How to Get Customers to Spend More Through Your Payment Solutions

Whether it’s water and energy bills or the price of food and fuel, the increasing cost of living will already be having a huge impact on many of your customers’ lives.

Not only are your customers spending less, but the high costs of living also can make it an expensive time to run a business. 34% of UK SMEs claimed that increasing costs were a main obstacle when running their business. ¹

Whether it’s water and energy bills or the price of food and fuel, the increasing cost of living will already be having a huge impact on many of your customers’ lives.

Providing a range of payment solutions could help capture sales opportunities and optimize running costs, helping you navigate your business through more challenging times.

Maximizing your payment solutions

Offering multiple payment solutions can support both your business and your customers, helping you capture more sales, improve your sale conversion rates and increase customer satisfaction and loyalty. In contrast, businesses that have offered customers fewer ways to pay may have missed out on some positive trends over the last several years.

The impact of the contactless limit increase

For example, the COVID-19 pandemic saw the acceptance of contactless payment methods boom among UK businesses as well as an increase to the contactless card limit from £45 to £100. Over the course of 2020 alone, the number of contactless payments rose to 9.6 billion, a 12% increase compared to the previous year. ²

Offering reliable, secure and flexible payment options – such as accepting contactless payments – is more important than ever and can easily encourage your customers to spend more or increase the average spend per customer.

Online payment processing

There are many ways your customers can easily and safely pay online to help increase your online sales.

Payment gateway

A robust payment gateway can provide a seamless and secure payment experience to your customers. You can choose to link your online shopping basket to a hosted payment page or integrate payment gateway directly into your website.

By accepting all major debit cards, credit cards and PayPal, as well as payments in over 116 currencies, you could open up your business to more customers across the world, reducing the amount of abandoned online shopping carts and increasing your sales.

Digital wallets

Allowing your customers to pay quickly with their digital or mobile wallet of choice, whether it’s an e-commerce or in-store transaction, is a great way to get your customers to spend with you.

Digital wallets like Apple Pay and Google Pay have had a meteoric rise in recent years as they make purchasing online much easier for many customers. By 2024, digital wallets are predicted to have a 52% share of e-commerce. They’re already the largest e-commerce method, making up 32.3% of 2021’s transaction value. ³

Pay by link

Businesses don’t have to have a website to accept online payment. Pay by link is a secure tool that allows customers make card payments through a payment link, which you can add on an invoice, sent by email.

Buy now, pay later

Beyond contactless payments and accepting all card types, point of sale financing is on the rise, which allows customers to pay incrementally over time.

For large-ticket purchases, buy now, pay later (BNPL) is a wise payment solution to consider. With BNPL, you can offer your customers a short-term loan option that helps them manage their finances while ensuring you still make that sale – increasing your overall sales. BNPL is becoming an increasingly popular payment option for customers. In fact, 56% of respondents in one survey said they prefer BNPL over credit card purchases. ⁴

In-store payment processing

The aim is to have an in-store payment processing that accepts as many payment methods as possible. Here is a quick look at the different machines you could consider.

Countertop card machines

Countertop card machines are in a fixed place, but you could consider adding a separate PIN pad to make it even quicker for your customers to pay at the counter – ultimately reducing the waiting time.

Mobile card machines

Reliability and flexibility are key for in-store payments. So, if you’re considering a mobile card machine for your business, using a machine with 4G connection can help with reliable connection on the road, even in some rural areas. Investing in a machine with a longer battery life is important too, especially if you are frequently moving your card machine around your premises or carrying it on the road all the time.

Payment trends

With the value of Pound Sterling falling against other currencies, ⁵ businesses could be in a position to increase in-store sales by accepting a wider range of currencies.

Biometric authentication is also on the rise, with customers able to pay using finger scans or other biometric data.

It’s a challenging time for many businesses, which is why offering a variety of flexible payment solutions should be a key consideration for your business. The payment solutions available will help you maximize your sales and could even help optimize your running costs.

Reference:

¹ “SME Finance Monitor”, p291, BDRC Continental,
https://www.bva-bdrc.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/BVA-BDRC_SME_FM_Q4_2021_Report_Final.pdf (2022)

² “UK Payment Market Report”, UK Finance,
https://www.ukfinance.org.uk/policy-and-guidance/reports-publications/uk-payment-markets-2021 (2021)

³ “Global Payments Report”, Worldpay from FIS,
https://worldpay.globalpaymentsreport.com/en

⁴ People Are Ditching Credit Cards For Buy Now, Pay Later”, The Balance,
https://www.thebalancemoney.com/people-ditching-credit-cards-for-buy-now-pay-later-5185573 (2021)

⁵ “Falling pound: What does it mean for me and my finances?”, BBC,
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-63033110 (October 2022)