Integrating Salesforce Into Your Payment Processing
Salesforce is the world’s fastest-growing and most popular customer relationship management (CRM) software. The company held a market share of 16.1% as of mid-2014 and has grown 24.7% faster than its nearest competitor in the past year. Its software-as-a-service (SaaS) CRM model is designed to boost revenues for small businesses and enterprise-level corporations alike, with features like cloud-based data storage, customer service solutions, and automated marketing campaigns.
If you currently use Salesforce to manage your sales process, you might be interested in finding a way to directly integrate your merchant account with the Salesforce software. This way, all of your data—from transaction history to conversion analytics to customer tracking—is searchable, sortable, and up-to-date within a single program.
Unfortunately, linking a merchant account to Salesforce is a slightly complicated process. Salesforce appears to only allow payment processing integration through apps developed for AppExchange, the Salesforce app store. Therefore, your options are limited to providers that offer payment gateways that are compatible with apps found in the AppExchange store. To help you determine which of these options is best for you, we’ve compiled the following list of highly rated merchant account providers who offer Salesforce integration.
Top Picks for Salesforce Merchant Services
Host Merchant Services
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Fast approval for most industries
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No contract or cancellation fees
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Highly rated customer support
Host Merchant Services is a Newark, Delaware-based merchant account provider that is well-suited for most general business types and some high-risk merchants. The company’s products and services include point-of-sale solutions (with specific packages for the restaurant, salon, professional service, and contractor sectors), online marketing tools, an online payment gateway and virtual terminal, mobile credit card processing, gift and loyalty programs, merchant cash advance, and offshore merchant accounts. Host Merchant Services specializes in e-commerce businesses and provides a free website and email address to interested merchants.
Host Merchant Services integrates with SalesForce via the Authorize.Net payment gateway, which the company sells alongside its proprietary gateway. Host Merchant Services has received exclusively positive feedback on public forums, with most reviewers singling out the company’s customer service for praise. Host offers interchange-plus pricing with no early termination fees to all of its merchants, meaning that users will enjoy the most transparent pricing model and can cancel service without penalty. The BBB gives Host an “A+” rating, and CPO also gives the company an “A+.”
For more information, visit the Host Merchant Services website or call (888) 727-4538.
PaymentCloud
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Fast approval for numerous "high-risk" industries
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Broad product and service offering
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Highly praised customer support
Based in Woodland Hills, California, PaymentCloud is a merchant account provider that specializes in serving standard to high-risk business types. The company’s products and services include point-of-sale solutions, mobile phone swipers, an online payment gateway and virtual terminal, EMV-compatible terminals, and merchant cash advances. These features allow merchants to accept payments on-site using their phones as well as through online billing. For those reasons, PaymentCloud is a good option for merchants who utilize Salesforce.
PaymentCloud provides a dedicated account rep to all new merchants for the life of the account. The company has not received any negative complaints on consumer forums, and it customizes its pricing according to each merchant’s business type and processing history. The BBB does not maintain a profile for PaymentCloud at this time, but CPO gives the company an “A.”
For more information, visit the PaymentCloud website or call (888) 506-7859.
CDG Commerce
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Specialized services for most industries
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Simple and transparent rates
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350+ technology integrations, including Quickbooks
Located in Chesapeake, Virginia, CDG Commerce is another ideal option for merchants that need SalesForce integration. CDG has been privately owned since 1998 and offers a proprietary payment gateway (as well as a discount on Authorize.Net’s payment gateway), a virtual terminal, QuickBooks integration, mobile phone processing, sales reporting, security breach protection, and vulnerability scanning. CDG Commerce is ideal for merchants that require a simple, low-cost, integrated method for accepting online and in-person payments.
CDG Commerce appears to only integrate with Salesforce via an Authorize.net payment gateway and an app like Chargent. However, CDG Commerce’s Authorize.net solution is especially appealing due to the fact that it offers free setup (usually $99 directly through Authorize.net), a monthly fee of $15, and a transaction fee of $0.05. These costs are in addition to CDG Commerce’s standard merchant account pricing.
CDG Commerce only charges a low, fixed fee per transaction and offers competitive contractual terms, including no annual fees, monthly minimums, or termination fees. CDG also offers next-day funding to most business types. CDG has earned an “A+” rating in our review as well as an “A+” rating with the BBB.
For more information, see the CDG Commerce website or call (888) 393-1079.
Additional Options
Shopify
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Top rated all-in-one e-commerce platform
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Serves almost any need from small to enterprise
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Numerous plug-ins for almost any business need
Shopify is primarily known as an e-commerce platform for online merchants, but the company also offers a point-of-sale software solution for iPad and iPhone. The Shopify POS app can accept cards via a headphone jack card swiper, or a $129 EMV reader and includes features like inventory syncing with a web store, emailed receipts, automatic tax calculations, basic email marketing, and in-store refunds. These online payment options and the familiarity of the Shopify brand are great for merchants who will feel safe and comfortable using the service.
The Shopify payment service can also be paired with a Shopify online store, which comes with numerous customization options and integration with SalesForce. Shopify POS is a great fit for merchants who would like to accept payments on-site using their phones as well as through online billing. Shopify has an “A+” rating with the BBB, and we give it an “A+” rating as well.
For more information, visit the Shopify website or call (888) 746-7439.
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Website: shopify.com
