Coaches and consultant often don’t have the massive volume of online payments that online retailers see. Yet most coaches work with payment providers that are ideal for local stores or high volume payments. Don’t you want to keep more money in your pocket? Wouldn’t it be nice to have a payment processing solution that is easy to set up, and maybe even has actual customer service access to help you as you grow your business?
Coaches Share Challenges With Payment Providers
Chantal, a life coach we spoke with, shared her frustration with her payment provider. Initially, the setup seemed easy. But when a payment failed or the platform made changes, she was left with an online “help” article that was long and full of instructions she didn’t understand. It seemed like she needed to learn a new language or hire a programmer. So she began looking for alternatives.
One of the career coaches we interviewed (Hassan), shared that his business was growing and that reliance on a working process was critical to his success. Hassan shared that he looked for an easy route to create workflows that get the client seamlessly flowing through the process of paying for coaching, onboarding to a coaching platform, scheduling, coaching, and follow up. It worked well, but then he realized that the payment provider increased the fees for charges and his coaching platform provider also added a fee on top of that for new transactions. He got so frustrated that now two parties were eating into his profits, while he was separately paying a hefty monthly fee for the coaching platform.
These cases are not uncommon. Many coaches and consultants start processing payments online by signing up with one provider to get started. In the beginning, that’s enough to be in business.
As your business grows, you’ll experience the challenges of cancelled transactions, policy and fee changes by the providers you work with, and even technical failures. These are pressure tests for your business and often cause you to have to reevaluate who you work with. The most popular payment solution may not be the best one for your business.
What You Should Look For In A Payment Provider
Let’s start with the obvious: Can a payment provider process payments in the way you would like to use them? For most coaches, that means they need the ability to complete business transactions online. All of the payment altnatives we are listing below can do that, but not all of them are best for coaches. Like we stated in the beginning, the capabilities, specializations and pricing models of a payment processor can tell you if they are a good match.
Should You Include Alternative Payment Methods?
You will also need to consider your client’s preferred payment methods. The market has shifted a lot in recent years. While business owners may prefer ACH payments (debit cards) and autopay or credit card transactions, your customers are increasingly getting used to wider options.
Alternatives include mobile payments with digital wallets and mobile apps (e.g. Apple Wallet, Google Wallet, Venmo), classic bank transfers, cryptocurrency payments (e.g. bitcoin), or deferred payment methods (e.g. Klarna, Affirm). Deferred payment options, also called buy now, pay later (BNPL) apps offer easy financing of online transactions.
If you offer high-ticket coaching programs, offering an option like this may lower your client’s barrier to purchase. What that means for you is money in your pocket now, while your client’s can pay the amount off over time – without any need from your end to chase after payments.
How Can You Evaluate A Payment Gateway or Payment Provider?
We have looked into the following criteria in our comparison of alternatives to Stripe and Paypal, two very popular providers of online payment processing solutions:
- Forms of payment. Does the provider offer different ways for you to collect payment for your services? Think beyond card transactions for debit cards and major credit cards like American Express, MasterCard, etc. You may want to send an invoice or a payment link to let the customer pay for the transaction upon receipt of your invoice. Or, do you have clients who want to give you their card information so you can manually add it? This would require a keyed-in transaction or virtual terminal.
- Pricing plans. How much does itcost to use the service? Many provides have a monthly subscription model to use their services.
- Transaction rates (cost). Most providers charge a combination of a flat fee of a few cents per transaction.
- Native integration ability (e.g., does the payment gateway solution have a direct integration with your coaching platform or website provider or even your accounting software?)
- Ease of setup and use. Hardly any comparisons of these payment provider alternatives are talking about this, yet it can be a major frustration, especially while you don’t have hired hands to help you.
- Customer service. This is a major category that you will only appreciate when things don’t go as expected. When that happens, you’ll be glad you factored it into your evaluation.
- Other considerations. Other considerations may be security or PCI compliance, the ability to process international payments, and the speed at which bank transfer payments are relayed from the customer’s payment to land in your bank account. Does the payment platform allow you to make instant transfers?
