- Many types of businesses depend on recurring payments when billing for products or services
- Not all point-of-sale systems have integrated capabilities to set up automatic payments
- Making it easy to configure secure recurring payments improves customer satisfaction
The ability to set up recurring or automatic payments is of critical importance for a wide range of business types, and can be very appealing for customers who want to manage payments for products and services over a period of time rather than in lump sums up front. Configuring customer accounts efficiently depends on implementing a flexible and capable point-of-sale system with integrated functions to facilitate automatic recurring payments.
There are many business situations where the nature of the product or service being offered make it difficult or even impossible for customers to pay in a single transaction. It may be that the total cost of an individual product is quite large. In other cases, perhaps the customer is agreeing to a membership of some sort, or some type of a subscription service. In all of these situations, it’s essential to have a point-of-sale system that is equipped with the necessary functionality to set up recurring payments and manage customer accounts effectively.
The benefits of recurring payments to customers and businesses alike are numerous and significant, with far-reaching effects that can dramatically impact the success of your company in both the short-term and long-term. Let’s explore some of the main advantages that recurring payments have to offer.
Advantages of Leveraging Recurring Payments For Clients and Customers
Greater Convenience And Flexibility For Customers
In many ways, being able to pay for goods and services in smaller installment payments is far more convenient for customers. In the case of major purchases, such as vehicles or high-tech devices, recurring payments allow them to obtain what they need immediately, without having to incur the very large initial expense. In addition, recurring payment plans are often available with multiple timeframe options so customers have the flexibility to select the plan that strikes the best balance between installment amount and length of term to suit their needs.
Another aspect of the convenience recurring payments bring to customers is the ease with which they can sign up for memberships and subscriptions without having to worry about manually handling individual payments on their own. With recurring payments setup on their account, they simply come and go as they please from the facilities associated with their membership, such as health and fitness clubs or gyms, and receive their monthly subscription deliveries, such as curated product boxes or food meal kits, without ever having to stop and manually make a payment.
Enhanced Stability and Predictability of Revenue for the Business
There’s always an element of unpredictability for businesses in terms of revenue generation from day to day, week to week, and month to month. Depending on market conditions, competitor activity, seasonality, and consumer behaviour trends, sales can go up and down, often in ways that cannot be anticipated. By having recurring automatic payments setup for customers, revenue flow becomes a bit more stable for the business. While there will still be some natural ebb and flow as new customers come on board and some customers leave, recurring payment programs provide a certain level of predictability that can allow businesses to better focus on long-term customer acquisition goals, improved customer experience to build loyalty, and strategic marketing programs to grow market share.
Reduced Potential for Missed or Late Payments and Increases Customer Retention
Following on the theme of revenue stability, recurring automatic payment programs facilitated through a modern POS solution also work to minimize customer churn by reducing friction in the payment process. Essentially, recurring payments make it so that customers can all but forget about them, counting on them to continue to operate quietly in the background as they go about their daily lives and worry about other more important things. It’s been shown that people who sign up for recurring payment plans for memberships and subscriptions are more likely to stay on as customers for longer periods of time than customers who manually pay at each payment interval. Automatic payments make it easier for customers to maintain their membership or subscription status and reduce the risk that they will cancel their plans or switch to a competitor.
Automatic payments have the added benefit of reducing, and in many cases eliminating, the possibility of late payments or missed payments due to customers forgetting about them. With payments being made automatically directly from the customers’ credit card, debit card, or registered bank account, there are no delays caused by manual payment processing requests or approvals. Things simply continue operating seamlessly until the payment terms have concluded, or the customer chooses to change their membership status or subscription level.
Increased Security and Lower Risk for Businesses and Customers
Automatic recurring payments also lower the risks of transaction fraud or data theft for both businesses and customers. All payments are processed through secure encrypted connections that are fully-compliant with PCI regulations, and tokenization technology used by digital payment gateways helps to ensure that the unique data associated with each individual transaction is rendered useless for any data thieves who attempt to create fraudulent purchases.
Clearly, the benefits of automated recurring payments to customers are significant, and the advantages business can realize are equally so. However, as we mentioned at the onset, these benefits and advantages can only be obtained if your company has a point-of-sale solution that is capable of efficiently setting up and managing recurring payment accounts for customers.
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Enabling Recurring Payments With Point-Of-Sale Technology
Equipping your business with a modern recurring payment POS system will set the stage for long-term success through increased operational efficiencies, along with an enhanced customer experience that boosts satisfaction and strengthens customer retention. There are many different types of point-of-sale solutions that your business can choose from depending on the unique needs of your operation.
In-Store POS stations like the Clover Station Duo and the Clover Mini are the ideal solution for business who need robust, full-featured payment processing capability along with enhanced features like inventory control, scheduling, business reporting, and the ability to set up recurring payment accounts for customers quickly and efficiently. For many companies, the all-in-one functionality offered by POS systems like the Clover Station Duo and Clover Mini allows them to consolidate multiple existing business tech devices into a single, easy-to-use unit. From a single screen, business owners can take complete control.
To manage payments remotely, such as at outdoor venues, on the road, or directly at customers’ homes, the compact and versatile Clover Flex puts all the power of a countertop POS terminal right in the palm of your hand. It features built-in wireless networking hardware so you can connect it to any WiFi or cellular LTE network to process payments and configure automatic payments for customers from virtually anywhere.
Accepting payments online has never been easier or more secure thanks to innovative ecommerce payment portals. Customers can make purchases, manage their accounts, and configure membership or subscription services directly from your website, 24/7/365. Virtual terminals are another way that businesses can bring the convenience of automatic payments to customers from any smartphone, WiFi connected tablet or laptop. With just a few taps on the screen, your business can have customers setup for easy automatic payments using a wide range of payment methods including credit and debit cards, and digital wallet apps like Apple Pay and Google Pay.
Investing in a new POS solution for your business is a wise move and can help set your company up for long-term success due to the expanded capabilities that they offer. However, one critical element that must be considered is who you will choose to support your success through value-added merchant services, customer support, and technical assistance.
Benefits of MONEXgroup Merchant Services for Businesses who Use Recurring Payments
When the time comes to choose a merchant services partner to help your business implement an advanced point-of-sale system, you surely want to select a provider with a proven track record of success, technical expertise, and top-tier customer support. With MONEXgroup, you get all that and more. Our clients benefit from our dedicated team of customer success specialists and account representatives that work hand in hand with them to ensure a flawless installation and configuration of all types of point-of-sale systems. Technical support is available around the clock to back you up with expert knowledge and assistance when you need it most.
It’s time to bring the advantages of automatic recurring payment programs to your business, and offer your customers the convenience and flexibility that will increase satisfaction and retention for years to come. Contact the team at MONEXgroup today and our payment processing experts will be glad to answer any questions you have.
Get your quote on a powerful new POS system with recurring payment capabilities from MONEXgroup!
Author: Layal Scheirich, Head of Sales at MONEXgroup
Bio: With 18 years of experience in payment processing and merchant services, Layal has seen in-store POS technology evolve from its humble beginnings to contactless, unattended, mobile and online alternatives. Today, Layal is an inspiration to the MONEXgroup’s team and a go-to source of information related to payment processing. She is enthusiastic to share her knowledge with audiences interested in cutting-edge technologies available today, such as unattended payment for self-serve kiosks, e-commerce online payment gateways, virtual terminals, and contactless and mobile payment solutions.
Social Media Profile: LinkedIn
Contact Info: insights@monexgroup.com
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