Collecting payments securely via mobile or text is easy to do – and there are also many benefits to be gained from doing it. Limiting payment collection to in-person collection can lead to open and unpaid invoices, which can add up to hefty liabilities for your business. In this article, we’ll break down the value of incorporating online payment processing, and will also clear up some common misconceptions about mobile pay.
“I offer email invoicing and online pay. Why would I switch to mobile?”
If you’re reading this blog, you almost certainly have email (if not multiple accounts!). And anyone with an email account can attest to just how prone they are to spam, and how full they seem to get every single day. Email invoicing is convenient, provided the messages get opened! But they can also often be missed, sent to spam, or assumed to be clutter.
Online payments in general allow customers to pay more quickly, and provide them with the perception of greater security (as they aren’t asked to read credit numbers over the phone); however, many times, it’s only just that – a perception. Online payment portals can be a target for identity theft and scamming, so it’s important to ensure that you’re offering customers a truly secure option when allowing any form of electronic payment (mobile or otherwise).
“How do SMS payments, or text-to-pay, work differently?”
Rather than the invoice coming in to the customer’s email inbox, with Captivated’s texting software, invoices can easily be attached as PDFs along with the payment request SMS message. Everything delivers right into their text message inbox. Texts average read rates of close to 100%, so there is a much higher likelihood that your invoice is seen – and, as we’ll discuss next, there are privacy/security benefits that come from the user experience of that invoice staying in the text inbox.
Traditional mobile credit card processing platforms (like Square) are different than text-to-pay in that the URL opens right from the text. Customers receive it directly from you and know that it hasn’t been intercepted and isn’t a scam. When a customer clicks to ‘pay’ the requested amount (from the text they received), they also have an option to pay via credit card or ACH. Which brings us to the next most common question:
“What about all the credit card processing fees I have to take on, if I’m accepting online CC payments?”
“How can I be sure that text payment collection is secure?”
Additional benefits of SMS Express Pay:
- With Captivated’s express text pay, you can easily track invoices, confirm payments, and manage past-due or returns as well; these benefits cut back on your admin time significantly.
- Text-to-pay adds a new layer of user-friendliness, given its ease and streamlining of the customer service experience.
- Less error: text payments, especially coupled with invoice attachments, are easier to track and ensure correct amounts and corresponding payments. There’s also a more clearly-defined ‘paper trail’ (without the paper!) to keep track of what’s been paid and what’s outstanding.
- With Captivated, all of the pay history is also stored in a customer’s conversation history within the Captivated platform – so if you’re looking up a specific customer’s payments or confirmation, you can easily find it along with any related notes and conversations that may have been discussed.
Express Pay gives you the ability to streamline your customer experience and more effectively manage your payments, all without costing you any extra fees or headaches. Express Pay is included in our Basic, Choice, and Pro plans; find out more about our products and plans here, or if you’re already a customer, reach out to our Support team to get started with Express Pay today.
