-Long live credit cards, debit cards and digital wallets! With paper currency now used in just 19% of consumer payments, and use of payment cards, electronic payments and mobile payment apps surging, small businesses are increasingly reliant on a strong relationship with their merchant services payment processor. According to the J.D. Power 2022 U.S. Merchant Services Satisfaction Study, released , payment processors have stepped up their game during the past year, with big banks leading the way to a significant surge in merchant services satisfaction.
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“The past couple of years have been very challenging for most small businesses, but industry-wide efforts to simplify payment processing fee structures, ramp up customer support and speed up payments have had positive effects on merchant services satisfaction”
“The past couple of years have been very challenging for most small businesses, but industry-wide efforts to simplify payment processing fee structures, ramp up customer support and speed up payments have had positive effects on merchant services satisfaction,” said Paul McAdam, senior director of banking and payments intelligence at J.D. Power. “The largest year-over-year satisfaction gains have been driven by the big banks, which have historically trailed fintech payment providers in delivering low-cost, user-friendly merchant services solutions. Now, the big banks are matching or exceeding fintechs in small business satisfaction with merchant services.”
Following are key findings of the 2022 study:
- Overall satisfaction surges, led by big banks: Overall small business satisfaction with merchant services providers is 859 (on a 1,000-point scale), up a significant 23 points from 2021. The top two performers in the study—Bank of America and Chase Merchant Services—have notable gains this year, with Bank of America increasing 45 points and Chase rising 35 points from last year’s study.
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- Simplified fee structures and better customer support drive gains: This year’s significant increases in overall satisfaction are driven by a 33-point increase in satisfaction with cost of service and a 32-point increase in satisfaction with service interactions. Small businesses have improved understanding of payment processing fee structures, which have led to increased satisfaction with the ability to manage or control total payment costs. Small businesses also have experienced notably fewer problems with point-of-sale terminal/card reader hardware and software.
- Show me the money: Small businesses say they are receiving payments faster. More than one-third (34%) say the typical amount of time from transaction to funding their merchant accounts was faster than expected, up 10 percentage points from a year ago. Likewise, 65% of small businesses say they’ve received faster funding, so card payments are settled/posted same day or on non-business days, up 14 percentage points from 2021.
- Provider responses to COVID-19 earn goodwill among small businesses: Nearly three-fourths (73%) of small business customers say they are aware of at least one proactive measure their merchant services provider has taken in response to challenges caused by the pandemic, which has driven a 71-point increase in satisfaction with cost of service. Specific actions taken by providers in response to the pandemic include offering discounted products and services, updated fraud controls and faster funding turnaround times.
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