along the way will be key to your success. Your ideal Embedded Payments partner will:

• Help you identify the right Embedded Payments model for your platform
• Create a frictionless payment experience based on your customers’ needs
• Deliver scalable payments solutions that flex with your evolution and enable growth
• Provide guidance every step of the way, from selling motions to marketing, implementation, and ongoing customer support

Step 3: Integrate, implement, and onboard

The ideal Embedded Payments partner will also work with you to create a plan for seamlessly integrating your payments solutions and implementing the required resources and processes to support your new capabilities. As payment experts, they’ll also guide you through the intricacies of merchant onboarding and support to ensure you’re delivering an experience to your customers that meets your standards.

Step 4: Address security and PCI compliance

One of the most critical pieces of embedding payments solutions is understanding the responsibilities of payment security and PCI compliance. This is another area in which to lean heavily on your Embedded Payments partner, as they will have the expertise and resources to help you manage risk, remain compliant, and protect your customers from the pervasive threats of payment fraud and data breaches.

Step 5: Optimize the user experience

This is where the real magic happens. Because Embedded Payments gives you greater control over the payment experience, you can create a customer journey that aligns with your software platform, your brand, and level of standards to generate an optimal user experience that boosts acquisition and stretches the lifetime of your users.

Step 6: Establish and track key performance metrics

Ensure you’re measuring the success of your Embedded Payments implementation by establishing your software’s key performance metrics and checking your progress against them regularly. An ideal partner will support this process, ensure you’re staying on track to meet your goals, and help you recalibrate when necessary.

Experience frictionless implementation of software payment processing with Payrix

The key to successfully embedding payments solutions into your software is the quality of the implementation. Going beyond plug-and-play solutions, it’s important to find a partner that can create a plan based on your unique business and then guide you through your full Embedded Payments journey.

Payrix offers payment processing solutions that are tailored to meet your customers’ needs and support your business goals — now and into the future. Our implementation process is built on transparency, flexibility, and full support. We ensure our software partners understand every step of the process so there aren’t any surprises and you can focus on successfully growing the payments piece of your business.

Learn more about what you can expect from a Payrix implementation by listening to this PayFAQ: Embedded Payments podcast episode.