How are you currently accepting payments? Are you trying to determine whether or not your business should use recurring payments? Thanks to the constant changes in payment processing to satisfy the needs and demands of customers, there are always new ways to simplify and improve the process of collecting payments. One of the most common being recurring payments.
What are Recurring Payments and How do They Work?
Recurring payments, also frequently referred to as AutoPay, means a customer has given permission for your business to deduct payments for goods and services from their bank account or automatically charge their credit card each month. Gyms, Netflix and auto insurers are a few examples of companies that use this method. As a small business owner, you might be wondering if recurring payments offer you any benefits. Here are just a few ways auto-recurring billing might help your business:
- Setting up an automated payment schedule can help you significantly reduce the negative impact of late payments on your business’ cash flow by ensuring payments are always on-time.
- Recurring payments can also dramatically improve customer relationships by allowing you to avoid awkward late-payment conversations.
- Enabling recurring payments eliminates the middlemen between you and the customer, giving you the ability to securely manage your customers’ information.
If your business is part of an industry that can replace manual processes with automated ones, it is definitely worth the investment to give recurring billing a try. Your business’ cash flow, customers and security all stand to benefit. How do you enable recurring payments? Here are some of the steps that will likely be involved in setting up recurring payments:
- Find the right provider. Make sure you are partnering with a reputable provider that offers built-in-fraud protection. Today’s cyber criminal attacks are a very legitimate concern all merchants must consider when choosing a provider. Do they offer fraud and chargeback protection services?
- Determine if their platform is what you need. If you require the flexibility to receive payments in international currency, for example, you will need to take this into account when choosing a payment processor. Does their platform provide the necessary features?
- Consider the cost (keep in mind recurring payments help reduce expenses). When considering the cost of implementing recurring payments, remember that this method reduces bill collection expenses and improves cash flow.
- Set up a recurring invoice. Make sure you set up recurring invoices on a schedule that works best for your business – one that truly simplifies the billing process.
- Enable a payment gateway on the recurring invoice. Make sure the provider you are partnering with offers ideal payment gateway for your company. Emerchantbroker.com offers its own EMB payment gateway, but you can also apply for 1st Pay, Authorize.net, eProcessing Network and NMI.
- Send the recurring invoice to your customer.
If you need help setting up recurring payments for your small business, contact our team at EMB. Thanks to our experts, you can enjoy unmatched cost-effectiveness and convenience when it comes to payment processing options. eMerchantBroker.com offers unique high risk payment gateways to make sure your check-out process is flawless and secure.