You know when a payment experience is bad. You’ll be redirected to another website, asked to log in again, or left wondering whether the payment actually went through. That’s scary, no matter how much you’re spending.
The good payment experiences are much harder to remember because they don’t interrupt what you were trying to do in the first place. And most of the time, it’s the businesses with embedded payments that are offering the better experience.
What is an embedded payment? Simply put, it’s payment functionality built directly into your websites, apps, or software. So customers stay in the same environment from start to finish, while you have more control over the payment experience.
A few years ago, building something like this usually meant attempting to create your own payment infrastructure or spending a ton on custom development. Today, it’s all much more accessible, giving businesses of all sizes the ability to integrate payments without starting from scratch.
In this guide, we’ll look at why more businesses are embedding payments, how the technology works, and what to consider before bringing payments into your own platform.
Why businesses are bringing payments in-house
The moment customers have to leave your platform to complete a payment, you’ve introduced another opportunity for them to change their mind. And even if your business is big and busy, that’s not the kind of thing you want to risk.
Keeping payments inside a website, app, or software platform removes extra friction, and paying feels like part of the experience instead of something separate. It’s easy and effortless for both sides.
You stay in control, the customer doesn’t lose interest or trust, and purchases are made without ending in abandoned carts.
But embedded payments can also open up new ways to earn revenue by letting you earn money through transaction fees, recurring billing, and marketplace payments. As your business grows, those payment fees become a meaningful source of recurring revenue instead of just covering the cost of processing payments.
What’s happening behind every payment
So can you just add a checkout button and go on with your day? Not quite. Every transaction sets in motion a domino effect behind the scenes. It actually affects merchant onboarding and payment processing, compliance, fraud checks, and even settlement. And building all of that yourself takes time, money, and specialist knowledge.
And, of course, your customers only see a few seconds of the payment process. As a business, you have to think about everything that happens before and after that moment.
There is help, though, in the form of PayFac as a Service (PFaaS). Instead of building and managing a payment operation from scratch, you can partner with companies to handle a bunch of that infrastructure, so you can launch embedded payments sooner while keeping the payment experience inside your own platform.
Your payment needs will probably change over time, too. As customers adopt new payment methods, businesses need a way to keep up without rebuilding their payment systems. If cryptocurrency becomes part of that journey, for example, Mercuryo lets businesses add crypto on-ramps, off-ramps, and digital asset payments alongside their existing payment options.
Customers expect convenience, not another checkout
Your customers aren’t opening your website or app because they’re excited to make a payment. They’re there to book an appointment, buy a product, renew a subscription, or pay an invoice. Paying is simply one step in getting that done.
The way people use digital products has changed too. Whether they’re ordering food, booking accommodation, or subscribing to software, they’re used to completing everything in one place. Switching to another website just to pay increasingly feels like an unnecessary interruption.
Embedded payments fit naturally into that shift by making payments part of the overall experience instead of a separate task.
Making payments feel effortless
Convenience often comes down to the little things. One extra login, another confirmation screen, or being redirected to a different website can be enough to interrupt the flow.
If there’s a freelancer sending an invoice through a project management platform, they don’t want to download a PDF, email it to a client, and wait for a bank transfer. Instead, they want their client to be able to review the invoice and pay it immediately without leaving the platform.
The same applies to booking platforms, online marketplaces, membership sites, and plenty of other digital products where paying feels like a natural part of the experience instead of a separate process.
Staying ahead of customer expectations
Back in 2010, online shoppers were happy to pay with a debit or credit card. But with our new technology offers, we expect digital wallets, account-to-account payments, Buy Now/ Pay Later options, and even cryptocurrency.
If you can introduce new payment methods without rebuilding your entire payment infrastructure, you’re in a much stronger position to keep up as those expectations evolve.
Making your platform easier to come back to
Think about the platforms you use regularly. The ones that make it easy to browse, buy, pay, and manage everything from the same place give you fewer reasons to go somewhere else.
Most customers couldn’t tell you which payment processor a business uses. They notice when paying feels awkward. If the payment fits naturally into the rest of the product, it almost disappears.
The last thing you want is to lose customers to your competitors just because your payment process was painful.
Where embedded payments make the biggest difference
Embedded payments work for almost any business that processes payments online, for a product or service. But some of the biggest opportunities are appearing in:
- SaaS platforms: Software companies that collect subscription payments, process invoices, and manage recurring billing.
- Online marketplaces: Buyers and sellers needing to complete transactions without being redirected to external payment pages.
- Hospitality and travel: Hotels, booking platforms, and tour operators managing reservations, deposits, and additional purchases through a single system.
- Healthcare: Patients paying consultation fees, outstanding balances, or recurring treatment plans through the same portal they use to book appointments.
- E-commerce: Retailers offering faster checkouts, digital wallets, flexible payment options, and loyalty rewards without disrupting the buying experience.
As embedded payment technology becomes easier to integrate, it’s likely to become a standard feature rather than something that sets businesses apart. So best to get your business set up sooner rather than later.
Choosing the right payment setup
How do you actually choose an embedded payments solution? It’s not just about comparing features. You need to start with how people actually use your platform.
Before choosing a payment partner or integration, ask yourself:
- Will embedded payments make life easier for your customers? If people regularly leave your platform to complete a purchase, there’s probably room to improve the experience.
- What payment features do you need today? Think about recurring billing, subscription management, marketplace payments, invoicing, or mobile payments.
- Will your payment needs change over time? Expanding into new countries, supporting additional currencies, or accepting new payment methods is much easier when your payment setup can grow with you.
- Who will manage compliance and risk? Merchant onboarding, fraud prevention, and regulatory requirements all take time, so it’s worth deciding how much of that you want to handle yourself.
One of the biggest mistakes businesses make is choosing a payment solution based on what they need today instead of where they’re heading next. Switching payment providers later can be far more disruptive than taking the time to choose the right setup from the start.
Where embedded payments are heading
More platforms are starting to treat payments as part of the overall product instead of a separate service. Customers can already invoice, pay, manage subscriptions, and request refunds without leaving many of the tools they use every day. As payment technology becomes easier to integrate, that kind of experience is only going to become more common.
Payment options are expanding too. Credit and debit cards still account for most online purchases, but digital wallets, account-to-account payments, and cryptocurrencies are becoming more widely available. Businesses with embedded payments are in a much better position to introduce new payment methods as customer expectations evolve.
If you’re considering embedded payments, don’t focus only on what your customers need today. Think about where your platform is heading and whether your payment setup will be able to grow with it.
