Payment Pulse – Ep. 27

Learn how vertical SaaS companies transform embedded payments into a revenue engine with attach-rate strategy, marketing-led adoption, and aligned incentives.

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Episode Transcript

 

Shannon: Welcome back to the Payment Pulse podcast. Today we’re talking about something we see over and over again with vertical SaaS platforms: payments quietly becoming the biggest revenue driver in the business, sometimes without the company even realizing it at first.

Michelle: Yeah, and what’s interesting is that it’s rarely intentional at the beginning. Most platforms start with payments as a feature, something customers ask for, and then suddenly it’s 40, 50, even 70% of revenue.

Shannon: And yet despite that potential, we still see a lot of VSaaS companies struggle with adoption. They integrate payments and then they announce it once, and then adoption stalls.

Michelle: So today we’re breaking down what the top performing platforms do differently, how they turn payments into a true revenue engine instead of a missed opportunity.

Shannon: So let’s start with the biggest mindset shift. Winning platforms don’t treat payments like a feature. They treat it like a business line.

Michelle: That distinction matters more than people realize. When payments are just a feature, there’s no owner, no clear KPIs, and no accountability for adoption.

Shannon: Exactly, but when payments are a business line, suddenly everything changes. Product is thinking about onboarding speed. Sales has attach rate targets. Marketing is running campaigns, and finance is optimizing margin.

Michelle: And customers feel that difference. Instead of: “Here’s another button you can turn on”, the message becomes: this helps you get paid faster, reduce admin work, and run your business faster.

Shannon: And that’s when adoption really starts to move.

Michelle: That’s right. Now, one of the biggest mistakes we see is what I call the “launch and pray” strategy.

Shannon: So what that means is integrate payments, send one email, maybe a release note, and then hope customers magically adopt it.

Michelle: But merchants don’t just automatically wake up excited about payments. Rather, they care about outcomes, cash flow, fewer headaches, less reconciliation.

Shannon: And if you don’t connect payments to those outcomes, customers don’t see a reason to switch from what they’re already using.

Michelle: Which is why adoption doesn’t happen by accident. It has to be designed.

Shannon: So this is where marketing becomes the hero and not just at launch.

Michelle: The best platforms run ongoing payments marketing. Not pricing ads, not feature lists. Outcome driven campaigns.

Shannon: So think segmented nurture tracks, in-app prompts, case studies that show real ROI, and calculators that quantify time saved or cash flow improvements.

Michelle: And this is especially true in vertical SaaS. Merchants want to see examples from businesses just like theirs.

Shannon: So marketing turns payments into a business case, and that’s what moves adoption.

Michelle: Now, the strongest GTM motions are layered. Smaller merchants can self-serve while larger or more complex accounts get human support.

Shannon: Exactly. So you don’t want your sales team chasing every $30 a month merchant, but you do want them involved when complexity shows up.

Michelle: That might mean migrations, multi-location rollouts, pricing conversations, or enterprise level needs.

Shannon: And here’s the key: compensation matters. If sales is only paid on SaaS ARR, payments will always lose.

Michelle: Once payments revenue is part of the scorecard, priorities shift fast.

Shannon: And not all payments partners are created equal.

Michelle: Some give you rails. Others give you experience.

Shannon: Operator-led partners bring go to market playbooks, benchmarks, lifecycle campaigns, and real world lessons from other platforms.

Michelle: They know where onboarding breaks, they know what messaging converts. They also know how attach rates really move.

Shannon: And that’s been core to our approach at Xplor Pay. We’ve helped build and scale more than 20 vertical SaaS platforms over two decades.

Michelle: And that operator DNA shows up in everything, from roadmap collaboration to monetization strategy.

Now, one thing that often gets overlooked is executive ownership.

Shannon: Payments scale fastest when leadership is reviewing dashboards, setting cross-functional KPIs, and actively sponsoring the program.

Michelle: Attach rate, activation speed, time to value- those metrics should be visible at the top.

Shannon: Because payments touch risk, compliance, finance, product, and marketing, you need alignment or things can fall apart quickly. So one of the biggest accelerators of scale is flexibility in your payments program model.

Michelle: Such as PayFac as a service, referral programs, and hybrid models.

Shannon: So each serves as a different stage and strategy, and the best platforms don’t force a one size fits all approach.

Michelle: Flexibility lets platforms monetize faster without overwhelming internal teams or merchants.

Shannon: So before we finish up today, let’s call out a few pitfalls to avoid.

Michelle: For sure, like treating payments as a feature, launching without marketing, choosing a partner without go-to-market expertise, and misaligned comp plans.

Shannon: Yeah, the platforms that win do the opposite of that.

Michelle: That’s right. So they treat payments as a business line. They invest in marketing led adoption. They align incentives, and they work with partners who’ve been there before.

Shannon: So when you do that, payments stop being an afterthought and start becoming one of the most predictable, scalable revenue engines in the business.

Michelle: And that’s where things really get exciting.

Shannon: So if you’ve enjoyed listening to this episode today, we have more resources like this on our blog at xplorpay.com. That’s X-P-L-O–R pay dot com.

Michelle: Thanks for listening. See you next time on Payment Pulse.