Get Paid Faster With Mobile Payment Solutions
Contactless payments are a growing trend that is quickly becoming a necessity for businesses to accept payments. One of the payment methods that’s rapidly gaining steam is Text-to-Pay, also known as SMS payments or text payments. Recent studies have shown that 35% of customers prefer to pay by text messages, and 62% of buyers under the age of 35 frequently pay with a text if the store accepts that payment option.
With an average open rate of 98% compared to that of email, Text-to-Pay is a quick and easy way to charge customers, collect payments, and manage outstanding balances remotely. In today’s digital culture, where websites and text messages can be accessed from nearly anywhere, accepting payments through text is a clear next step for your growing business.
What is Text-to-Pay?
Text-to-Pay is the process of accepting payments through mobile text messages. As an innovative payment processing tool, SMS payments improve overall payment accuracy and efficiency. This contactless payment solution is a great fit for any industry or business that features recurring billing but can also be used for one-time payments to businesses with individual payment requests.
Offering Text-to-Pay as a payment option is effective for several business types including salons, retail stores, restaurants, or any business that offers subscription-based products and services. The contactless payment solution provides security for your customers, while also eliminating paper waste and reducing late or missed payments.
How Text-to-Pay Payments Work
With the Text-to-Pay feature, you can send an invoice to your customer via SMS, making it extremely convenient to get paid. By sending an invoice over text, your customer is more likely to respond right away. If they store credit card information on their phone, they can easily pay you with just a few taps.
Here’s how it works:
Customer Opt-In: The customer opts in to accept text messages from your business account.
Send Pay-By-Text Prompts: Your business can then send payment reminders to the customer’s phone number, including notifications when payments are due.
Payment Processing: The customer enters their personal payment information, deciding whether or not they’d like to save the card info for future purchases.
Payment Confirmation: Within seconds, the customer receives a reply text confirming receipt of payment.
Benefits of Using Text-to-Pay
Implementing Text-to-Pay helps your business unlock a number of benefits, including:
Speeds Up Bill Payments: The global average open rate on a text is more than 90% and it takes the average person 90 seconds to respond to a text message. Building a text database for your business speeds up your collection process and can even provide an active customer database that your business can use to retarget customers for future promotions and sales opportunities.
Reduces Manual Work: Text-to-Pay helps facilitate secure payments without all the admin and manual processes. You can automate bill notifications and reminders. Depending on your solution provider, you can get real-time visibility into whether or not customers have opened your message or viewed the invoice.
Better Communication: Text-to-Pay can streamline customer communications. Some providers offer 2-way communication capabilities, allowing you to answer customer questions via text and make changes to their orders within the same payments interface, thus reducing back-and-forth.
Improves Customer Experience: Text-to-Pay lets customers settle their bills with just a few taps on their mobile phone. They can do it wherever they are, so there’s no need to be in the store or in front of the computer. This enables your customers to have a more convenient payment experience, giving them more reasons to purchase from you.
Text-to-Pay Pricing
The cost of implementing Text-to-Pay depends on several factors, including the type of credit or debit card used and your payment processor. Merchants can be subject to payment processing expenses unless they adopt a text-to-pay provider that offers Dual Pricing. Similar to cash discount or surcharge in that the customer is essentially covering their own processing fees, Dual Pricing offers two prices at checkout: a cash price and a slightly higher card price that goes toward the processing costs. Be sure to carefully evaluate solution providers when you’re looking to implement Text-to-Pay to ensure you’re getting a cost-effective payment processing solution.
RELATED ARTICLE: The Rising Cost of Credit Card Processing: A Growing Burden for Small Business Owners
Final Words
Text-to-Pay transactions have become a very popular way for customers to submit payments. It’s important that you’re working with a payment processing company that offers secure, cost-saving, and hassle-free ways to accept those card-not-present payments. With the right provider, you can streamline your payments process and increase flexibility in how you receive payments, ultimately enhancing your business operations and customer satisfaction. If you are interested in exploring text-to-pay options for your business, contact SignaPay Direct today.
FAQs about Text-to-Pay
Q: What is Text-to-Pay?
A: Text-to-Pay is a contactless payment method that allows businesses to accept payments through mobile text messages. It is also referred to as Text2Pay or SMS payments.
Q: How does Text-to-Pay work?
A: The process starts with the customer opting in to accept text messages from your business. Your business can then send payment reminders via text, including notifications when payments are due. The customer enters their personal payment information and chooses whether or not to save the card info for future purchases. The customer then receives a reply text confirming receipt of payment.
Q: What kind of businesses can benefit from Text-to-Pay?
A: Text-to-Pay is effective for several types of businesses, including salons, retail stores, restaurants, or any business that offers subscription-based products and services.
Q: How can Text-to-Pay improve efficiency in payments?
A: Text-to-Pay can speed up bill payments, reduce manual work, enhance business and customer communication, and improve the customer experience by allowing them to settle their bills with just a few taps on their phones.
Q: Does offering Text-to-Pay as a payment option have an impact on sales?
A: Yes. Research has shown that customers who have a business relationship and are offered electronic invoicing and Text2Pay options tend to buy 7% more and more frequently, which can potentially boost sales and increase revenue.
Q: What are the charges for implementing Text-to-Pay?
A: The cost of implementing Text-to-Pay varies, depending on several factors like the type of credit or debit card used and your payment processor. Merchants might have to incur payment processing expenses, and some providers charge for every text message sent.
Q: What do I need to consider when choosing a provider for Text-to-Pay?
A: When looking to implement Text-to-Pay, consider aspects like the type of credit or debit cards accepted by the provider, whether they offer wholesale interchange rates without expensive markups, their invoice tracking features, and the ability to schedule recurring payments, among others.
Q: Can Text-to-Pay facilitate better communication with customers?
A: Yes. Some Text-to-Pay providers give businesses 2-way communication capabilities, which means they can answer customer questions via text and make changes to orders within the same payments interface.
Q: Does Text-to-Pay allow for recurring payments?
A: Yes, Text-to-Pay is especially beneficial for businesses that offer subscription-based products and services since it facilitates recurring payments.
Q: Is Text-to-Pay a secure payment method?
A: Yes, Text-to-Pay is a secure method of payment that helps reduce paper waste and minimize late or missed payments.
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