With the expense per acquisition rising each year for many merchants, companies like OrbitalPay are doing even more to maximize the revenue per customer and conserve that value for clients who have rightfully focused their efforts on improving their bottom line results.
Fans of web content often look at the content itself as the most important part of any digital property. Brokers and media buyers believe that traffic is king when it comes to generating a larger profit potential, however, the most experienced merchants and business owners are fully aware that the numbers that matter the most are the ones on your balance sheet. It begs the question, who is accountable and what can be done to secure your revenue from preventable losses?
It’s amazing to see how many website owners analyze their traffic stats at the most granular level for hours each day but fail to put a fraction of that time into evaluating how well their processor manages to capture that earned revenue at the other end.
Starting at your join page and moving through the transactional chain to your bank, each entity plays a vitally important role and only a cohesive team of professionals can get you the full value of your hard earned revenue. Settling for less than you should have earned, after you have done so much to earn it, is an unacceptable outcome and a risk that many companies fail to account for in their business plans.
The Merchant
As is nearly always the case, accountability must start with yourself. As a merchant, you owe it to yourself to do your own due diligence and take proactive steps to streamline your billing process, include worthwhile security measures, and engage in frequent internal audits of your accounts. It’s amazing to see how many website owners analyze their traffic stats at the most granular level for hours each day but fail to put a fraction of that time into evaluating how well their processor manages to capture that earned revenue at the other end.
As a merchant you should be quick to ask questions, willing to learn the workings of you own revenue stream, and take an interest in tools that reduce your risk of affiliate fraud, chargebacks, unduly high transaction fees and other expenses that gradually turn a large sum of money on your daily reports into a much smaller amount before it reaches your bank account.
Merchant Service Provider
A quality merchant service provider like OrbitalPay facilitates all aspects of your payment processing by providing you with guidance, compliance standards, best practices and connections to the large financial institutions that can green light your ability to receive revenue. Hold your processor accountable by making sure you are receiving the most current information, the best rates, the most effective anti-fraud solutions, and the kind of guidance that only comes from working with a company like OrbitalPay that has many years of experience processing transactions for numerous high-risk clients in many different verticals.
Banks
With regards to banks, the reliability and security of your payments can be summed up by two key factors. First, are you dealing with credible banks that have a history of working with a high-risk clientele before and after external friction has tested their resolve? Second, and in many ways even more importantly, are you working with a merchant service provider who has a strong relationship with the banks and a proven track record of operating in a fully compliant manner? The adult industry has witnessed entire bank closures, banks receding from high-risk entirely, and banks making seemingly arbitrary decisions about the merchants they will or will not work with in the past. Connecting your company to the right banks, through the most reliable intermediaries is crucial in making sure you are collecting every penny of the money you earned.
Card Associations
We often see merchants inaccurately blaming a processor, bank, or industry best practices for compliance-related issues that actual stem from the highest echelons of the payment processing chain. When governments get involved via new statutes or administrative rules, the impact can be wide reaching and sudden. Card associations, including Visa and Mastercard, do their best to predict regulatory changes and to smooth out the regulatory landscape for merchants but it isn’t always that easy.
Again, being as informed as possible, keeping current with your billing practices and proactive with your compliance measures is essential to maximizing your returns. The law is intended to affect all entities equally, but as we have seen many times in the past and are likely to see many times in the future — there are advantages to acting quickly, taking preventative steps, and utilizing a proactive approach to compliance matters that may seem unimportant today but could become significant challenges for companies that crash into them ill prepared. It sounds nice to say that “everyone is responsible” for ensuring the billing lifecycle is seamless and compliant. It’s true to a certain extent. However in a much more practical sense, when it comes to collecting all of your money, it is essential that each merchant and their most trusted processor work together as we navigate a sea of constantly changing waves of regulation in sight of the safe harbors that allow the best companies in the adult industry to continue prospering.
Jordan Stewart is vice president of OrbitalPay. Appointed earlier this year, Stewart’s immediate initiative included growing the team and reintroducing the brand with a new and fresh approach. With a knack and passion for taking a consultative approach to sales and business development, Stewart looks forward to a year of growth for OrbitalPay. He can be reached at jstewart@orbitalpay.com.
