In this 4-minute read:
- Benefits of allowing customers to pay via text
- How do payments via text work?
- How to set up customer payments via text
Having convenient ways to pay for products and services is important to customers, and it should be to you, too. One up-and-coming payment method that many businesses are getting on board with is allowing their customers to pay them via text.
Not only does this provide a convenient method for your customers to pay their bills, but it also allows you more opportunity to reach your customers and increase their loyalty with your company.
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Benefits of allowing customers to pay via text
Beyond customer convenience, there are several benefits to setting up SMS payment options for your customers.
- With some platforms you can set up reminders to help your customers pay on time
- Get an advantage over competitors who aren’t offering this form of payment
- Encourage customer loyalty and repeat customers by texting discounts and new offerings
- Some solutions don’t require bank account information (customers just pay through their mobile phone provider), allowing customers to feel more at ease with paying this way
- Passwords and usernames aren’t required for payment (though in some instances a customer may need a PIN)
How do payments via text work?
It’s important to understand how this process works so you can determine if it is a viable option for your business and customers.
Every SMS payment provider will have some variations in the process, but here are the basics:
- The customer signs up or opts in to text payments (generally by text a specific number from your SMS payment provider)
- Whenever the customer wants to pay for a product or service, they send a text message which goes to your SMS payment provider
- The payment provider then clears the transaction between you and your customer
- The cost of the transaction and any additional delivery fees are added to the customer’s mobile phone bill or taken from their bank account (depending on the solution that you chose)
As you can see, there are a few different ways that SMS payment providers may accept payments. Sometimes they go through the customer’s mobile phone carrier, and the bill just gets tacked on to the customer’s phone bill. These are the cases where a customer wouldn’t need to provide their bank account information.
With other payment solutions, your customers may be required to sign up and enter their bank account information so as soon as they send the text message, the funds are withdrawn from their bank account through the SMS payment provider and to your business.
How to set up customer payments via text
Understanding the benefits and how the process works is just the first step. If you’re interested in trying out SMS payments and want to get started, it’s time to find the right provider.
There are a lot of SMS payment providers out there, so it’s a good idea to call a few different companies to get quotes and learn how their system operates in order to choose the best solution for your business.
We suggest starting with your current payment processor to see if they offer SMS payments or partner with any SMS payment companies.
If they don’t, not to worry. Here a couple of SMS payment providers that you can reach out to as you search for the best solution:
Relay
Relay (formerly Rhombus) is a solution that allows you to hold text conversations with your customers. You just need to set up an account with them, set up a dedicated text phone number, add customers into the system, and enter your banking information.
Their ticket-based solution allows you to select a plan based on the number of text conversations you have with customers each month, starting at $50/month for 250 tickets. They also integrate with Stripe, which requires 2.9% + $0.30 on each transaction.
Pagato
Pagato allows your customers to pay you via text and several email and social media applications. They don’t require fees on your first $1,000 in sales and have no monthly fees.
The standard pricing for Pagato’s service is 1% per transaction, with a minimum fee of $0.20 per transaction.
Sonar
Sonar is a business texting company that has several different solutions for texting your customers, including drip campaigns and mass texting.
Their SMS payment solutions require a monthly subscription, with the lowest starting at $24.67/month. Each text message sent costs $0.025, plus the transaction fees required by your payment processor.
Womply can help you get set up to accept payments FAST
Setting up different payment methods for customers can become overwhelming pretty quick. If you’re looking for a fast and easy way to start accepting payments (including sending payment requests via text), we have the answer.
With Womply Pay, you can easily send text or email requests for payment and accept secure, contactless, online payments almost immediately, with no time-consuming application or underwriting required. Designed specifically for local businesses, Womply Pay is the fastest way to accept and request payments. Get set up in minutes and get paid fast. Click here to learn more or try it for free!