Payments Strategy Show (Rainforest)

Tony Caudill shares insights from building a church membership engagement app and an all-in-one financial management platform for youth sports clubs, emphasizing how to choose the right payments provider, create a winning merchant experience, and drive adoption.

• How integrated payments helped Tony's first SaaS business get acquired
• Four different approaches to payments and which one drives the most value for vertical SaaS companies and their customers
• Why simply adding payments to a SaaS platform isn't enough -- and the essential strategy shift that actually drives revenue
• The hidden costs of picking the wrong payments provider and how to avoid an expensive, years-long mistake
• What's missing from the "if you build it, they will come" approach and how to get customers excited about payments

Full transcript: https://www.rainforestpay.com/blog/payments-strategy-show-001-tony-caudill/

All episodes: https://www.rainforestpay.com/blog/category/payments-strategy-show/

The Payments Strategy Show is brought to you by Rainforest, embedded payments purpose-built for vertical SaaS.

Grow revenue with the only payfac-as-a-service provider optimized to help you drive more payments volume at higher margins, without risk or compliance headaches.

Learn more: https://rainforestpay.com

Connect with us on LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/company/rainforestpay

How do software companies transform payments from a bolt-on feature to a thriving profit center? In today's episode of The Payments Strategy Show, Ali Mast of Parachute Advisory shares her experience from a career at the intersection of SaaS and payments, and what she learned from embedding payments in 40+ software platforms.

• Why SaaS and payments companies often "speak different languages" and how to bridge the gap.
• How evolving banking and regulatory conditions have made it harder for SaaS companies to become payfacs and the growing role of modern payfac-as-a-service providers.
• Revenue-maximizing best practices for sales enablement, customer success, and more.
• What mid-market SaaS companies need to consider before taking on payments risk.
• Why SaaS leaders need to own their payments strategy—or risk losing revenue to third parties.

Full transcript: https://www.rainforestpay.com/blog/payments-strategy-show-002-ali-mast/

All episodes: https://www.rainforestpay.com/blog/category/payments-strategy-show/

The Payments Strategy Show is brought to you by Rainforest, embedded payments purpose-built for vertical SaaS.

Grow revenue with the only payfac-as-a-service provider optimized to help you drive more payments volume at higher margins, without risk or compliance headaches.

Learn more: https://rainforestpay.com

Connect with us on LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/company/rainforestpay

Why are some SaaS companies able to generate more than half of their revenue from payments, while others struggle to get customers to use the payments feature? Matt Brown of Matrix Partners shares his lessons learned from building fintech into the vertical SaaS platform at Bonsai and working closely with top SaaS and fintech leaders as a VC investor. He covers:

• Why payments should be the first embedded fintech product for almost every vSaaS (hint: customers love to get paid).
• How SaaS platforms can become the system of record by managing workflows, data, and financial transactions all in one place.
• Where platforms can find additional growth beyond the typical scope of vSaaS and embedded fintech
• How nuanced details in pricing and risk management can make or break an embedded fintech offering
• The critical importance of prioritizing customers and vertical-specific needs over one-size-fits-all playbooks

Full transcript: https://www.rainforestpay.com/blog/payments-strategy-show-003-matt-brown/

All episodes: https://www.rainforestpay.com/blog/category/payments-strategy-show/

The Payments Strategy Show is brought to you by Rainforest, embedded payments purpose-built for vertical SaaS.

Grow revenue with the only payfac-as-a-service provider optimized to help you drive more payments volume at higher margins, without risk or compliance headaches.

Learn more: https://rainforestpay.com

Connect with us on LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/company/rainforestpay

With so many SaaS companies embracing payments, why do only 10-15% achieve the expected financial results? Brian Abernethy of Utopaya joins host Joshua Silver on this episode to examine what separates the winners from the rest of the pack. 

