The constant innovation of the payments industry is pushing businesses to offer modern payment acceptance options or risk being left behind.
Thanks in part to pandemic-driven innovation, today's consumers have become accustomed to modern order and payment options such as:
- Order online, pick up in-store
- Curbside and same-day delivery
- Contactless payment options (Apple Pay, Google Pay)
- Mobile ordering capabilities
Because there are more ways to place an order or make a purchase than ever before, every consumer has developed a different preference. Business owners who want to stay competitive need a payment solution to meet as many of these preferences as possible.
You can help business owners like these find the comprehensive solution they need by developing a payment partnership with a reputable merchant services provider.
What is a Merchant Services Provider?
Before we get to the good stuff, here’s a quick breakdown of what we mean by “merchant services provider”.
At their core, merchant services are the services a business uses to accept and process payments. There are many ways to accept payments today, which makes the term “merchant services” quite broad. It could refer to anything from full-scale point of sale solutions to payment gateways, mobile payment acceptance tools, and more.
A merchant services provider is the company that provides the hardware and software involved with accepting and processing payments.
For example, Electronic Merchant Systems (EMS) is a leading merchant services provider and payment processor. To best serve our customers and partners, we provide innovative, secure products and services including:
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Mobile Payment Acceptance Solutions
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Retail and Restaurant Point of Sale Solutions
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Custom Gift and Loyalty Card Programs
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eCommerce, Payment Gateways/Virtual Terminals, and Web Design
Partnering with a merchant services provider like EMS will allow your financial institution to provide these payment processing and acceptance solutions to your business customers.
The right program will create valuable connections for all involved parties and will offer specific advantages for your financial institution.
Payment Partnership Advantages
Entering into a partnership with a top-quality merchant services provider should be a lucrative endeavor for any financial institution. To help the partnership thrive, there should be a mutual understanding of commitment and trust from the very beginning.
An expectation of frequent communication should be established from both sides, especially when your partnership is new. Keeping in frequent contact with your payment partner will help you both establish a strategy and understand each other's goals. Working closely together will also drive roots of trust deeper into your partnership's foundation, helping to encourage steady growth.
Once you have established a solid payment partnership, here are a few of the benefits your financial institution can expect:
Deposit Growth
We’re willing to guess that building deposits is a priority for your institution, which is why we put this advantage first. Merchant services enable businesses to accept credit card payments and automatically deposit them into their account.
Therefore, when you set up a new customer with a business checking account and merchant services solution, you set yourself up for a steady stream of deposits from that business. Before long, your business will go from a community institution to a community necessity!
Community Loyalty
That brings us to the second advantage: community loyalty. Many people, including business owners, are loyal to the communities in which they live. They strive to shop at local stores and manage their money with local institutions, in support of the economy in their hometown.
Local business loyalty is a huge, built-in advantage for your institution. Offering dynamic merchant services solutions only enhances that advantage!
Make sure the provider you choose is willing to assist you with marketing materials and messages, so you can spread the word about your merchant services offerings.
Upsell Opportunities
You can use merchant services to increase customer loyalty and engagement, but also to win new business and grow deposits. This is because merchant services products offer great upsell opportunities.
For example, let’s say a business owner comes to your institution in search of a simple credit card acceptance terminal. Of course, this is something you can provide through your merchant services partnership. However, depending on the solutions your partner provides, you may have an opportunity to upsell the business owner to a more advanced product such as a complete point of sale system.
This is an incredible advantage for your financial institution if you’re earning residual income on merchant services sales.
Improve Customer Success Rates
Another payment partnership advantage is the power to help your business customers improve their success rates. For example, if your customer conducts business on the go, they may need a payment gateway to accept simple, secure payments online. You can provide them with this solution and offer to pair it with an in-person mobile payment acceptance option as well.
When your customer has the power to accept payments online, over the phone, and in-person, they can rapidly improve success rates with their customers and grow their business overall.
Become an EMS Payment Partner
A payment partnership should help you retain more customers and avoid getting lost beneath the competition.
Electronic Merchant Systems has been helping financial institutions like yours discover new opportunities for growth for more than 30 years. We offer secure payment processing and merchant services for merchants across the United States, and a partnership with us means you can too!
A partnership with EMS means personal, loyal attention. When you join our professional network, you’ll be assigned a dedicated Business Development Manager who will take the time to get to know your business and the merchants you serve.
Additional benefits of becoming an EMS Payment Partner include:
- 24/7/365 live support for you and your customers
- Merchant services sales training & marketing support
- A partnership customized to your needs
- Local assistance from our offices across the United States
Contact us today to learn more or to talk about entering into a partnership with Electronic Merchant Systems.
Sources: PYMNTS.com, PYMNTS.com
