Accepting payments online opens up a business to a world of opportunities. It helps them shift their local boundaries and provide their products or services to global customers. That said, implementing online payment processing on a website is challenging. Lack of knowledge, poor internet connectivity, and growing cyber threats are a few reasons making customers reluctant to make payments online. Moreover, the availability of multiple payment processing platforms makes business owners confused about which option to adopt.
Inefficient payment processing accounts for reduced sales, leading to business loss and negative reviews from customers. Fortunately, there are multiple ways to alleviate payment processing issues. Speeding up the payment processing systems reduces cash flow issues and gives it a better chance to succeed. Below are a few helpful tips to make a website’s digital payment processing easier for the customers and boost sales.
Accepting payments in advance is an excellent way to ensure being paid for the product or service offered. It eliminates any chance of failed payments, insufficient account balances, and other payment-related issues. For instance, when a customer places an order, give them an option to pay in advance. Although it’s good to provide them with the COD option, make it unattractive by removing any discount or charging extra COD charges.
Post-paid service providers need to bill their customers based on usage. However, sending paper bills to each customer consumes time and resources. Although a business cannot stop sending paper bills altogether, it can request customers to subscribe to paperless bills. Digitally invoicing the customers speeds up the process. The best payment gateways allow businesses to automatically create, manage, and send digital invoices by email, SMS, Whatsapp, Instagram, or Facebook.
Even if a customer is willing to pay, they may delay it if they need to browse through the internet, visit the business website, and find a link from where they can complete the payment. Sending them a link along with the digital bill or payment reminder will make things easier for them. They can simply click that link and reach the payments page. Ensure that the URL address has a hyperlink. They would not want to copy the address, open their browser, and paste that address there.
Sending bills well ahead of time gives customers sufficient time to plan and make their payments. For instance, send a digital invoice to the customer immediately after processing the order and give them enough time to pay before the due date. The trick is to understand the sooner the customer receives the bill, the sooner they will pay without missing it. This simple tip results in fewer cash flow issues for the business.
A business that wants its customers to pay faster must give them less time to pay. Give them a due date and charge a late payment penalty. Most customers will pay it before the due date to avoid the penalty, even if it is just a week after. Giving them a more extended deadline gives them enough time to forget about the payment and miss the due date.
Another tip to make online payment processing easier and faster is to incentivize clients who make early payments. For instance, consider giving them a special discount or service upgrade if they pay within 3-5 days or even getting a cashback. People love getting rewards, especially if they are valuable perks. So, know what the customers want and reward them with it in exchange for prompt payment. Conversely, consider penalizing the clients who pay late. By doing this, they will try to pay on time if they know they will have to pay extra for late payments.
Select the best payment gateway that integrates multiple payment options into one dashboard. Different customers are comfortable paying with varying mediums of payment. Some like to use their credit card, while others prefer paying from their bank account using a debit card or net banking. Some customers keep a balance in their e-wallet to pay for their purchases. Those who are not so tech-savvy may prefer placing the order and paying for it in cash with the COD method. Therefore, an eCommerce website needs to be a shop that accepts many payment options. Be willing to let the customers pay the way they want. Then find a payment gateway that fits all payment types into a single platform. Having lots of payment options also gives the business a competitive advantage over others with limited options to offer.
Integrating UPI AutoPay helps collect recurring payments from customers’ bank accounts automatically. Request customers to set up the UPI AutoPay from their bank account. Once they do that, their due amount is automatically transferred from their account to the business. The option saves the customers from making recurring payments manually each month. Besides that, service providers do not need to request payments and send reminders to each customer. Integrating UPI AutoPay streamlines the cash flow and ensures timely payment from the customers.
There must be many customers who want to buy from a business but do not have the money. Offering them the Pay Later option makes the purchase easier and encourages them to take a step ahead. With the Pay Later option, a business may grab a customer’s order with a down payment, and the customer agrees to pay the remaining amount in EMIs. Besides winning their trust and loyalty, the business earns interest on the order amount.
When processing online payments, these are a few tips that help make receiving the payments easy and profitable. The tips mentioned above will encourage smooth payments and make things easier for both customers and businesses. These are the best ways to improve payment processing and collect payments quicker. The best payment gateway offers more than the ease of processing payments. It has features like reports, analytics, fraud protection, etc. Selecting such a gateway reduces stress, minimizes cash flow issues, and builds confidence to operate a business successfully.
