Intellivative Payment Solutions without Borders

I see a lot of fantastically innovative applications out there, where creative developers take APIs and make all kinds of new functionality with them.  A stop by ProgrammableWeb shows so many great ideas–every day there are new web applications (or “mashups”) built by simply combining two or more APIs in a new, sometimes unexpected way.

Well, we’re wondering what people might do with the Intellivative Payments API. The goal of our payments API is to simplify adding payment functions (e.g., credit card, debit card, echeck transactions; recurring payments; card on file) to business applications–making it easier to integrate payments into whatever it is you might want to build.

So what WOULD you get if you crossed a payments API with a:

• billing API, an e-mail service, and an SMS messaging service?
• travel service and a map?
• claims processing system?
• movie?
• retail store, SMS messaging service and shipping API(s)?
• Twitter?

Perhaps none of these are groundbreaking ideas–some of them I’m sure have already been done. But maybe you have a business idea that hasn’t been done, or maybe a way to do something that has been done, only better. Or perhaps you have a new twist on an old business idea? Whatever it is, we’d like to hear it.

Are you a developer? Would you like us to feature your work on our blog? Tell us–What would you build with the Intellivative Payments API?  We’d love to tell your story.

(Add a comment below by clicking on the little thought bubble thingy.)

Not long ago, we posted Personalization: does it help eCommerce sales? Today, Linda Bustos on Get Elastic posted an article with some fantastic examples of how personalization can help make the user’s shopping experience more relevant, and how it can help you do more effective cross-selling, upselling, and more targeted e-mail marketing. All of this, if relevant to the user’s goals, makes an online shopping experience more enjoyable.

She points to some examples from Amazon–ever noticed how the site remembers what you searched on last if you didn’t purchase, and when you go back to visit again, it presents you with items that are related to your last search? If you hadn’t found that item yet–or got interrupted and never finished buying that birthday gift for your niece, for example, it makes your shopping experience so much easier and can even serve as a reminder for undone tasks. As a retailer, think upsell–not only are you more likely to get the sale  to satisfy the intent of their current visit, you’re also likely to sell them on whatever they had intended to buy on the last visit.

As humans, we like it when people remember us, and a web site seems much more friendly and human if it remembers what we wanted and presents us with options that we like. It’s even better if the site can identify our personality type (or buying modalities) and speak to us in language that we identify with.

In eCommerce, if you can take online shopping and make it into a delightful experience (rather than the frustration that people regularly experience on so many eCommerce web stores), you’re going to encourage your shoppers to come back over and over again–and tell all their friends. Repeat sales go up, customers are happy, life is good. 

So take a careful look at your eCommerce traffic and ask yourself what your visitors’ behavior can tell you–how can you turn that knowledge into a more personalized shopping excursion for all your customers?

Read the article from Get Elastic for some great ideas.

If you’re new to eCommerce, it might seem like a daunting task to figure out how to get your web site to process credit card and debit card payments electronically. Fortunately, there are a lot of companies that have already figured out  the hard parts–all you have to do is pick the right one for you. So, where to start?

Well, in order to accept credit cards and debit cards, you need a payment gateway like Intellivative (others include Authorize.net, LinkPoint, Verisign, Paypal, …). But there are a lot of other factors involved …

Where are you going to host your eCommerce web site?

You might already have part this figured out, but if you haven’t, you’ll need to choose and purchase a domain name for your web site (check its availability first!) and find a place to host it. Large businesses might host the site on their own web server, but smaller businesses probably want to hire an Internet Service Provider to do that part.

How big of an online store do you want?

Are you selling 2 different products, 100, or 1,000? The scale of your online store is going to make a big difference in your web store’s strategy.

If you have just a handful of products to sell, you’re not going to need a whole lot. A “Buy Now” button from PayPal or Google might be enough–or you may be able to sell your products on an auction site like eBay or Amazon.

But when you’re ready to move beyond selling a few products online, you’ll need an online shopping solution with more functionality. That’s where shopping carts come in. If you have more than 5 – 10 products, you’re going to need a shopping cart. 

Should you build your eCommerce store yourself, hire someone to build it, or buy a pre-made solution?

Nowadays, it’s not necessary to solve it all yourself (unless you just enjoy doing that kind of thing). A pre-built shopping cart can give you so many features it would be difficult to build yourself. You still might want to hire someone to help you, but most likely you can find a cart that will meet your needs. 

You can find shopping carts that will provide all kinds of bells and whistles–the question becomes which bells and whistles are important for your store’s success?

Here are some of the features you might find offered:

 The lists of features alone can be overwhelming, but really, it’s best not to have too many, at least to start with. Think about making your store simple for the user to find what they want, add it to the cart, and purchase it. Some of the “features” can sometimes get in the way of that one primary goal. Keep yourself focused on the goal, and don’t let yourself get too bogged down in features.

What’s really important on an eCommerce site is:

• a straightforward user shopping experience–this is your number one goal. Make sure you shop some of the stores that use the cart you’re considering. Notice how easy or hard it is to select an item and make a purchase.
• pleasant, uncluttered design–does the cart allow you to create a design layout that makes sense, without overwhelming the user, yet still allow them to easily find what they’re looking for?
• sufficient information–people need enough info about your products/services to make a decision. What types of tools do you need to give shoppers enough information about your products? Does the cart allow drill-down to product details? Multiple product images? Product comparisons? Test out each tool you’re thinking about using to see how straightforward and helpful they are.
• secure online transactions–even experienced shoppers have reservations about handing over their credit card numbers. Make sure all the software you employ on your site is PCI compliant.
• search engine optimization–your store has to be found first, and search engines are critical to making that happen. What does the cart do to support that?
• support after the sale–shipping integration, email notification and order tracking are customer touchpoints that can make a big difference in customer retention. Does the cart offer sufficient tools to allow you to do that?

