It’s thought that the global digital payments industry will hit $6.6 trillion this year. That’s a jump of 40% over two years, and it shows no signs of slowing down.
It’s not hard to see why. Think about the last time you got cash out to pay for something. Nothing springs immediately to mind, does it? In fact, it’s almost certain that you’ve made at least one digital payment this week for a product, service, or utility.
Your customers want to do the same when they interact with your business. But how do you make the most of digital payments when there are so many options, regulations, and cyberthreats to get your head around?
The 5 benefits of digital payments for businesses
Let’s start with the unmistakable benefits digital payments offer businesses.
Whether you’re running a large enterprise or small start-up, digital payments could revolutionise your business, and not simply because you can get paid more quickly. In fact, that’s just a given with digital payments, which is why the following five benefits might take you by surprise.
- You’ll reach more customers. If you’ve ever given a coffee shop short shrift because they don’t accept Apple Pay, you’re just one example of a lost customer who could so easily have been converted.
- You’ll sell more. The UK was third in the world for digital payments in 2020, with a market value of $176 billion. How big could your slice be of that ginormous pie?
- You’ll offer a consistent buying journey. No matter how people reach your business and expect to pay for your goods, digital payments will make it a seamless, consistent experience.
- You’ll benefit from better security. Today’s payment systems are about as secure as they come, and offer a significant amount of added protection against cybercrime.
- You’ll see an uplift in your productivity. Imagine spending less time chasing payments. That’s exactly what digital payments will do for you, and the time you get back will be more than you expect.
Which digital payments system is best?
This isn’t an easy question to answer, simply because they’re all pretty good these days!
The benefits of each service will largely sway your decision depending on the type of business you run, whether or not you’re online only, and the channels through which you sell your products and services.
We recommend checking out the following:
The key things to look for are the pricing options, features, and any integrations you may need with the type of website you run or services through which you sell your products.
Xero users rejoice.
If you’re using Xero for your business accounting, there’s even better news, because it now offers integrated digital payments.
This means you can set up automatically recurring payments for customers with ongoing contracts, and even Direct Debits. What’s more, any invoice you send out will contain a ‘pay now’ link, thus enabling the customer to pay you there and then.
You wouldn’t believe the positive impact this can have on your debtors list and ability to gain payments from customers faster. Trust us – if the option to pay is clear and easy, more of them are likely to do so the moment the invoice lands in their inbox.
What about the fees, though?
There’s no such thing as a free lunch when it comes to the payments industry, and that’s certainly true of digital payments. Because while you may find some tempting first-time customer offers from the providers we’ve mentioned above, you will have to start paying the full rate sooner or later.
The good news is that the fees for accepting and processing online payments are nowhere near as expensive as you might think. You’ll typically pay between 1-2% per transaction, while some providers offer the option of fixed monthly fees.
The most important thing to keep in mind is that digital payments are great for cashflow. As noted earlier, you’re likely to get paid quicker, thus keeping that bank balance nice and healthy.
What’s more, the fees are much lower than the price of a traditional terminal and your time for processing and chasing payments manually.
If you’ve got any questions on digital payments, the Trinity team can help – just get in touch and ask away!
