75% of Consumers Prefer To Pay With Credit Cards
Are you losing out because you don’t accept credit cards? If you don’t accept them, then the short answer is yes—though not necessarily in the ways you might think. If three-quarters of your customers would rather pay by card, you’re likely to lose a good proportion of those sales. If your product or service is good enough, they may be willing to go out of their way and find cash. If you’re lucky, they’ll have enough cash on them to cover the purchase. Or maybe they might seek a nearby ATM. But, even if they have enough cash in their account, you still can’t even always be sure they’ll find a working, loaded one. Plus if it’s not their bank’s ATM, they may be unwilling to pay the extra fee. And of course, there’s no guarantee that they will be willing to visit an ATM or pay with cash at all.
Is that something you really want to risk? You have a customer with a loaded cart and professed willingness to pay for your goods or services. You really want to watch them walking out, even if they “promise” to be right back? And do you want to take that risk for 3 out of every 4 of your customers? You don’t need an MBA to know that this doesn’t seem like a good business idea. Of course, you may be deterred from accepting cards for legitimate reasons. Let’s look at a few barriers to credit/debit card acceptance, and how you can get round them.
Difficulty
It’s actually not difficult at all. You don’t have to talk to Visa or MasterCard, or even leave your home or office. All you need is a merchant account at a payment processor, which you can get online. Some processors offer free application, and they may be able to get you set up to accept credit cards immediately. You can find a payment processor that covers credit cards, debit cards, ACH payments, and eChecks all on the same platform. And once you sign up, they take care of everything else. They’ll configure your online store, supplying you with keypads and payment apps. They’ll even program your systems to accept the various card brands (Visa, Amex, MasterCard etc.).
Choosing the Right Provider
Once you know about merchant processors, you can still feel overwhelmed. There are hundreds of them – how do you choose? Well, go to your favourite (online) shopping spots and find out who does their processing. Google these payment processors and evaluate their websites. You’re looking for testimonials from past customers, policies, and pricing. You ideally want someone that also offers bonuses like free hardware or software, and whose security you know you can trust.
Your Credit History
You might be concerned about your credit score, or even bankruptcies in your past. Lots of credible payment processors are willing to work with you despite both scenarios. Just make sure that it’s a genuine payment processor by asking the same questions that anyone else would ask.
Your Business Type
Many processors work with so-called “high-risk” merchants. As long as your business is legal, there are merchant account providers who can get you approved.
For more information on the potential gains of accepting credit or debit cards, or to sign up for a merchant account, please call (888) 924-2743 or go to Charge.com.
