Stripe has established itself as a go-to platform for payment processing; we’ve used it, we’ve implemented it, and we’ve recommended it countless times. Its ability to handle many type of transactions and integrate with various systems makes it an excellent and widely popular choice for many businesses across different industries. However, as with many other solutions and “out-of-the-box” (OOTB) features, the standard Stripe connectors can sometimes fall short of meeting the unique needs of specific organizations.
We’ve encountered these limitations firsthand and have developed custom solutions to fill the gaps. Let’s explore why we’ve chosen to go beyond the standard and how our approach empowers our clients.
The ‘Why’ Behind Custom Stripe Integrations
The standard Stripe connector offers many robust features, but in certain scenarios, its limitations necessitate a custom approach. For example:
- Guest User Access Challenges: Many organizations require seamless payment options for guest users. Stripe’s OOTB connector mandates authenticated user access, making it impossible for guest users to pay via a simple Stripe Checkout link. While third-party tools like Chargent offer workarounds, they often come with additional costs and complexities.
- Community User Payments: We’ve seen similar limitations with community user payments. Stripe’s current connector lacks support for these transactions, though they’re working on future capabilities that we (as well as many of our clients) are looking forward to and hopefully in the near future.
- Specialized Payment Needs: Unique business requirements, such as enabling offline mass payments or generating payment links directly from invoices, often require functionality that the standard Stripe connector doesn’t support.
These limitations are not failures of Stripe but rather reflections of the fact that no one-size-fits-all solution can address the diverse and evolving needs of every business.
Lane Four’s Custom Integration: Thinking (even more) Outside the Box
When we encounter gaps or limitations during client engagements, we don’t see them as roadblocks but as opportunities to innovate and think creatively. Our custom integration with Stripe is a prime example—carefully designed to tackle specific challenges our clients have faced while enhancing functionality and user experience. This approach ensures our clients maintain operational efficiency while providing a seamless and intuitive payment experience for their customers—a critical advantage in the world of B2B.
Key Features of Lane Four’s Custom Integration
Streamlined Payment Setup:
- Create Stripe customer records directly from Salesforce.
- Generate payment methods and manage defaults with ease.
Flexible Payment Options for Client-Centric Simplicity:
- Send Stripe payment links to customers for card detail entry. Embed payment links in correspondence and invoice documents, simplifying the payment process for customers.
- Enable partial payments on invoices and schedule automatic payment jobs.
*To comply with security procedures, we do not store the full card info in Salesforce
Enhanced Visibility and Control:
- Offline mass payment functionality with error tracking and retry logs.
- Detailed Stripe logs attached to invoices, providing transparency into payment status and error messages.
*The Lane Four custom connector can schedule this job to automatically take payments using the existing methods
What the Stripe Connector Offers That This Custom Integration Doesn’t
While we’re proud of our custom solution, we also acknowledge the strengths of Stripe’s OOTB connector. It excels in areas such as:
- Billing and Subscription Management: Previewing invoices and managing subscription orders.
- Revenue Recovery: Smart retry rules for declined payments, customized for different regions.
- Billing Period Insights: At-a-glance visibility into upcoming billing periods.
These features are valuable for many businesses, demonstrating that the OOTB connector can be a solid choice in the right context.
When standard tools fall short, we step up with creativity, technical know-how, and a commitment to putting our clients first. Our custom Stripe integration is proof of that. By combining deep Salesforce expertise with fresh, out-of-the-box thinking, we help our clients discover new possibilities so that they can continue to meet (and potentially exceed) all of their business goals. Curious about our custom Stripe integration? Let’s chat!
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