For this comparison, we will focus on the first six categories. Let’s look at well-known payment platforms like PayPal and Stripe and then a handful of altnernatives.
Payment Processing Platform Alternatives for Online Transactions
Stripe
In summary, Stripe stands out as a payment provider for businesses who provide online services because of its wide range of payment types, its modern user interface, the ease of use and setup, and relatively low transaction fees.
| Stripe | |
| Forms of Payment: | Online, in-person, payment links, invoicing, virtual terminal for keyed-in transactions |
| Pricing Plans: | No additional fees to use the service. |
| Transaction Rates: | 2.9% + $0.30 per (successful) transaction |
| Native Coaching Platform Integrations: | Coaching.com, CoachAccountable, Delenta, Paperbell, UpCoach |
| Easy setup: | Online reviews state that most users experienced a fast setup and find the user interface simple. |
| Customer sevice: | Stripe’s customer service is rated highly, but lacks a phone support line. |
Most frequently mentioned complaints or disadvantages of Stripe include the inability to offer payment plans or installment payments, the lack of support for international currencies, and its cost per transaction.
Paypal
PaypPal has a long history of enabling online payments and is well known accross the world. PayPal has been a mainstay of the online payment industry for many years, and it’s still going strong. It offers a wide range of services, including everything from merchant accounts to invoicing and recurring payments. What makes PayPal attractive is its support for international transactions, being integrated with many big name companies like WooCommerce, Wix, GoDaddy, and more, and support for most major credit cards.
On the downside, PayPal lacks native integration with many popular coaching platforms, and its user interface is not as modern or intuitive as some of the other payment processor alternatives. Some users complain about the cost, with high transaction fees and monthly subscription fees for certain services.
| PayPal | |
| Forms of Payment: | Online, in-person, payment links, invoicing, virtual terminal for keyed-in transactions |
| Pricing Plans: | n/a – only applies if specific services are added |
| Transaction Rates: | 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction |
| Native Coaching Platform Integrations: | CoachAccountable, Delenta, Paperbell |
| Easy setup: | Online reviews state that most users find PayPal is easy to use and set up. |
| Customer sevice: | Rated poorly by users. |
Square
Square is best known for its mobile point-of-sale (POS) systems and credit card readers, but it also provides an online payment processing solution. What makes Square attractive is its low transaction fees and its ability to process international payments.
On the other hand, Square does not have many native integrations for popular coaching platforms. It also lacks the ability to manage payment plans and installment payments.
| Square | |
| Forms of Payment: | Online, in-person, payment links, invoicing, virtual terminal for keyed-in transactions |
| Pricing Plans: | No additional fees to use the service. |
| Transaction Rates: | 2.65% per card transaction and 2.9% + $0.30 per online transaction |
| Native Coaching Platform Integrations: | CoachAccountable |
| Easy setup: | Online reviews state that most users find Stripe easy to setup and use. |
| Customer sevice: | Stripe’s customer service is rated highly, but lacks a phone support line. |
Helcim
Helcim is a refreshing new kid on the block of payment processing. Helcim has positioned itself as an affordable, easy payment solution “with a human touch”, which means real human customer phone support. This is almost unheard of in the payment industry as most providers do not offer any real-time interaction or phone support. With something as important as payments, you’d think it would be more common.
The drawback with Helcim is that it lacks native integrations with popular coaching platforms and doesn’t offer payment plans or installment payments.
If you want to give Helcim a test drive, clicking the link will give you $5000 in free processing (affiliate). That’s a lot of money back in your pocket – on top of already quite low fees!
| Helcim | |
| Forms of Payment: | Online, in-person, payment links, invoicing, virtual terminal for keyed-in transactions |
| Pricing Plans: | No additional fees to use the service. |
| Transaction Rates: | 1.94% + $0.08 per in-person card transaction and 2.51% + $0.25 per online transaction $0 credit card processing fees |
| Native Coaching Platform Integrations: | No direct integrations with coaching platforms. Support helps with workarounds. |
| Easy setup: | Online reviews state that most users found the setup simple. |
| Customer sevice: | Helcim’s customer service is rated highly and unique in the industry. |
Clover.com
Clover stands out as a payment processing solution with an unlimited number of users, extensive analytics and reporting capabilities, and a built-in loyalty program. What makes Clover stand out is the extensive library of business software, for example, for accounting or marketing analytics.