They explore:

• One huge mistake SaaS companies make when choosing a payments provider, and how to avoid it
• Specific contract terms to demand, and terms to reject, when negotiating with your payments provider
• The essential tension between take rate and adoption, and when to prioritize each
• How to boost attach rates by positioning on-platform payments as the default choice
• Why the most successful SaaS companies don't bury payments under finance or product, and how to structure the org for success
  
  

Full transcript: https://www.rainforestpay.com/blog/payments-strategy-show-004-brian-abernethy/

All episodes: https://www.rainforestpay.com/blog/category/payments-strategy-show/

The Payments Strategy Show is brought to you by Rainforest, embedded payments purpose-built for vertical SaaS.

Grow revenue with the only payfac-as-a-service provider optimized to help you drive more payments volume at higher margins, without risk or compliance headaches.

Learn more: https://rainforestpay.com

Connect with us on LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/company/rainforestpay

One of the biggest mistakes for vertical SaaS companies when it comes to payments is taking on too much. 

Too much risk and compliance responsibility, too much technical complexity, or too many features that add more confusion than value. 

In this episode, Becky Kopplin interviews Joshua Silver about exactly what SaaS companies must prioritize in a high-value embedded payments offering... and which shiny objects just cause problems.

They covered:

• Why adoption is the ultimate payments KPI (focus on this if you want to drive massive revenue with embedded payments).
• A counterintuitive merchant onboarding flow to avoid unexpected funding holds, additional verification requests, and service interruptions.
• How a cluttered checkout experience with too many choices can lead to decision paralysis and abandoned carts. 
• The trendy pricing strategy that hurts adoption and margin, and why a simple pricing model wins every single time.
• What software companies can learn from Uber to make embedded payments an obvious “yes”.

Episode transcript: https://rainforestpay.com/blog/payments-strategy-show-005-joshua-silver

All episodes: https://www.rainforestpay.com/blog/category/payments-strategy-show/

The Payments Strategy Show is brought to you by Rainforest, embedded payments purpose-built for vertical SaaS.

Grow revenue with the only payfac-as-a-service provider optimized to help you drive more payments volume at higher margins, without risk or compliance headaches.

Learn more: https://rainforestpay.com

Connect with us on LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/company/rainforestpay

With payments technology getting more and more complicated -- and fraud evolving at a similar rate -- how can SaaS companies build a winning payments strategy in a rapidly changing payments industry?

Nikita Skitev of Payments Strategist joins host Joshua Silver to discuss this question and much more. They covered:

• The best way to learn about payments and fintech quickly when you’re just starting out
• Hidden costs of an all-in-one “walled garden” solution, and when to choose open ecosystem providers instead
• 6 key components to payments strategy, and why platforms must proactively manage their own fintech roadmap
• Two common types of fraud, and how SaaS platforms can grow volume without taking on excessive risk
• How to holistically evaluate a payment solution from both the payer and payee perspective – and why software companies need to consider both

Episode transcript: https://www.rainforestpay.com/blog/payments-strategy-show-006-nikita-skitev

All episodes: https://www.rainforestpay.com/blog/category/payments-strategy-show/

The Payments Strategy Show is brought to you by Rainforest, embedded payments purpose-built for vertical SaaS.

Grow revenue with the only payfac-as-a-service provider optimized to help you drive more payments volume at higher margins, without risk or compliance headaches.

Learn more: https://rainforestpay.com

Connect with us on LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/company/rainforestpay

As customers, why do we enjoy interacting with some software and dread others? And how can SaaS companies create that feeling of joy in an embedded payments product?

Payments UX expert Joseph Solomon of WDIR joins us on the Payments Strategy Show to answer these questions and more. We covered:

• One critical UX touchpoint with a disproportionate impact on payments adoption (SaaS companies don’t want to miss this)
• How to boost merchant onboarding completion rates with progress indicators and other UX best practices
• The critical importance of trust in payments, and how to build it through UX design
• How to innovate on a payments product that demands reliability and stability
• Small words that make a big difference in confirmation pages, status emails, and other payments touchpoints

Full transcript: https://www.rainforestpay.com/blog/payments-strategy-show-007-joseph-solomon

All episodes: https://www.rainforestpay.com/blog/category/payments-strategy-show/

The Payments Strategy Show is brought to you by Rainforest, embedded payments purpose-built for vertical SaaS.

