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you are here: DentalPlans.com > Dental Health Articles > Business > The Simple Way to Offer Customers Online Bill Pay
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Updated: 8/15/2008 6:00:19 PM |
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 (ARA) - Cash may still be king for now, but more consumers than ever before are choosing the convenience of online bill-pay over traditional means like checks or cash. If your small business doesn't offer customers online bill-pay convenience, you'll be missing the boat - and possibly hindering your cash flow.
In 2007, households with Internet connections paid more bills online (39 percent) than with paper checks (34 percent), according to the Consumer Bill Payment Study. And electronicpayments.org reports that more than half of all American households pay at least one monthly bill by electronic bill-pay.
Nearly every major service company offers electronic statements, online bill-pay, recurring billing, e-mail invoicing or some variation of these services. Small businesses, however, are lagging behind. Nearly half do not use an electronic payment solution for their customers, according to a survey of 500 small businesses by Market Platform Dynamics. Complexity, cost, and security concerns are keeping small businesses from making the leap, the survey reveals.
But "mom and pop" stores, home-based businesses, and startups can give their customers online bill-pay convenience without the expense and complication of outsourcing IT support or acquiring secure hosting for an online payment page. For Nick Perez, proprietor of MultiFlor, a Washington, D.C-area floral design and events planning company, the solution was surprisingly simple.
Perez's customers requested simple online payment options, and the 13-year business veteran realized giving customers online payment power would make the purchasing experience with his company more seamless for them-and more profitable for him.
After testing multiple systems, Perez decided on a web-based payment processing application, PaySimple, which provides merchant accounts to accept credit card and ACH direct debit payments from a securely hosted, customizable Web payment form. This simple, robust interface allowed Perez to customize fields, along with adding company logos and colors. Perez had no problem setting everything up without the help of an IT specialist. "Anyone who uses a computer can easily handle this," he says.
In addition to receiving payments, Perez was able to send out electronic invoices. Electronic invoicing, or email invoicing, turned out to be a seamless, win-win situation for a small business like MultiFlor and its customers. For example, a customer can receive an email invoice with a payment button linking them directly to the payment log-in screen. From there, they could review their invoice information, pay their bill and receive an email receipt.
Perez found a complete and customer-centric solution. which not only made electronic payments easy for his customers, but also cut what he was previously paying on credit card rates in half. Electronic payment processing saves small businesses 11.5 cents per transaction, on average, the Electronic Payment Association reports. "The overall benefit from working with PaySimple is we became more liquid - very helpful to us as a small business," Perez adds.
To begin delivering the power of online bill pay to your customers, and reap the cost-savings benefits of electronic payments, visit www.paysimple.com.
Copyright © 2008, ARAnet, Inc.
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