Successful VARs and ISVs emphasize creating solutions that enhance the customer experience not only for the consumer but also for their customers, the merchants themselves. VARs and ISVs that provide solutions that improve user experiences will build longer-lasting relationships that capture attention in your market, helping you grow your business.

Features that Enhance SMB Merchants’ User Experiences

When developing solutions that enhance merchant experiences, understanding the challenges merchants must overcome in today’s retail environment will be key to meeting their needs. Here’s what to keep in mind when providing solutions that will enhance user experiences:

• Easy to Use and Learn
  Turnover rates in the retail industry are at a record-high 60 percent, while the rate in the restaurant industry is a staggering 75 percent. Merchants are challenged to recruit and retain staff, let alone ensure they are trained as quickly and effectively as possible. ISVs and VARs should provide systems that are easy to learn and use, making training easier. This decreases the risk businesses take with training while also reducing stress for new hires.
  
  

  Additionally, systems that are easy to learn and use help increase employee productivity. With the right tech at their fingertips to support workflows, employees can focus on their core job responsibilities more, leading to happier, more satisfied employees who stay employed longer and can devote time to enhancing customer experiences. Overall, it helps them be more successful at their jobs.
  
  

• Network and Payment Security
  According to Juniper Research, North America has the highest fraudulent transaction value globally, accounting for over 42 percent of ecommerce fraud. It’s predicted that the total cost of ecommerce fraud to merchants this year will exceed $48 billion globally. Additionally, Trustwave reports that cyberattacks target retail more than any other sector, and the average cost of a data breach in retail is $2.9 million on average.

  ISVs and VARs must understand that network and payment security has never been more of a priority for SMB merchants and should develop solutions that keep payment data safe and help to spot and stop fraud with:   

• • Frictionless, air-tight, and easy-to-access security features, which make meeting PCI compliance requirements and following security best practices easier.
  • Solutions that automate some aspects of the security user experience, such as requiring multifactor authentication.
  • Fraud prevention measures for merchants, for example, solutions that leverage artificial intelligence (AI) to quickly detect fraudulent activity.
    
    

• Affordable and Flexible Options
  Enhancing the merchant user experience means developing solutions that are processor and device-agnostic. This gives SMB merchants the freedom to choose the POS software, payment features, and functionality they need at prices they can afford. Additionally, give merchants the flexibility to choose the operating system that will be the best fit for their business. Keep in mind that Android is growing in popularity for its flexibility and usability and IT environments that are easy to manage and expand.
  
  

• Tech Support
  SMB merchants often don’t have internal IT resources, so providing them the support they need, as well as affordable service options, can be a differentiator that helps ISVs and VARs win more business. Remote monitoring and updates can maximize uptime for your clients while causing minimal disruption to their workflows.
  
  

How to Enhance Merchant Experiences with Payments

Even if you have long-standing relationships with clients, you can strengthen them by improving merchants’ user experiences. The right payments partner, for example, can allow you to offer new payment methods and value-added services that can enhance experiences and help merchants capture more revenues. Choose a partner with an omnichannel solution so merchants can manage payments on all channels and devices from one platform, whether the transaction was made online, at the counter, through self-service, or via mobile POS. Additionally, a payment partner leveraging a modular payment model further enhances merchant experiences by allowing them to select the services and solutions that align best with their unique needs.

Remember, merchants are your customers. Delivering solutions that enhance their user experience leads to greater satisfaction and increased customer retention. Take time to learn what SMB merchants need from tech and payment solutions and build systems that provide the best experiences possible.