Online payments reduce friction in your customer’s experience. They’re much faster than waiting for customers to receive and send their invoices then deposit checks or pay with cash. Whether your business is brick-and-mortar or virtual, offering online payments is essential to keeping up with your competition and serving your customers well. Here are the benefits of collecting payments online for your small business:
Increased Efficiency
A streamlined process is one of the biggest benefits of accepting online payments. Instead of manually tracking and storing cash transactions, online payment collection systems deposit received funds directly into your business bank account. It allows you to handle a larger transaction volume and contributes significantly to your overall revenue. Customers value efficiency and enjoy being able to settle their bills quickly.
By offering them the option to pay online, you save them time dropping their balance by phone or visiting your practice to write a check and buy stamps. By reducing their time paying off their invoices, you also reduce your day’s sales outstanding (DSO). It is particularly beneficial for event and meeting planners who must accommodate many guests from various locations. Sage Intacct integrations solutions provide a secure and efficient payment processing system that can help you increase your customer base by opening your services to a global audience.
Increased Customer Satisfaction
Whether you run a banquet facility or a business that helps clients plan events, your customers will love you for offering them the option of making credit card payments online. The ability to pay their invoices from the comfort of their home or office, or even on a mobile phone, will allow them to get back to their day-to-day tasks without worrying about coming up with cash or making trips to the post office. It also allows you to get paid faster, as a debit or credit card payment is processed instantly and doesn’t require an intermediary to cash the check. It can make a huge difference in your revenue, eliminating the risk of late fees and other penalties.
Online payments are also perfect for businesses that offer subscription-based services, as you can automate the recurring process to save time and improve customer retention. It allows you to focus on planning new ways to wow your audience rather than wasting your valuable time chasing down payments. Multiple contact-free prices also expand your audience, increasing your chance of getting more sales.
Increased Customer Retention
You spend a lot of time and money attracting new customers to your business, so keeping them around as long as possible makes sense. An effective payment system on your online store will help you retain more customers since people tend to buy more goods or services from businesses they trust. When your customers pay online, the transaction happens instantly and securely. The data is usually encrypted and stored by a third-party processor, which minimizes your liability risk. It prevents you from paying the fines and penalties for returned checks or credit card data theft.
Collecting payments online also makes it easier for your office team to process invoices and track sales, refunds, and coupons. It can help save your business a lot of time, especially if you have multiple locations. For example, if your restaurant sells food to people from other cities and countries, you can simplify the payment process for your customers by offering online payments. They can sign up for automatic payments through their bank accounts, so they don’t have to bring cash or credit cards to your locations.
Increased Sales
As we move towards a cashless society, online payment methods will become more important for service businesses to get paid. These include buy-now, pay-later alternatives, digital wallets, and transactions directly linked to a customer’s bank account (such as account debits and credit transfers). The convenience and speed of a digital payment will not only make your customers happy, but it can also increase sales for your business. For example, a customer might purchase more products when they can pay in installments and spread out the purchase cost over time.
Online payments can eliminate the hassle of manually printing invoices, stuffing envelopes, and sending reminders for overdue payments. It also makes tracking all your transactions, refunds, and coupon codes easier. All of this helps reduce the admin burden for your office team, freeing them up to focus on revenue-generating activities. It ultimately leads to an improved CX for your customers and a more efficient business for you.
Reduced Expenses
Businesses have numerous expenses associated with manual payment processing. From invoicing customers to depositing cash and paying for credit card machines or the salary of employees who keep track of payments, all of these processes can be eliminated with online payments. A recent Visa survey revealed that small businesses without online payments waste 542 hours to process $ 100,000 in sales, while those with e-payment systems only need 189 hours.
With a payment platform that supports recurring transactions, you can save even more time by automatically charging customer cards at set intervals instead of taking payments manually. Your customers can also save their card details for future use, eliminating needing to provide their payment information again. Clients love it, too, as they don’t have to constantly check their bank accounts to see if their payments have arrived (like when they used to receive invoices in the mail or by hand). They get immediate confirmation that their funds were successfully transferred and can easily manage their payments from a web portal.
