If you’re looking for ways to continue growing your business and you’ve stubbornly resisted the move to accept credit and debit cards, it’s time to take the plunge.
Diversifying the types of payment you accept gives your business a boost and pleases your customers.
Here are six reasons to act now:
Customers pay you faster
If you only accept checks, you’ll spend a great deal of time waiting for checks to arrive in the mail.
When you accept credit and debit cards, your customers can pay your invoices instantly, and the funds will be in your bank account in a matter of days.
Accepting cards online lets you take advantage of online payment tools like digital and electronic card payments. Customers expect to be able to pay invoices with a click of a button these days, so it’s time to comply.
You attract more customers
Did you realize that only 40 percent of people carry $20 or less? And 9 percent don’t carry cash at all. If you don’t accept credit cards, you’re missing out on a sizeable amount of business.
That will only increase as we move to being able to pay for items with our phones.
By accepting credit cards, you can reach so many more customers. Once people hear that your payment options have opened up, they’ll flock to your store.
Your business looks more legitimate
Even though you know your business is perfectly respectable, your customers might not see it that way if you operate on a “cash only” basis.
Besides, your business thrives on customer perceptions. By putting that little sticker on your window announcing that you accept credit card payments, you’ll instill trust with your customers.
The more options you offer, the happier you’ll make customers
Most businesses that accept credit cards take Visa and MasterCard. Fewer accept Discover or American Express. And yet, there are millions of cardholders for both brands.
The more types of cards you accept, the more business will flow through your doors. And don’t forget about online payments, like Google Wallet and PayPal.
You increase average transaction size
By accepting cards, you allow customers to buy as much as they can afford (or as much credit as they have), which encourages them to make larger purchases.
You’ll make back your investment multiple times
The cost of entry into the credit card processing playground has gone down considerably, and there are even free card swiping tools from brands like Square that minimize your expenses even further.
The transaction fees and maintenance fees you do pay will be more than covered by the increase in sales you see from accepting credit cards. ●
