As information sharing and technology are updated at an increasingly rapid pace, it is critical to maintain a competitive edge by keeping customers informed of new solutions to their problems. 

 When rolling out new services or products, it is important to have a clear, straightforward message that can be shared quickly on what the benefits of your new services are.  Some of the more popular and important ways to stay in touch with your customers are through social media, blogs, newsletters, email and your website.  These tools can help a company reach many people more quickly and cost effectively than traditional marketing channels. 

 These marketing methods allow you to communicate effectively with a broad customer demographic in the way they choose to receive information.  In addition, they provide an opportunity for you to hear back from your customers quickly and candidly what they think about your products and services. In fact, many new product developments, improvements and advancements are a result of customer feedback or requests for a certain item or service.

 ProPay employs many of these resources to communicate to our customers what is new, what is coming and what solutions you may not already be using.   Checking our site, blog and subscribing to our newsletter are great ways to stay informed on what’s happening in credit card processing.  In addition, you may want to make sure you’re subscribed to receive updates and promotions via email, including our weekly 60 second tip.  You can edit your preferences by logging into your account and going to ‘my account’ then clicking on ‘my profile’ and then ‘change options’.

 Stay tuned for on-going updates on new products and services from ProPay.

Site: www.propay.com

The ProPay Perspective Blog: blog.propay.com

Last week, I attended the PCI SSC Community Meeting in Scottsdale, AZ.   The meeting is held every year so that stake holders in the payments industry can get together and discuss the PCI DSS and its impacts.  Each year brings with it new guidance documents, and sometimes new standards.  This year was no exception and the standard mix of new standards and new guidance was supplemented by discussion of new technologies (perhaps new is a bit of a stretch, as one of the “new” technologies under discussion was EMV – a technology that has been around for decades).  Mobile payments and Near Field Communications (NFC) were also hot topics of discussion and reminded of one my favorite topics – weighing the adoption of technology and its attendant convenience with the protection of payment data.

I am an advocate of a careful risk analysis – there are occasions in which a new technology does introduce risk, but that risk is outweighed by the potential benefit to customers and to the business overall.  In those instances, the organization may determine that the risk is acceptable and the technology is adopted.  In other instances, an organization may determine that the benefits are far outweighed by the risks and the technology is not implemented.  The point is that careful deliberation is sought.  Unfortunately, the current state of the market (economically difficult coupled with rapid technological change) may lead some companies to adopt a new technology as a “me too” strategy.  The appearance may be that by adopting new technologies companies are showing progress and leadership, which will lead to a competitive advantage.  Many times, though, the rapid adoption of new technology without proper vetting can introduce the “unknown unknown” into the environment.

The idea of the “unknown unknown” can be nicely summed up by saying that “you don’t know what you don’t know.”  In other words, one doesn’t have enough experience or knowledge about a particular subject to speak definitively about what its potential risks might be.  The concept was famously speared after Rumsfeld made his famous “unknown unknown” speech.  While pundits and comedians alike had a good time poking fun at Rumsfeld for his use of the terms “known unknowns” and “unknown unknowns,”  he is referencing something that risk analysts and philosophers alike have discussed for years. The premise of Nassim Taleb’s  The Black Swan is largely concerned with operating in a world in which we don’t know what we don’t know.  You can mitigate the number of unknown unknowns through analysis, evaluation, and research.

One of the ways that companies can mitigate the “unknown unknown” in terms of payment security is to evaluate new technologies against the standards established by the industry.  The standards are established to counter the known risks in the payment environment.  Any time a new technology is considered, a good practice is to consider how that technology would be integrated into the existing infrastructure and evaluate that result against the standards and against data security best practices )which sometimes evolve at a faster rate than the standards do.  Certainly this will not bring to light all possible permutations of risk that might arise from the adoption of a new technology, but it will help address an organization’s compliance status and may help mitigate the risk associated with adopting a new technology.

Dr. Heather Mark, PhD; SVP Market Strategy

What type of customer are you? I start with this question because often the way we like to receive information from a company is a starting point in thinking of ways to market to your own customers.

• Are you a customer that gives out your information to be on email lists and loves to internet shop from the announcements you receive?
• Are you a customer that most enjoys receiving bonuses, points or free gifts for shopping?
• Are you a customer that likes a personal call from a company associate informing you of a new product?
• Do you like getting text or tweet updates?

I have found that I’m one of those customers who is most loyal to a company that keeps me informed specifically with a personal touch and I tend to choose companies with excellent customer service over discounts. In fact, my local beauty product supplier knows that when they have their semiannual sale – that if they call me – I put in an order right there on the phone. Sure the discount is what first got me started, but the fact they know I prefer to buy during the sale and use that information to personally call me; they have my loyalty even when there isn’t a sale; and I usually spend much more with them and more often.

Though there is no single right way to market, it is important to keep your customers preferences in mind for your various approaches to be most effective. Often companies will ask a customer, “How did you hear about us?” However, another important question would be, “How would you like to be informed about our future events or offerings?” If you know the way your key customers and worthy new customers prefer to be notified, not only can you target market directly and effectively, you also find out which avenues are most successful and should be focused on.

Here are just a few ideas on how you can stay current with your customers:

• Email marketing blasts
• Tweets through Twitter, Facebook posts and other social media channels
• Direct Mail pieces
• Company news letters
• Phone calls
• Coupons
• Website updates
• Thank you cards
• Cross-sell or inform of additional product or offers
• Well timed rewards or discounts
• Referral bonuses

Staying current with your customers in an effective way can have immediate returns financially; there by helping your business achieve more success.

ProPay is excited to welcome Kingston White to its team.  Kingston is from the Dallas, Texas area but recently graduated from the SJ Quinney College of Law at the University of Utah.  He will be sworn in as a member of the Utah Bar in October.  He also has a Bachelor’s degree in Business Management from Brigham Young University and has started or participated in several growing businesses.

Kingston’s experience and expertise will be used to support ProPay’s ongoing efforts to expand its business outside of the United States.  He will advise on regulatory compliance strategies including cross-border data transfers, privacy, anti-money laundering and funds transfers.  He will also support ProPay’s core, US business, through contract drafting, negotiation and new product development.

 As a point of interest and a reflection of the type of person Kingston is, next month he will participate in the Tough Mudder, a 10-mile obstacle course that bills itself as the toughest event on the planet.  We wish him well and hope he survives.

To ensure simple, secure and affordable payment services, ProPay carries out certain risk management procedures on each account.  Processing Limits serve as part of that management and security to help all ProPay users restrain and control possible losses.  Single transaction limits, as well as a monthly processing limit, refer to the maximum amount that can be processed through a ProPay account at a given time.   These limits do not however “limit” a merchant’s ability to grow and carry out their business.  Depending on your account type, limit increases may be available to better fit business needs.   For more information about understanding ProPay’s processing limits and how to request any limit increase, please visit the link below.

 FAQ’s- Processing Limits

Processing limits are just one way, ProPay helps protect growing businesses.  For more information regarding ProPay’s unique and secure payment solutions, please visit ProPay.