Technological disruptions keep changing the way things are done in the world of commerce and indeed other sectors, making it a lot easier to live life and engage in profitable businesses. As both our personal and professional worlds become increasingly digitized, sticking to old cash-and-check payment systems means valuable time and money are being wasted on administrative red tape. Even for digitally inclined companies accepting card payments, investing in modernized and integrated processes improves efficiency; provides value through increased collections, lowered cash handling costs and incentives; and improves your business’s relationship with clients and customers, inspiring loyalty.
Every decade is now marked by a phenomenon that changes people's orientation about doing business. The COVID'19 pandemic came around to not only cause a significant amount of wreckage to our socio-economic lives but also exposed the world of commerce to endless and innovative possibilities for engaging in a profitable business. The pandemic accelerated the need for more contactless payment solutions, despite that the evolution of payments was already underway as witnessed in the surge of fintech around the world. Small retailers and service providers and their customers had gotten comfortable with “smart” and mobile payments. Today, business-to-business industries such as manufacturing, healthcare, and real estate are embracing digital and contactless payments- M-pesa is an integral element of this evolution, in Africa.
Benefits of Streamlining Your Bill Payment Process
Technological disruption and the growing challenges posed by new market entrants have created new hurdles and sources of friction for large organizations – which is why firms can no longer afford to be weighed down by payment systems and processes that are too complex or overly manual.
According to a study conducted by Davies Hickman in 2020, B2B payments have become particularly complicated over recent years due to the proliferation of commerce. More than half of 100 large organizations surveyed told researchers they have more than 500 supplies, and 44% said they received more than 2,000 invoices each month for processing.
By relying on the traditional way of processing bills, large organizations may expose themselves to heightened operational risk, increased failure rates, and unnecessary costs. That’s why more and more financial decision-makers are looking to invest in tools that enable their organizations to streamline payments – and in doing so, their respective firms can expect to reap several major benefits.
A streamlined payment process brings simplicity to your business. It helps reduce client–business owners' infractions. With a streamlined payment system, business organizations can easily receive payments for services without any hassles or the exposure of their clients to unnecessary risks. It has been found that running a successful business is largely dependent on the ability of businesses to receive payments on time and effortlessly, In fact, a U.S. Bank study revealed that up to 82% of businesses who found themselves struggling and failing cited cash flow as the reason. On the other hand, a streamlined payment system also encourages patronage as clients will have no fear of unnecessary exposure to risks or unsuccessful transactions.
How to Streamline Bill Payment Processes for Customers
It is now glaring, the need to streamline the payment process for your customers. If you want to achieve a streamlined payment process, read below and learn how to offer the best customer experience.
1. Offer Contactless Card Payment
Irrespective of your perspective, offering contactless card payments will help you run a relatively more productive business. A contactless card payment not only brings you a lot of conveniences when accepting payments from your customers, but it also makes your customers experience hassle-free transactions, thereby encouraging patronage. The more streamlined your payment methods are, the happier your customers will be. Offering contactless payment makes the purchasing process more convenient and faster for customers. Other benefits include the following;
- Ease of use for customers of all ages and abilities
- Convenience (for both your business and your customers)
- Acceptance of multiple payment methods
- Safe and secure transactions
- Efficient business operation (no long queues in-store)
- Improved customer service and experience
- Increased business revenue
2. Simplify Online Payment Processes
Added to your provision of a contactless payment system is a simple payment process. Although the simplicity of a payment process depends on several factors beyond your control as a business owner, you must always be flexible enough to provide payment methods that your customers will have no difficulties using. The more simplified your online payment process is, the more likely you are to increase your revenue.
As a small business owner who is concerned about customer satisfaction and revenue generation, you may start out by accepting all forms of payment, clearly stating order and delivery details, optimizing navigation for all devices, and shortening input forms to essential information only. Having a streamlined payment process embedded on your website is just as crucial as streamlining your payment process in-store. All that should matter is offering some form of flexibility to customers and helping them experience great satisfaction from your services.
3. Accept Mobile App Payments
When your business offers mobile app payments you are prioritizing the convenience of your customers, benefitting from faster payments, and positively impacting the customer experience. With mobile app payments, your customers can buy your products or services from their mobile. This is ideal as it means they don’t need to carry around a wallet and they can make quick and easy payments when it’s convenient for them.
Mobile app payments are also a popular choice for customers as they offer a sense of security. When a customer makes a payment via a mobile application, their financial details are encrypted and stored in cloud servers rather than on the mobile device. This leaves customers less exposed to problems like fraud and hackers. Accepting mobile app payments makes your service more accessible, trustworthy, and convenient for your customers, encouraging them to return again and again.
Streamlining Bill Payment Processes for Your Business
It is okay for business owners to care about their customers and look out for their satisfaction, during their business interactions but this should never be done at the expense of a profitable or smooth-running business venture. Hence, while the business owner takes care of their customers, they also need to look out for their business by streamlining their payment process. Below we share some of the best ways you can streamline the internal payment processes for your business.
