This article is part of our latest AppExchange expansion across commerce, sales, service, and marketing. To read more about the expansion, read the Newsroom announcement.

As consumers, we often assume digital payments are simple. When we buy online we enter our information, click submit, and then receive an emailed receipt. If we plan to buy more from the vendor in the future, we might allow them to store our credit card information to enable automatic recurring billing, so we’re able to set it once and forget it. Easy right?

For the end user it has to be, but a lot is happening to enable the process, especially for business to business transactions. Let’s discuss what happens when you make a digital payment.

Salesforce Billing Payment Apps are now available on AppExchange. We’re thrilled that our partners are now extending Salesforce’s quote-to-cash capabilities, making it easier for our customers to accept payments.

The digital payment journey

• An end user/customer wants to pay money in exchange for a good or service, and pays a

• Merchant who wants to collect money in exchange for a good or service. When the credit card information is entered, it goes through a

• Payment gateway, a technology provider that acts as a point of sale for digital transactions, allowing the merchant to securely authorize and charge payment. The payment gateway runs the information through a

• Payment processor, a financial institution that provide payment processing services that enable merchants to accept digital payments, store funds, and meet compliance needs. The payment processor initiates the transfer between the

• Issuing bank as the financial institution that enables the end user/customer to make payments and the

• Acquiring or merchant bank as the financial institution the merchant uses to set up their merchant account and collect the funds from the payment.

Even as every digital payment touches many hands, when done right, this transaction is quick and simple for the customer, but there are complexities businesses who want to accept payments have to consider.

Key payment acceptance considerations

Capturing payment information and PCI Compliance

Before implementing a system, you’ll need to outline how you plan to capture payment information. Should this be through a web form? Over the phone? When your customer receives an invoice? Or perhaps during the time of eSignature? This decision will influence your customer experience. And, no matter how you’re collecting credit cards, you should know about PCI Compliance. Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards (PCI DSS) apply to all companies that process credit card payments and require rigorous compliance protocols and controls that protect customer data.

Processing payments and using payment gateways to connect with merchant banks

The payments ecosystem includes many companies that specialize in different aspects of payment processing with complex layers of relationships. Multiple vendors are necessary when creating a process that follows customer payment submission through funds deposited in the business’s bank account. Businesses need to assess their business and revenue goals to find the right acquirer and payment processors for their business. Other considerations include variable fee structures, geographic availability, or existing business relationships. In many cases, businesses that operate across multiple geographies may need to work with multiple processors.

Payment management and post-sale transactions

In our previous segment, we outlined a simple flow of an initial payment — and it still felt complex! Imagine if the customer wants a refund, a credit, or needs to void their transaction? You will need to be able to coordinate the needs of the customer and handle many types of post-sale transactions. And don’t forget about the recurring business model. For that, you need to set up recurring payments and keep a credit card (securely) on file.

It’s now easier to accept payments

Salesforce Billing helps facilitate and manage the relationship between the customer, merchant, and payment gateway. With Salesforce Billing, businesses can securely tokenize and store payment information, automate recurring payments, allocate payments back to a line item level, and trigger post-sale transactions.

Salesforce Billing Payment Apps partners enhance or extend this functionality by providing pre-integrated solutions, simplifying some of the complexities of capturing payments at e-signature or connecting Salesforce Billing to payment gateways for payment processing.

Capture payment information during e-signature

• DocuSign eSignature for Salesforce CPQ enables businesses to get electronic sign off on quotes and to capture payment information during the approval process. Payment information is then stored in Salesforce Billing for future and recurring payments.

• Sertifi Billing for Salesforce extends Sertifi's e-signature capabilities by allowing businesses to capture payment information during contract e-signature — helping companies get paid quicker, recognize revenue faster, and make the quote-to-cash process secure, easy, and PCI compliant.

Process payments by connecting to payment gateways

• Chargent Gateways Connector for Salesforce Billing enables businesses to accept credit cards and bank drafts from any of Chargent's 30+ supported payment gateways in under 5 minutes.

• FinDock for Salesforce Billing allows customers to “dock” leading payment providers into their invoice and cash collection processes, as well as supports direct debit processing and bank file reconciliation

• GoCardless for Salesforce Billing gives businesses access to the world’s largest and most advanced debit network, so companies can automatically collect payments against recurring invoices or subscriptions managed with Salesforce Billing.

To learn more about these each of these apps, visit our new AppExchange Collections Page and see how our partners can help you reach your business goals.