What is a Referral Partner?

What does it mean to partner with a payment solutions company? If you’re a software provider, entering into an integrated payments partnership can offer many lucrative benefits for you along with improved functionality for your clients. With a referral agreement, you can provide your customers with a reliable and secure payment processing provider. In return, you can potentially earn additional credit card processing revenue.

How Referral Agreements Work

The ability to accept payments is probably a high priority for many of your customers. As such, when you’re developing solutions for them, it’s the perfect opportunity to point them in the direction of a trustworthy payment processor. An integrated payments partnership means you find a specific processor and agree to direct your clients to their services. It’s a win-win-win situation for everyone: The processing company gains customers, your clients receive all the benefits of integrated payments and you create a new revenue stream, earning commissions paid by the processing company from merchant transaction profits.

Pros and Cons of Finding an Integrated Payments Partner

 There are numerous providers offering referral agreement opportunities, so it’s essential to do research so you know which one to choose. When deciding on a payment processor, there are several key things you should look for:

• Integration support during development
• Focused sales tools, including analytics
• Detailed reporting and performance metrics
• Choice of turn-key and customizable customer adoption programs
• High-value revenue streams

There can be challenges when looking for a partner as well, especially when providers don’t have much in the way of clear documentation about the proposed agreement. Avoid processors that don’t offer customization options or a dedicated team to provide consistent support throughout development.  For additional information on what you should look for in an integrated payments partner, check out our Eight Key Considerations whitepaper.

Partner with a Boutique Provider

When you choose to partner with a boutique provider, you can take advantage of numerous benefits that go far beyond earning additional credit card processing revenue.  A smaller, specialized shop will have a dedicated team of experts that offer strategic planning and business growth guidance, customized marketing resources and in-house service and support.