Clover lacks native integrations with popular coaching platforms and doesn’t allow for installment payments or payment plans. Additionally, it is on the more expensive side with its monthly subscription fee plus transaction fees.
| Clover | |
| Forms of Payment: | Online, in-person, payment links, invoicing, virtual terminal for keyed-in transactions |
| Pricing Plans: | $14.95/mo. |
| Transaction Rates: | 3.5% + $0.10 per transaction |
| Native Coaching Platform Integrations: | none |
| Easy setup: | Online reviews state that most users experienced a fast setup and find the user interface simple. |
| Customer sevice: | Stripe’s customer service is rated highly, but lacks a phone support line. |
NationalProcessing.com
What makes NationalProcessing stand out is its ability to provide payment plans, installment payments, subscription billing, and integrations with popular course platforms such as Teachable and Kajabi. Transaction fees for NationalProcessing are higher than some of the other options mentioned here, but it’s worth mentioning that additional fees may be added for certain features such as the ability to accept ACH payments or credit cards.
| NationalProcessing | |
| Forms of Payment: | Online, in-person, payment links, invoicing, virtual terminal for keyed-in transactions |
| Pricing Plans: | Ranges from $15 – $59 per month, varying by type of payment |
| Transaction Rates: | 0.29% and 15 cents per transaction (online payments) 0 – 1.5% + $0.48 per transaction (ACH) 0% + $0.09 per transaction (subscriptions) |
| Native Coaching Platform Integrations: | None |
| Easy setup: | Online reviews state that most users struggled with the platform and did not find it easy to use. |
| Customer sevice: | States 24/7 support, has mixed reviews |
WePay Link
WePay Link stands out from the rest because it is a simple, transparent solution with a beautiful user interface and no monthly fees. The drawback of WePay Link is that it lacks native integration with coaching platforms and doesn’t provide phone support.
| WePay Link | |
| Forms of Payment: | Online, in-person, payment links, invoicing, virtual terminal for keyed-in transactions |
| Pricing Plans: | No additional fees to use the service. |
| Transaction Rates: | 2.9% + $0.25 per transaction. |
| Native Coaching Platform Integrations: | None. |
| Easy setup: | Simple setup, user-friendly interface. |
| Customer sevice: | No phone support. |
Amazon Pay
Amazon Pay is a well-known payment processing solution and it is integrated with many popular ecommerce platforms, such as WooCommerce, Wix, GoDaddy, and more. It also supports international payments. Amazon’s checkout process is familiar to many, and Amazon boldly claims it can boost conversion rates by 37%.
On the downside for coaches who want to use this payment solution, Amazon Pay does not have any native integration with coaching platforms. Another drawback may be that it requires customers to have an Amazon account.
| Amazon Pay | |
| Forms of Payment: | Online |
| Pricing Plans: | No subscription fees to use the service. |
| Transaction Rates: | 2.9% + $0.30 per online transaction 4% plus 30 cents for Alexa transactions |
| Native Coaching Platform Integrations: | None. |
| Easy setup: | Online reviews state that most users experienced a fast setup and find the user interface simple. |
| Customer sevice: | Live chat, email, phone support |
Summary Comparison of Payment Processors
Many coaches ignore the fees charged by payment processors, thinking it won’t affect them as much. Another factor adding to the lack of comparing options carefully may be the choice being made for most coaches by the coaching platform they are using. If the coaching platform already natively integrates with a payment provider, the choice seems obvious, but look closer. As you grow, the fees can add up.
Furthermore, consider the types of clients you are dealing with. Some of the payment processors we have covered have better support, recognition and fees for international transactions (PayPal, Amazon). Others are better at providing you with the support you need (Helcim, Amazon).