21 Benefits of Online Payments
With online payments, you'll be able to increase business productivity like never before. And here's why:
Greater Efficiency and Convenience
Online payment portals offer greater efficiency and convenience in the following ways:
It's Quick and Easy to Make Payments
If you've ever made a payment through a payment portal, you know how much more convenient it is than other methods. Making things easier for your customers eliminates barriers to entry—meaning they'll be more likely to make payments on time, or even early.
Your business will also save time and money by avoiding the need to call customers individually to request payment. And, if you choose Clarity Payment Hub as your payment portal, you also won't need to directly interact with banks and credit card companies, which typically charge fees and require monthly budgeting. Processing payments through your own system (or using Clarity Payment Hub) is more cost-effective and efficient.
Get the Best Payment Portal for Your Business
Clarity Payment Hub integrates with your ERP and payment source to capture funds from any orders, bills, or invoices. Let us show you how professional payment portals are done.
Online Billing Fulfills Customer Expectations
Online payments are pretty commonplace nowadays, and customers usually expect there to be an online portal of some kind to make payments in. Paper billing is rapidly becoming a thing of the past (if it isn't already).
In an online payment portal, it's good to give customers the option to opt in or out of paperless (online) billing. Depending on your industry, you may want the default to be online billing and give them the option to opt out if they want to receive bills in the mail.
Fulfilling customer expectations is vital to the success of your company. Without a way to make payments online, customers may just opt out of doing business with you.
Convenience and Ease-of-Use Drive Behavior
On a related note, there is a much greater trend towards opting for electronic options for various things that used to be done in-person. While precipitated by the outbreak of COVID-19, the trend has continued long past when restrictions were lifted, largely driven by people's desire for convenience.
People value efficiency and ease-of-use, and electronic options such as apps and websites available on smartphones offer a quick and easy way to pay bills and access information from anywhere, without the need for paper statements that can get lost or delayed. This shift in consumer behavior reflects a strong and increasing preference for streamlined and efficient ways of conducting business, which is expected to continue in the future.
Accounts Are Easier to Manage with Online Portals
Account management has never been simpler with electronic portals. Online tools take care of transactions, so you don't need to worry about running them. You'll also save time by eliminating or reducing this administrative task.
You can also offer customers easier account access through mobile apps that allow users 24/7 monitoring from anywhere. Banks can also take advantage of offering this service to their customers.
Paperless Billing Saves Time and Money
With an online payment portal and paperless billing, you'll save on printing and mailing costs associated with paper billing via mail. You'll also get your payments faster and speed up billing processes in your business.
Plus, you won't need to take as many phone or office-based payments, saving you and your team valuable time.
It's Better for the Environment
With lots of people becoming more environmentally-conscious, your business following suit with an online payment portal will improve public opinion of your organization. People will be more willing to do business with you if they see you are doing your part to reduce your carbon footprint.
Decreases Days Sales Outstanding
By using an online payment portal and e-billing, you can reduce the amount of time it takes to collect payments from customers. This time period is referred to as your "day's sales outstanding" (DSO). The longer your DSO, the less money you earn. With e-billing, your customers receive their invoices quickly and can make payments right away, reducing the time it takes to process payments and improving your cash flow.
This is a significant advantage over paper billing via mail, which results in delays of up to several weeks before customers even receive the invoices, let alone make the payments and send it back to you.
Using electronic billing methods ensures quick turnaround times, keeping everyone organized and reducing stress (on both your employees and your business's finances).
Automations Minimize Manual Labor and Errors
Paper billing via mail or inputting card information over the phone can result in errors in processing, since there are more manual steps and therefore potential for human error. Errors mean extra work for your team and even more delays, which can result in lost revenue and potentially damage your credit if accounts are not settled on time.
A high administrative workload (i.e., printing and mailing, answering phones, etc.) can increase stress and burnout and take valuable time away from tasks that help the business advance.
With an online customer portal, however, many of those manual steps will be a thing of the past with workflow automations. Employees can spend their time on more crucial tasks and leave the grunt work to the technology—which automatically pulls the invoice from your ERP and posts it in the customer's online portal.
Learn More About Clarity Payment Hub
In today's fast-paced business world, any edge you can give your team is valuable, so consider outsourcing some of your business's administrative tasks to advanced eCommerce software. It could be the key to unlocking your team's full potential.
Improve Business Productivity with Business System Integration
With Clarity's integration technology, all your systems will stay up-to-date with any changes. Connect your ERP, CRM, CMS, and other business systems—even custom ones—to your eCommerce platform and Payment Hub.