Online payments have never been bigger. Consumers are choosing to purchase goods and services online over going to a physical location. They’re convenient, fast, and secure. E-Commerce as a whole is growing by 23% each year and shows no signs of slowing down. In order to compete, you need to get on board and make it easy for the consumer by allowing online payment gateways through your website. Here are 5 reasons why you need to start using online payments to maximize profits from your business.
Setting yourself up to take online payments typically costs next to nothing and offers an excellent ROI. If you compare the costs of having a physical store to an online one, it’s easy to see that eCommerce is the clear winner. Consumers can purchase your products 24 hours a day, there are no utility costs, and the scaled-down nature of this business model allows you to take home a bigger paycheck as you don’t need to pay an employee to manage your store.
The options for taking online payments have steadily increased over the last few years, however, the biggest and most secure options still remain the likes of PayPal, Stripe, and Amazon Pay. These services generally payout fortnightly — halving the time it takes for payments to come through which is brilliant for small businesses.
Organizing your finances the old way takes up a lot of space and time. Paper invoices need to be sorted for each customer, bills can get lost, and orders not sent out. Using online payment gateways allows for a more streamlined approach to selling online. Invoices are automatically organized; payments are taken faster–so you can keep on top of your earnings, and customer orders are quickly available for action. If you sell online and would like to make the process even easier, you should definitely be using a CRM System to organize your customer’s orders. One of the best CRM systems on the market right now and one that I use personally is LeadsLive
In its infancy, the world of online payments was plagued with scaremongering from traditional payment providers who were worried that they were going to lose business. Fast forward 20 years and no one thinks twice about paying online and there is a good reason why. Encryption has come a long way and is now a requirement if you are taking online payments. This is good news for you and the consumer as it gives both parties peace of mind. TLS and SSL are the terms used for the type of encryption required to be PCI compliant.
TLS and SSL are the same things and the terms are used interchangeably to describe encryption used on modern websites, especially those taking online payments. TLS/SSL creates a secure and encrypted connection between the user’s computer and the server they are connecting to. All data transmitted between the two parties is encrypted, meaning that if anyone was to try and intercept the data, it would be completely useless to them. Sensitive data like credit card information will never be accessible if someone was to try and breach the system and takes away the worry of having your business suffer if you decided to take online payments.
67% of “Millenials” and 56% of “Generation X” prefer shopping online, compared to a physical store and the same demographic spend around 6 hours per week shopping online. Customer review plugins also make the user feel safer in purchasing a product as they can see what those who have come before they think and are more likely to part with their cash. Apple and Android pay have also taken the market by storm and allow for fast and secure payments to be made by simply scanning your fingerprint. Payments under £30 can be made using these services and make paying for goods and services online even easier–increasing your reach.
Buying online has become a staple of millions of people around the world and online payment gateways have allowed this meteoric growth to happen. Businesses are capitalizing from the reduced cost of running a business online compared to a physical store and facilitate this by accepting online payments. With more and more people each year moving their shopping online, it is vital that businesses take the steps to become PCI compliant and allow consumers to purchase products right off the site.
Online payments have never been more secure than they are today and allow you to get paid for your goods and services much faster than traditional methods. If you want to save money and maximize your reach to consumers, start taking online payments today. If you need a website that is SSL encrypted and PCI compliant, then look no further than Primitive Online. Primitive Online has a team of dedicated developers that ensure you get a website that is tailored to fit the needs of your business.
Through the use of modern and responsive design, you will get a website that is crisp, clean, and well presented on every platform, including smartphones, tablets, and desktop devices. SSL encryption is implemented into every site that we build, giving you peace of mind and lets you maximize your reach by being PCI compliant, allowing you to take payments online. For more information, click here to see what we can do to maximize your business’s true potential.
