As a fast-growing SaaS platform, you might be considering moving away from your current referral payment model, via a partner like Stripe or Square, to your own branded payment solution via a white-label solution.

There are lots of great white-label payment solutions out there and your choice will, of course, depend on your business and the verticals you serve. But there are also other factors to consider when making your choice, such as whether you’re planning to expand beyond the US into new markets, like Canada.

Another consideration is how to approach creating your own brand payment solution. Do you have the internal expertise to create and execute a successful payment strategy or will you require support from your provider? To what extent should you brand and launch your new payment solution?

At Fiska, we have supported many SaaS platforms on their journey to building an embedded payment solution. We have a good understanding of the diverse requirements and strategic payment decisions you’ll face as you scale. 

In this article we’ll explain: 

• How to approach white-labeling your payment solution
• What to look for in a white-labeled solution
• Why Fiska is such a great white-label solution provider for SaaS platforms

Prefer to talk to an embedded payments expert? Book a no-obligation call now.

What to consider when moving to a white-labeled payment solution

There are lots of benefits to having a white-labeled payment solution. You have total control, from merchant onboarding through to the end-user experience. You also get to set your own pricing and earn additional revenue. However, before you begin, it’s worth considering the following: 

Do you have a strong enough understanding of payments?

Your payment processing solution must reflect the maturity of your platform, otherwise, it will create a disjointed experience and damage your brand identity. It’s important to become familiar with payments before you apply a white-label solution. Get to know the most relevant payment KPIs, such as conversion rates, how to set optimal pricing, and what it means to onboard and support your merchants.

Of course, a good solution provider will be able to support you in making these key decisions: such as if it’s worth becoming a PayFac, or if you’re better off as an ISO.  

To what extent should you brand your payments?

Payment Service Providers (PSPs), like Stripe and Square are known brands, famous for processing payments. So, when you first offer payments via your platform, it makes sense to work with a provider such as these with a strong reputation. Your merchants know who they are dealing with and who to contact for support.

When you’re ready to transition to a white-label solution, you’ll need to consider how to brand it. It might seem counter-intuitive, but in most cases, the less you brand your payments, the better. You’ll drive much more adoption if you simply embed payments into your platform as a default feature. In this way, there’s no decision for your merchants to make and they get access to payments without having to think about it.

What to look for in a white-label payment solution

Every white-labeled payment solution provider will have a slightly different offering and it can be hard to tell us apart. So, it’s helpful to keep a few indicators in mind to ensure you make the choice that will serve you both now and in the long term.

For example:

• Do they cover the US and Canada? In our experience, Canada is the first market US-based SaaS platforms look to expand into when growing their footprint internationally. This makes a lot of sense from a language and cultural perspective. However, in payment terms, it’s a very different market. It’s more regulated, and pricing is structured differently. So, if you’re considering expanding to Canada at some point, It’s important your white label payment infrastructure solution has the knowledge and infrastructure to support a seamless transition.
• How do they charge? Many providers charge implementation fees or a monthly minimum, which is helpful to know about upfront. It’s also worth asking if they offer a revenue-share model, where you get a percentage of the revenue generated by payments – as Fiska does, for example.
• Will they provide disinterested advice? In most cases, white-label payment solution providers will be trying to win your business regardless of whether they are the best fit for you. However, if, like Fiska, their success is tied to yours, they will only be interested in onboarding you if the partnership is likely to succeed. In our case, for example, we will happily ensure you find the right solution – even if it turns out not to be us. 

Looking for an alternative to Helcim? Check out our comparison article here: Helcim alternatives: Comparing five options for SaaS platforms

Why choose Fiska as your white-label solution

At Fiska, we are a team of SaaS experts who have built a white-labeled payment solution specifically for SaaS platforms. Here are a few reasons we’re a good fit for platforms looking to embed a white-labeled payment solution for their merchants:

We cover Canada and the US

Fiska is the only provider with a white-labeled solution that is purpose-built to operate in both the US and Canada. Other providers offer coverage via acquisitions and plugging different solutions together under the hood. It might look seamless in the front end. But, behind the scenes, it leads to technical complexity, impacts performance, and hampers innovation.

