Wouldn’t you love to have more hours in the day? Well, if your business only allows customers to pay with cash and/or checks, a move to accepting digital payments can save you hundreds of hours. It may even save you money.
Counting cash, double-checking tills, and prepping transfers to deliver to the bank are part of your normal routine. But the day-to-day effort of handling cash is taking away from time better spent growing your company. Businesses spend almost three times as many hours processing non-digital payments as digital ones, according to Visa’s latest report on digital transformation for small businesses.
Researchers spoke with small businesses in food and dining, retail, grocery, and services to learn about the impact digital payments have had on their businesses. Seventy-four percent report that accepting digital payments helps them be more effective at managing their business.
Yet only 27 percent of small businesses say they prefer accepting digital payments over non-digital payments.
It’s critical that you always make the sale, which means accepting any form of payment that your customers want to use. Seventy-eight percent of consumers prefer to use their card or phone to pay while shopping. And as more consumers leave their dollar bills at home and pay with cards or their phone, you could be missing an opportunity to make money.
Customers enjoy the convenience of digital payments. Searching for dollar bills, counting out exact change, and writing checks require more energy. Customers could use that time to have a conversation with your staff, enroll in your loyalty program, or give your company a good review online.
An added bonus of digital payments — they can help you increase revenue. Sixty-five percent of SMBs in Visa’s survey agreed that customers spend more when they swipe, dip, or tap. And the small businesses reported an eight-percent increase in revenue after accepting digital
payments.
So what are your options?
Again, you want to make sure you can accept every way your customers want to pay. If you’re only accepting cash, look for a point-of-sale system with integrated payment processing that allows you to accept credit and debit cards as well as contactless payments.
Make sure that you can accept chip cards; the chip technology helps prevent fraud, encrypts the bank information, and makes the cards more difficult to clone.
Contactless payments allow customers to pay with their phone by using services like Apple Pay and Google Pay. This option is also more secure than other payment methods. Added bonus: If someone forgets their wallet at home, you can still make the sale.
You might also look for a POS with an integrated digital loyalty program, insights that can you help you better serve your customers, and tools to manage your employees.
While some are hesitant to switch over for fear of fees, the Visa data showed that processing digital payments was 57 percent less expensive than non-digital payments once you account for fees and labor costs. Expenses related to fraud also cost less with digital payments.
If you’re ready to make the switch, try Square Point of Sale and start using the money and time saved to invest in the future of your business.
