Why Text to Pay is the Future of Mobile Payments
Commerce is ever evolving and so are customer expectations. Not only are those expectations changing but retailers are facing an entire generational shift.
Today, the generations that are dominating the economy are Gen Xers, Millennials, and Gen Zers. This group combined holds the largest spending power and simply functions differently.
When it comes to making a purchase, experience, efficiency, and speed are of the utmost importance. Offering different payment options might feel like a choice today, but will soon start becoming the norm.
Did you know that 35% of consumers prefer to pay for goods and services via text message? And that number almost doubles 62% when we’re talking about consumers under the age of 35. But… only 4% of businesses offer text to pay today.
Let’s deep dive and learn more about the future of mobile payments and make sure you are meeting the expectations of today's customers.
How Does Text to Pay Work?
Text to pay is a payment method that allows customers to pay for their invoice through a secure payment link that they receive via text message.
The process is quite simple, here’s a breakdown:
#1 A Conversation Starts
The beauty of text to pay is that you can be available everywhere without much effort. The conversation can start on your website, after sending a campaign to an existing customer, or when customers reach out to you on their own for any type of question.
#2 Send a Custom Invoice With a Secure Payment Link
Business text messaging not only allows you to start off on a personal foot and make the whole thing feel less transactional, but it gives you the ability to create an invoice and send a payment link at the same time.
How does this payment link work?
The payment link authorizes payment through a secure payment gateway. Ikeono’s text to pay is PCI compliant which means you and your customers are protected.
#3 You Just Gave Your Customers More Options 🙏
Once you send them the payment link, your customers are able to use all major credit cards and digital wallets like Apple or Google Pay to pay for their invoice.
With text to pay, they have the freedom to complete transactions quickly and conveniently from anywhere. Payment options are more important than you think – customers no longer carry enough cash for a purchase and with the rise of digital wallets fewer people will be carrying wallets all together.
A recent survey shows that businesses that accept 4 or more payment options bring in 7x more annual revenue.
What Payment Options Can You Offer With Text to Pay?
Major Credit Cards & Digital Wallets
While credit cards have been the traditional method of payment for many years, and they are not going anywhere, they are being used differently.
Text to pay is an alternative form of payment that is both convenient and secure, but more importantly gives the power back to the customer.
Text to pay gives them the ability to make purchases using their own mobile phone and a secure payment gateway. Ikeono’s text to pay accepts all major credit cards like Visa, Mastercard, Discover, and American Express.
Digital wallets paved the way for this form of payment, Apple and Google Pay gave customers the ability to store their payment information securely and make purchases with just a few taps on their mobile phone. Digital wallets provide an added layer of security because they require a phone passcode, or a form of biometric authentication (Face or Touch ID) before completing the sale.
Text to pay integrates with digital wallets, and gives retailers the option to take advantage of every customer interaction. Instead of letting the moment slip by after an interaction on the website or in-store you can always keep the conversation going via text and if the opportunity arises, you can easily close a sale.
What is Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL)?
While text to pay is essentially an alternative to accepting credit cards in a much more convenient way, it also opens the doors to Buy Now, Pay Later.
Ikeono’s text to pay offers BNPL through Klarna and Affirm, which means you can offer your customers the ability to finance their purchases.
BNPL gives financing options to your customers via their credit cards, essentially easing the load of a big purchase and giving them some breathing room to make the payments on a longer schedule.
Why Retailers Love Text to Pay
#1 The Experience
There are many reasons why business text messaging is the best communication tool, especially for businesses that have deep relationships with their customers – but when it comes to driving revenue text to pay wins in convenience.
The experience you are able to offer customers via text messaging is unmatched because not only are you using a two-way conversational channel to drive revenue, you are also offering them the convenience of paying from their phone, where their credit card number is already stored or their digital wallet is already set up.
With the rise of delivery services, it’s no question that consumers care about convenience, which again shows just how much a positive experience with a business exceeds product and price (we have all cringed at those service charges for delivery services, but ordered anyways).
#2 The Efficiency
Text to pay is a much more efficient payment method from two perspectives.
Imagine you were not offering text to pay yet, and you face a common scenario where a customer is browsing your website, but quickly clicks away because you’re not there to answer their questions.
Now let’s say you have the right tool in place to chat with someone browsing on your website, you answer all their questions and they are confident about the purchase they want to make.
What’s more efficient? Sending them a payment link to close the sale, or letting them browse other websites, increase the chances of an abandoned cart, or ask them to come in store. Out of all those options, we can agree that a payment link will seal the deal much better.
It’s a win-win for both you and the customer.
#3 The Trust
You might have wondered whether or not your customers would feel comfortable receiving a payment link from you. This is a valid concern, but let's explore some reasons why it could actually be one of the most secure options available.
Sent From a Phone Number They Trust
When a customer trusts you, they are likely to save your phone number as a contact. With text to pay, you can send a secure payment link directly from your own business phone number.
You may have already communicated with the customer before sending the invoice, but what's important is that the payment request comes from your business phone number, which they can easily verify through Google My Business or your social media pages.
Safer Than Other Routes You’ve Taken Before
You might have already found yourself taking a credit card number over the phone, not only is that not PCI compliant, but you face higher processing fees for card not present and higher chargebacks for manual processing.
Text to pay is a secure and convenient way to collect payment, as the link provided to your customer is only valid for 24 hours, which is intended to protect both you and your clients.
Ikeono's text to pay is powered by Stripe and a multitude of security measures and rules are active within that 24 hour window, including address validation, where the customer's address must match their bank account information.
Set Your Own Rules
Stripe which is considered one the safest payment platforms is not only PCI compliant but it exceeds industry standards for data security. You can even choose to add additional rules to the verification process by leveraging Stripe Radar.
To add an extra layer of trust, you also have the option to personalize the payment page with your brand's unique appearance.
Check out Tribella’s customized check out experience!
New to Business Text Messaging?
Nobody really carries cash anymore, and wallets will soon be out of the door. The future of many things in our lives is mobile and your customers wallets are no different.
If you’ve been thinking about implementing business texting but have more questions, don’t worry, we have you covered on all fronts.
Still have questions? Check out our ultimate business text messaging guide.
Completely new to this? Check out these 6 reasons why texting messaging is the best way to communicate with your customers and start building deep relationships.
Did our mention of Gen Zers scare you? Here’s our analysis and take on how all 4 generations that walk into your store like to communicate.
Text to pay is the cherry on top of a really powerful tool that will help you grow your business.