We give our partners a seamless way to expand from the US into Canada, or vice versa. Our single integration provides access to both markets. So if you’re ready to test the Canadian market, you don’t have to integrate a new set of APIs and review a new set of documentation—you can start testing immediately. 

We support all major cards, such as Visa, Mastercard, and Discover, plus cards that run on Canada’s interbank network, Interac. Additionally, we stay on top of the latest payment innovations and trends to ensure we support the payment methods and experiences customers in the US and Canada expect.

For example, we shall soon be launching our support of Tap to Pay, allowing merchants to transform an iPhone or supported Android device into a payment terminal. This eliminates the need to buy additional hardware and is ideal for scenarios such as testing a proof of concept or for industries that rely on mobility, such as food trucks. Via our solution, you’ll be able to offer your merchants the same high transaction speeds without the set-up costs. 

We offer accessible, human support for both you and your merchants

Before creating Fiska, our leadership team ran their own SaaS platform. So, we know firsthand how frustrating it can be when you can’t access support from your payment provider. At Fiska, we make it our business to be on hand to support your team from initial sales conversation, to roll-out and long after. You choose how you work with us, for example, regular check-in meetings or ad-hoc requests via phone, email, or Slack. We’re a small team and whoever you speak to will have a good understanding of your business needs—so you never have to explain yourself from scratch.

We also offer Level 1 support for SaaS platforms and Level 2 support for your merchants. This means your merchants will contact you first, allowing you to maintain control of the experience and relationship.However, if your merchants need expert payment support that you can’t provide internally, we’ll help your merchants directly to speed up resolution time. This takes the pressure off your support teams and ensures a fast resolution of any issues.

You control your pricing and onboarding, we’ll support you with strategy

With Fiska, you retain complete control over your merchant experience and pricing, but we’ll provide the support to ensure you make the best decisions to optimize your payments. You can think of us as your fractional Head of Payments, providing information, tools, training, and support to help you get the best from your embedded payments offering. 

Our merchant onboarding flow can be embedded directly into your platform. This means it looks and feels like your own solution while ensuring you meet all relevant compliance requirements. It also gives you control and visibility into the process so you can troubleshoot if merchants run into issues.

Our business operates a revenue-share model, which means you earn revenue from each transaction processed. This is the difference between the price your merchants pay for processing and the base cost, which is the interchange fee charged by the card schemes.

Find out more: Why Fiska doesn’t charge fees

And finally, unlike other providers, we don’t dictate your pricing structure. You choose whether to charge a fixed rate, similar to Stripe or Square, or whether you charge using the Interchange Plus pricing model. Since our earnings come directly from our customers, we help you find the strategy that will optimize your revenue stream. 

You can support platform-wide one-click payments with universal tokenization

Platform-wide one-click payments used to be reserved for the likes of Amazon and Shopify. But now, thanks to features like universal tokenization, small to medium-sized platforms can create check-out experiences that compete with these large players.

Universal tokenization is where a customer’s card data is replaced by a secure token, which can then be used across all channels and merchants. A customer only needs to share their payment and delivery details once to access one-click online payments across your platform. This creates a streamlined payment experience for end users, improving customer satisfaction, reducing friction, and, ultimately, increasing conversions.  

Tokenization is also great for fraud prevention. Learn more: Universal tokenization: How it works and how it can benefit SaaS platforms

Ensure your success with a strong white-label payment gateway solution

Once you’ve got to grips with payments, it’s natural to want to take control of your solution. In doing so, you’ll benefit from better commercials, better customer experience, and increased loyalty. 

But you’re a SaaS platform—you’re not trying to rebrand as a payment processor. You don’t want payments to become a distraction from your core offering, but rather a strategic asset within your solution. So, in our view, the best way to drive adoption is to position it as an embedded feature. 

It’s also critical to work with a partner who can support your growth plans, such as expanding into new markets like Canada, or offering the best customer experiences in the ever-evolving payment industry, such as Tap to Pay and one-click payments.

Ultimately, you’ll want a white-label payment provider that is driven to help you succeed by offering a winning combination of revenue-share and hands-on customer support for you and your merchants. 

Get in touch today to explore whether Fiska might be a good white-label payment solution for your platform.