Top four ways to make your payments more secure

Businesses of all sizes must ensure their customers are able to make secure payments, but it is especially important for small businesses and start-ups. This is because any payment security issues can quickly lead to a bad reputation which will – at the very least – seriously hinder growth.

It is an unfortunate fact that most payment methods contain some element of risk as there will always be criminals trying their luck. However, you can minimise such risks by understanding what is the most secure payment method, as well as providing a variety of secure payment options from which your customers can choose their preference.

In this guide we will talk you through the top four ways to make your payments more secure. 

Secure payments in Australia

To offer secure payments, Australia-based ecommerce businesses have a number of options available to offer their customers. These include:

• credit or debit cards

• prepaid cards

• secure online payment services

• mobile payments

Let’s look more closely at these secure payment methods. 

Credit or debit cards

Both credit and debit cards have their security issues, but they are still a very secure method of paying for goods online. They are both convenient for customers and businesses, and fraud security for them has improved in recent years and will continue to evolve according to cybersecurity needs.

It is a great option to offer customers as many are not aware of – or care about – the alternative secure payment methods described below. Bear in mind, though, that there is an ever-growing demographic that does prefer such alternative payment methods, so offering more than one secure payment method is advisable to maximise your conversion rate.

Prepaid cards

Special cards you load up with money ahead of a purchase and which only allow you to spend the amount you loaded up are a less popular but also very secure payment method. They can usually be bought from supermarkets and servos, and enable customers to purchase goods online anonymously without the purchase being recorded in their bank account.

Secure online payments services

There are a number of alternative secure payments services that you can offer your customers, such as a Unified Payment Interface (UPI) or direct debit. The UPI method is a digital payment system in which users can send money from one bank account to another, even between different banks.

The direct debit payment system is a very secure payment method, for both the customer and the business. If a business offers this option to a customer, then the customer authorises the payment to their bank, and the bank allows only the agreed payment to be pulled at the agreed time and date to be deposited into the recipient account.

Direct debit is commonly used for recurring payments such as those in subscription services, but can also be used for one-off payments too. It is an excellent option to offer customers as it opens up the potential for them to pay for goods in instalments. Paying in instalments has become quite popular among consumers in recent times, as evidenced by its appearance as an option on mega online retailers such as Amazon.

Mobile payments

An increasingly popular payment method with younger generations is mobile payment. This is provided by smartphone manufacturers, with Apple Pay, Google Pay and Samsung Pay providing their payment systems as part of the package when a customer buys one of their smartphone products.

To activate, a user scans their credit or debit card into the device, and then pays easily and securely for any item from a website offering the mobile payment option by clicking on the relevant button.

We can help

GoCardless is a global payments solution that helps you automate payment collection, cutting down on the amount of financial admin your team needs to deal with. Find out how GoCardless can help you with one-off or recurring payments.