Make sure the cart supports these essentials, but also think to the future. What are your long-term goals for this site? Will the shopping cart you’ve selected be able to grow as your business grows or will you have to switch solutions? Switching solutions later can be expensive and timeconsuming. 

What comes after the cart?

Once you’ve figured out the shopping cart problem, you still need a payment gateway to integrate with your cart and a merchant account where proceeds from your sales will be deposited.

A payment gateway connects your online store to the payment processing networks and banks. The payment transactions are handled electronically, via a secured Internet connection. Some carts will partner with a payment provider; others will allow you more flexibility. It’s always better to choose a cart that allows you the flexibility to choose your gateway, so if you want to switch down the line, you don’t have to change your entire store around.

Similarly, it’s beneficial to choose a gateway that allows you to change your merchant account. Gateways that connect to more than one merchant account provider help because it allows you to shop around and get the best deal as your business changes. A merchant account provider that suits your business today may get expensive in terms of merchant account fees when you grow past a certain size.

Speaking of that, Intellivative is currently integrating with three new bank networks, which will greatly increase your choices for merchant accounts, without having to change your eCommerce store setup.

Give us a chance to show you how much you can gain (and save!) with Intellivative. Contact us for a free, no-obligation quote today.

If you’re new to eCommerce, it might seem like a daunting task to figure out how to get your web site to process credit card and debit card payments electronically. Fortunately, there are a lot of companies that have already figured out  the hard parts–all you have to do is pick the right one for you. So, where to start?

Well, in order to accept credit cards and debit cards, you need a payment gateway like Intellivative (others include Authorize.net, LinkPoint, Verisign, Paypal, …). But there are a lot of other factors involved …

Where are you going to host your eCommerce web site?

You might already have part this figured out, but if you haven’t, you’ll need to choose and purchase a domain name for your web site (check its availability first!) and find a place to host it. Large businesses might host the site on their own web server, but smaller businesses probably want to hire an Internet Service Provider to do that part.

How big of an online store do you want?

Are you selling 2 different products, 100, or 1,000? The scale of your online store is going to make a big difference in your web store’s strategy.

If you have just a handful of products to sell, you’re not going to need a whole lot. A “Buy Now” button from PayPal or Google might be enough–or you may be able to sell your products on an auction site like eBay or Amazon.

But when you’re ready to move beyond selling a few products online, you’ll need an online shopping solution with more functionality. That’s where shopping carts come in. If you have more than 5 – 10 products, you’re going to need a shopping cart. 

Should you build your eCommerce store yourself, hire someone to build it, or buy a pre-made solution?

Nowadays, it’s not necessary to solve it all yourself (unless you just enjoy doing that kind of thing). A pre-built shopping cart can give you so many features it would be difficult to build yourself. You still might want to hire someone to help you, but most likely you can find a cart that will meet your needs. 

You can find shopping carts that will provide all kinds of bells and whistles–the question becomes which bells and whistles are important for your store’s success?

Here are some of the features you might find offered:

 The lists of features alone can be overwhelming, but really, it’s best not to have too many, at least to start with. Think about making your store simple for the user to find what they want, add it to the cart, and purchase it. Some of the “features” can sometimes get in the way of that one primary goal. Keep yourself focused on the goal, and don’t let yourself get too bogged down in features.

What’s really important on an eCommerce site is:

• a straightforward user shopping experience–this is your number one goal. Make sure you shop some of the stores that use the cart you’re considering. Notice how easy or hard it is to select an item and make a purchase.
• pleasant, uncluttered design–does the cart allow you to create a design layout that makes sense, without overwhelming the user, yet still allow them to easily find what they’re looking for?
• sufficient information–people need enough info about your products/services to make a decision. What types of tools do you need to give shoppers enough information about your products? Does the cart allow drill-down to product details? Multiple product images? Product comparisons? Test out each tool you’re thinking about using to see how straightforward and helpful they are.
• secure online transactions–even experienced shoppers have reservations about handing over their credit card numbers. Make sure all the software you employ on your site is PCI compliant.
• search engine optimization–your store has to be found first, and search engines are critical to making that happen. What does the cart do to support that?
• support after the sale–shipping integration, email notification and order tracking are customer touchpoints that can make a big difference in customer retention. Does the cart offer sufficient tools to allow you to do that?

Make sure the cart supports these essentials, but also think to the future. What are your long-term goals for this site? Will the shopping cart you’ve selected be able to grow as your business grows or will you have to switch solutions? Switching solutions later can be expensive and timeconsuming. 

What comes after the cart?

Once you’ve figured out the shopping cart problem, you still need a payment gateway to integrate with your cart and a merchant account where proceeds from your sales will be deposited.

A payment gateway connects your online store to the payment processing networks and banks. The payment transactions are handled electronically, via a secured Internet connection. Some carts will partner with a payment provider; others will allow you more flexibility. It’s always better to choose a cart that allows you the flexibility to choose your gateway, so if you want to switch down the line, you don’t have to change your entire store around.

Similarly, it’s beneficial to choose a gateway that allows you to change your merchant account. Gateways that connect to more than one merchant account provider help because it allows you to shop around and get the best deal as your business changes. A merchant account provider that suits your business today may get expensive in terms of merchant account fees when you grow past a certain size.

Speaking of that, Intellivative is currently integrating with three new bank networks, which will greatly increase your choices for merchant accounts, without having to change your eCommerce store setup.

Give us a chance to show you how much you can gain (and save!) with Intellivative. Contact us for a free, no-obligation quote today.