Contactless payments are a growing trend that is quickly becoming a necessity for accepting payments.
One of the payment methods that’s rapidly gaining steam is Text2Pay (sometimes referred to as Text to Pay, SMS payments, or text payments). Recent studies have shown that 35% of customers prefer to pay by text messages. What’s more, 62% of buyers under the age of 35 frequently pay with a text if the store accepts that payment option.
With an average open rate of 98% compared to that of email, Text2Pay is a quick and easy way to charge customers, collect payments, and manage outstanding balances remotely.
In today’s digital culture, where websites and text messages can be accessed from nearly anywhere, accepting payments through text is a clear next step for your growing business.
So what exactly is Text to Pay and how can you leverage it for your business? Here is everything you need to know about Text to Pay payment processing.
What is Text to Pay?
Text to Pay is the process of accepting payments through mobile text messages. As an innovative payment processing tool, SMS payments (Short Message Service Payments) improve overall payment accuracy and efficiency. The contactless payment solution is a great fit for any industry or business that features recurring billing but can also be used for one-time payments to businesses with individual payment requests.
Offering Text to Pay as a payment option is effective for several business types including salons, retail stores, restaurants, or any business that offers subscription-based products and services. The contactless payment solution provides security for your customers, while also eliminating paper waste and reducing late or missed payments.
Related Post: Contactless Payment Solutions by Stax
How Text to Pay Payments Work
With the Text to Pay feature, you can send an invoice to your customer via SMS, making it extremely convenient to get paid. By sending an invoice over text, your customer is more likely to respond right away. If they store credit card information on their phone, they can easily pay you with just a few taps.
Customers that have an ongoing relationship with your business are likely to buy 7% more and more often when electronic invoicing and Text2Pay options are available. Offering multiple payment options to your customers has proven to boost sales and increase revenue. It also provides flexibility and convenience putting more purchasing power in the customer’s hand.
There are two basic ways that a Text2Pay account can be utilized. One way provides your business with the ability to send payment reminders to your customers and the other establishes an online “wallet” for bill payment and reminders.
- First, your customer opts in to accept text messages from your business account.
- Your business can then send pay-by text prompts through text to the customer’s phone number.This includes notifications when payments are due.
- The customer then enters their personal payment information deciding whether or not they’d like to save the card info for future purchases.
Within seconds, the customer receives a reply text confirming receipt of payment.
How Using Text2Pay Payment Processing can Benefit Your Business
Implementing Text2Pay helps your business unlock a number of benefits, including:
Speeds up bill payments. When you consider that the global average open rate on a text is more than 90% and it takes the average person 90 seconds to respond to a text message, building a text database for your business makes sense. Doing so speeds up your collection process and can even provide an active customer database that your business can use to retarget customers for future promotions and sales opportunities.
Reduces manual work. Text2Pay helps facilitate secure payments without all the admin and manual processes. You can automate bill notifications and reminders. And depending on your solution provider, you can even get real-time visibility into whether or not customers have opened your message or viewed the invoice.
Better communication. Depending on your provider, Text2Pay can also streamline customer communications. Stax, for example, gives you 2-way communication capabilities along with our Text2Pay offerings. You’ll be able to answer customer questions via text and make changes to their orders within the same payments interface, thus reducing back-and-forth.
Improves the customer experience. Text2Pay lets customers settle their bills with just a few taps on their mobile phone. Plus, they can do it wherever they are, so there’s no need to be in the store or in front of the computer. This enables your customers to have a more convenient payment experience—in turn giving them more reasons to purchase from you.
Text2Pay Pricing
How much does it cost to implement Tex2Pay? This depends on a number of factors, including the type of credit or debit card used as well as your payment processor.
Just like with mobile and online payments, merchants are subject to payment processing expenses (i.e., interchange fees) when customers use their debit or credit cards. Premium or rewards cards typically cost more to more to process compared to debit cards.
Your payment processor may also charge a markup per transaction, and some providers also bill you for every text message sent.
As such, be sure to carefully evaluate solution providers when you’re looking to implement Text2Pay. At Stax, we give you access to wholesale interchange rates without expensive markups. Instead of taking a percentage out of your sales, you simply pay a flat subscription fee and enjoy more cost-effective payment processing.
Final Words
Text to Pay transactions has become a very popular way for customers to submit payments. That’s why it’s important that you’re working with a payment processing company that offers secure, cost-saving, and hassle-free ways to accept those card-not-present payments.
With Stax, not only will your business have access to the wholesale card-not-present rates, you’ll also be able to schedule recurring payments, send Text2Pay requests, and monitor your invoices all within the dashboard.
Interested in streamlining your payments process and increasing flexibility in how you receive payments? Reach out to Stax for a consultation today.
FAQs about Text to Pay
Q: What is Text to Pay?
Text to Pay is a contactless payment method that allows businesses to accept payments through mobile text messages. It is also referred to as Text2Pay or SMS payments.
Q: How does Text to Pay work?
The process starts with the customer opting in to accept text messages from your business. Your business can then send payment reminders via text, including notifications when payments are due. The customer enters their personal payment information and chooses whether or not to save the card info for future purchases. The customer then receives a reply text confirming receipt of payment.
Q: What kind of businesses can benefit from Text to Pay?
Text to Pay is effective for several types of businesses, including salons, retail stores, restaurants, or any business that offers subscription-based products and services.
Q: How can Text to Pay improve efficiency in payments?
Text to Pay can speed up bill payments, reduce manual work, enhance business and customer communication, and improve the customer experience by allowing them to settle their bills with just a few taps on their phones.
Q: Does offering Text to Pay as a payment option have an impact on sales?
Yes. Research has shown that customers who have a business relationship and are offered electronic invoicing and Text2Pay options tend to buy 7% more and more frequently, which can potentially boost sales and increase revenue.
Q: What are the charges for implementing Text to Pay?
The cost of implementing Text2Pay varies, depending on several factors like the type of credit or debit card used and your payment processor. Merchants might have to incur payment processing expenses, and some providers charge for every text message sent.
Q: What do I need to consider when choosing a provider for Text to Pay?
When looking to implement Text2Pay, consider aspects like the type of credit or debit cards accepted by the provider, whether they offer wholesale interchange rates without expensive markups, their invoice tracking features, and the ability to schedule recurring payments, among others.
Q: Can Text to Pay facilitate better communication with customers?
Yes. Some Text2Pay providers give businesses 2-way communication capabilities, which means they can answer customer questions via text and make changes to orders within the same payments interface.
Q: Does Text to Pay allow for recurring payments?
Yes, Text to Pay is especially beneficial for businesses that offer subscription-based products and services since it facilitates recurring payments.
Q: Is Text to Pay a secure payment method?
Yes, Text to Pay is a secure method of payment that helps reduce paper waste and minimize late or missed payments.
