As a business owner, your number one priority is and should always be the satisfaction of your customers. An unhappy customer equates to a customer who is likely not to return, and that means a loss of profit for you. On the flip side, a happy customer is a customer who will come back to your business time and time again, as well as someone who is likely to even refer a friend to your business.
One of the easiest ways to keep your customers happy is to provide them with multiple payment options. These days, credit cards have proliferated in the marketplace, as have debit cards. Rarely does anyone use cash as a method of payment, especially for larger purchases. However, as a business owner, you shouldn’t abolish the other methods because different customers may prefer other payment methods.
Such is definitely the case with credit versus cash payments, and it is also the case with accepting payments by mail. Although it may sound old fashioned, especially in this age of digital discovery and constant technological breakthroughs, there are still plenty of people who feel much more comfortable sending their payments via snail mail than submitting them online, where a consumer’s personal information can sometimes be susceptible to identity theft.
Paper, to some, feels much more secure than an internet transaction, which is less tangible, something they can’t see. For this reason, even if you have upgraded your business to accept all forms of electronic payment, it’s also smart to offer mail payments as an option for those who feel more comfortable with this method.
Don’t worry – accepting payments by mail is as easy as informing your merchant service provider that you’d like to do so. They’ll help you establish a merchant account for mail orders. These card-not-present transactions, as folks in the industry call them, require a special type of merchant account.
While some will still send checks, the ability for customers to send you their credit card numbers as a method of payment also poses a few risks. For one, not being able to swipe the physical card gives processing companies the ability to charge higher fees. It’s in the best interest of your business to find a merchant service provider who will keep your fees low. You’ll want a provider who will
work with you to process all of your payments, mail and not mail, quickly, easily, and at the lowest rate possible.
Your merchant service provider will structure your plan based on the needs of your specific business. You’ll get a credit card terminal, which you manually enter the credit card number into, as well as the software to go with it. Your merchant service provider will help you set it up, and then, you are good to go! When you’re connected with an excellent account provider, accepting multiple methods of payments couldn’t be easier.
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