Run a Digitized Account Management System
A business owner who fails to digitize their account management system may have a hard time keeping track of their revenues and expenditures. If your business activities are moving quite as fast as expected, it may be difficult to meticulously keep a manual recording system of transactions. It is no secret that managing your finances can be challenging - and that’s in addition to the demands of running a business. However, understanding the state of your finances and monitoring your cash flow is one of the best ways to facilitate manageable growth.
Digitization has made keeping on top of your business accounts easier than ever before. With the support of accounting software, you can:
- Keep track of your income
- Monitor your invoices and expenses
- Chase late payments
- Automate things like invoice creation
Not only will the measures listed above simplify the boring aspects of your business which includes account keeping, but they will also help you avoid simple and complex errors during account keeping.
Automate Client Payment Requests
How often do you forget to send an invoice to a client? With all the stresses and responsibilities of running a business, it is easily done. However, it can be costly to your business, causing delayed payments that affect business cash flow. Thankfully, there is a solution.
There is a variety of accounting software that can be used to automate payments thereby streamlining the process. Using automated means of accounting will help you set up automated and recurring payments without any hassles. This means you can schedule invoices to send and payments to occur at regular intervals. Mobile invoicing can help you do this. This provides regularity for your business and reliability for your clients. And the best thing is, that once set up, automated payments require little to no intervention from you.
Ask for Feedback
If you are looking to streamline your business even better and improve your delivery, it is necessary for you to take feedback from customers. A good way to get this feedback is to ask your customers how they find it convenient to make their payments. Your customers and clients will have some great ideas about how you can make your payment processes more helpful and efficient. No matter how successful your business becomes, you should always take the time to ask for feedback and use this feedback to make positive changes. There is nothing more valuable for bettering your service and growing your business.
Common Bill Payment Challenges
To maintain healthy business finances, the management of cash flow has to be done effectively. When cash flow is not managed efficiently, employees may not get their pay when due, the business may gradually become unprofitable. Suppliers’ payment deadlines may be missed, leading to a deterioration of your business relationship. A lack of liquidity may also prevent you from making capital investments that could take your operations to a new level of efficiency.
Even if your company generates high revenue, payment processing issues can obstruct cash flow and put a strain on your profit margins. We have identified the most common payment processing challenges faced by companies and small businesses alike. Stay with us!
1. Multi-Channel Payments
In a bid to satisfy customers by diversifying payment methods- whether they want to use a physical credit or debit card onsite, or pay online with an e-wallet, companies stand the risk of stiffening cash flow. A stiffened cash flow is inevitable because of the cost and logistical considerations involved in a diversified payment system- if companies use different vendors for different payment channels, the cost and logistical considerations are multiplied exponentially. However, there are integrated platforms that allow for multi-channel payments. So you don’t need to rely on several vendors or pay several sets of setup and maintenance costs.
2. Processing Costs
Turnover is crucial. Unless you do the needful to cut down on operational costs, you are only placing an intense strain on your present and future margins. In today’s digital-first business climate, every business needs to be able to take payments online. But no business can afford to pay through the nose for the privilege.
If you’re paying a high proportion of your revenue to your payment platform provider, you may well find that there are alternatives that offer the same functionality at a much better price point.
3. Seamless Integration
It is quite unfortunate that businesses looking to streamline their payment process still have to contend with the inevitable difficulties experienced when integrating these digitized payment processes into their existing operations and software. At the early stages of such integration, they may add unnecessary friction to your payment process which will consequently result in a prolonged administrative process. However, when your payment is fully integrated, it allows you to increase operational efficiency. So you don’t have to worry about tedious administrative processes like updating transaction records manually.
4. Security risks
As a business owner, when you set out to choose a payment partner, fraud protection is a paramount consideration. Your customers need to be protected at all times- they need to be able to make 100% secure transactions whenever they use the payment option that you have provided. Choosing the wrong payment partner could leave an indelible mark on your reputation if your customers fall prey to cybercriminals.
Conclusion
By implementing the tips we've helped outline in this article, you can simplify your financial life, reduce stress, and achieve peace of mind. Remember, the key to success is to automate, consolidate, and prioritize, allowing you to focus on the things that matter most in your life. With a little bit of planning and effort, you can create a bill payment system that works for you, not against you. So take control of your finances today and start living your best life. Also, don't forget to choose IntaSend. Get started here!
Frequently Asked Questions
- What are the advantages of automatic bill payment?
Automatic payments come with quite a few benefits — the biggest of which is peace of mind about paying your bills on time. Instead of having to remember to mail a payment or log onto an account each month, you can relax and let your bank or biller take care of things. You also won’t have to worry about late fees. Automatic payments can even help you build a history of on-time payments and boost your credit score.
- Is it safe to pay bills online?
Under normal circumstances, it is safe to pay bills online, especially when the payment platform gateway is verified and trusted. For instance, banks and other recognized financial institutions use strong encryption to keep customer information safe and secure. Hence, any information your enter on their web applications is concealed from the reach of the public
- What is bill consolidation and how does it work?
With bill or debt consolidation, you take out one loan that pays off other debts. While the debt doesn't go away, you might save money on the interests which would have ordinarily been payable if the debt had continued.
Head Photo by Nathan Dumlao on Unsplash