Grow revenue with the only payfac-as-a-service provider optimized to help you drive more payments volume at higher margins, without risk or compliance headaches.

Learn more: https://rainforestpay.com

Connect with us on LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/company/rainforestpay

Merchant migrations can be a significant barrier for SaaS companies changing payment providers -- especially if there's concern about merchant pushback or churn.

Wouldn’t it be great if we could get advice from someone who has led dozens of successful migrations impacting many thousands of merchants?

This person is Becky Kopplin (VP of Payments at Rainforest). In this episode of the Payments Strategy Show, she sits down with host Joshua Silver to share her battle-tested merchant migration playbook. 

They covered:

• How Ministry Brands evaluated acquisition targets based on payments, and what drove up (or tanked) valuation
• The hidden cultural gap between “integrated” and “embedded” payments that stalls adoption
• How to reduce migration risk and improve outcomes with merchant segmentation and a test-measure-learn approach
• Why lowering your processing rate won’t win over merchants… but better product value will
• Real-world strategies for reducing support volume, increasing attach rate, and making payments a strategic differentiator

Full transcript: https://www.rainforestpay.com/blog/payments-strategy-show-008-becky-kopplin

All episodes: https://www.rainforestpay.com/blog/category/payments-strategy-show/

The Payments Strategy Show is brought to you by Rainforest, embedded payments purpose-built for vertical SaaS.

Grow revenue with the only payfac-as-a-service provider optimized to help you drive more payments volume at higher margins, without risk or compliance headaches.

Learn more: https://rainforestpay.com

Connect with us on LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/company/rainforestpay

Vertical SaaS is bifurcating into two distinct approaches – and one approach will dominate.

Joshua Silver (Founder & CEO of Rainforest) is joined by Ari Myers, Head of Commercial Strategy at Kanmon, to talk about the synergy between embedded payments and embedded lending, why the next generation of SaaS platforms will need to be fintech-first to stay competitive, and how to avoid the most common fintech fails.

They covered:

• Two types of SaaS companies that are emerging, and how to be on the winning side.
• The non-negotiable prerequisite for embedded fintech success (hint: it’s not the product)
• How to activate your GTM org with sales incentives, quota retirement, new demo patterns, and more
• The "trifecta" of execution: executive sponsorship, cross-functional ownership, and departmental accountability
• Why aligned incentives between fintech providers and platforms create a win-win-win for SaaS companies, partners, and their end users

Full transcript: https://rainforestpay.com/blog/payments-strategy-show-009-ari-myers

All episodes: https://www.rainforestpay.com/blog/category/payments-strategy-show/

The Payments Strategy Show is brought to you by Rainforest, embedded payments purpose-built for vertical SaaS.

Grow revenue with the only payfac-as-a-service provider optimized to help you drive more payments volume at higher margins, without risk or compliance headaches.

Learn more: https://rainforestpay.com

Connect with us on LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/company/rainforestpay

The biggest opportunity for SaaS companies to reduce embedded payments cost usually isn’t negotiating a lower fee with the payment provider. 

It’s optimizing interchange. 

In this episode, payments supply chain expert Max Jewell explains how interchange fees are determined, where SaaS companies might be able to qualify for better rates, and what to look for in your processing statements to uncover potential savings.

Max shares:

• The most frequent causes of transaction downgrades and how to avoid them
• Common mistakes that prevent platforms from getting Level 2/3 data rates
• Little-known interchange optimization methods that almost no one is talking about
• 3 steps to size up your potential interchange optimization savings
• An easy way to spot hidden payment processor fees

Full transcript: https://www.rainforestpay.com/blog/payments-strategy-show-010-max-jewell

All episodes: https://www.rainforestpay.com/blog/category/payments-strategy-show/

The Payments Strategy Show is brought to you by Rainforest, embedded payments purpose-built for vertical SaaS.

Grow revenue with the only payfac-as-a-service provider optimized to help you drive more payments volume at higher margins, without risk or compliance headaches.

Learn more: https://rainforestpay.com

Connect with us on LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/company/rainforestpay