The Embedded Payments industry is growing rapidly, with expected revenue to reach $138 billion in 2026, an increase of 197% since 2021, according to Forbes.
The market opportunity speaks for itself, and software companies are taking advantage by embedding payments into their platform's experience. However, the decision to integrate payment acceptance into your software, or optimize your current solution, is one thing; finding the best provider for your unique software is something else entirely.
It's important that your company carefully evaluates Embedded Payments partners to ensure you choose the right option for your platform. Your discovery of the best partner will require research, but also an understanding of what you should be looking for. Below, we explore the seven key criteria every software company should consider when searching for the best Embedded Payments partner.
At the core of your payments partnership is the technology that has the potential to transform your platform and enhance the experience for your users. It should fit seamlessly into your technology stack but should also be able to drive innovation and scale that will keep you competitive in the market. Be on the lookout for future-forward technology, scalable solutions, omnichannel capabilities, real-time payments management, secure technology, and add-on products and services.
The growth, longevity, and overall success of payments hinges on your ability to market and sell your services to your platform users. Ensure you're well-supported by a partner who can offer programs and services that drive user adoption and expand your full payments potential. When evaluating, ask providers about their experience offering marketing support, sales training and education, payment strategy for software companies, and more.
You should feel supported at every stage of your Embedded Payments journey. Your payments offering has the potential to become a major growth and retention driver for your business, and you want to get it right. It's important that you partner with a provider who can offer you an experience personalized to your business, particularly in these key areas: developer-focused integrations, digital implementation process, value-added services (beyond payments), technology strategy, and more.
The health of your Embedded Payments solution is tied to customer adoption, onboarding, and activation. Only when your software users begin processing payments through your platform can you start to measure the success of your new offering. Partnering with a provider who understands this and is well-prepared to orchestrate your customer implementation and adoption efforts is essential to your success.
The challenges, goals, user base, and platform technology that makes your software company unique deserve personalized support. This is certainly not the time for a "one-size-fits-all" partner. Therefore, it's critical to align yourself with a partner who has dedicated experts at the ready who can support you with things like implementation strategy and solutions consulting today and tomorrow.
When it comes to payments, security is something you can't overlook. This is an area that requires constant dedication and enhancement. As data breaches and other attacks become more prevalent and sophisticated, you need a partner who has the experience and knowledge to stay ahead of threats and strengthen your platform from every angle. The security capabilities of your partner should be smarter than the bad actors, with the ability to monitor thousands of transactions in real time, analyzing unusual patterns to detect and prevent fraud. Therefore, you'll want to make sure your partner of choice is well-versed in risk mitigation, fraud, and PCI compliance, just to name a few.
The ideal partner will help you develop a payments plan that aligns with your business goals. They should be able to get you in the market swiftly yet strategically. Heavily weigh partner attributes like an established reputation, global reach and scalability, customer-centric mentality, commitment to innovation, and more.
Your decision to embed payments into your software is one that can drive real value for your platform and overall growth, and be a competitive differentiation for your business, but it takes the right partner to make that possible.