Many small businesses lose sales because they don’t offer the right payment options. Today’s customers expect speed, convenience, and flexibility. If you want to increase conversions and grow your business, you need to offer multiple ways to pay.
Don’t underestimate the value of different payment methods for your small business. It’s completely natural to set up a side hustle or a small enterprise and have one payment method available. 99.99% of the time, that method will be debit/credit cards. A fine choice, given that lots of people will pay for things using their cards – but you need to diversify and provide a list of other payment methods.
4 Best Payment Methods Every Small Business Should Accept
What methods are worth accepting? It’s probably a good idea to stay away from unconventional options like cryptocurrency or online cash vouchers. Instead, you should include the following four payment options:
Contactless
Contactless payments are essential for any business with a physical location. Perhaps you have a shop or cafe, or maybe you go to people’s houses to provide services like cleaning or gardening. In any case, you need a point of sale system that accepts contactless payments. This lets customers pay for things with a simple tap, negating the need to input a PIN code and wait for the transaction to process.
Customers are used to contactless payments nowadays, so it’s a massive bummer if you don’t accept them. It also makes your business look incredibly outdated, which can turn people away from it. Those of you with physical stores or restaurants/cafes could lose customers because they see you don’t accept contactless payments.
Moreover, you can start using this payment method as a way to market your business. Something as simple as displaying the contactless payments logo in your store window can be enough to draw people in.
Mobile Wallets
For online payments, you need a system that accepts mobile wallets. The two most common are:
- Apple Pay
- Google Pay
Why do you need to accept this payment method? Because it’s one of the most convenient options out there – and it can supercharge your sales funnel. Mobile wallets give customers a chance to do something incredible: pay for things in just a couple of clicks. If you have an Apple/Google Pay button at the checkout page, it lets them bypass any forms and helps them process the payment immediately.
Customers are all about convenience. If they know they can avoid filling in their details for the one-millionth time, they’ll bite your hand off to do so. As a result, this leads to more sales for your online business – but it can also mean people spend more money. A researcher found that consumers spend about 10% more when they use mobile payment methods. It’s because mobile payments are so easy to use, so consumers are willing to pay more for the convenience.
PayPal
As well as mobile wallets, you should accept at least one type of e-wallet. Skrill and Neteller are two big ones you may want to look into, but PayPal is the big daddy of the e-wallet world. If someone wants to use an e-wallet, they’ll almost certainly use PayPal.
Adding this payment option to both a physical POS and an online store can work wonders. Physical POS PayPal payments let people use PayPal on their phones to buy things in real life – which is a proper game-changer for the consumer.
However, we won’t deny that most businesses see the benefits of PayPal through online payments. It’s got such a huge user base and works similarly to mobile wallets. You give customers more convenience by letting them checkout via PayPal, negating the need to fill in lengthy forms or type in their car details.
Even better, PayPal lets users select different funding options to pay for everything. They could use their bank account, a credit card, or any other cards/accounts linked to their PayPal accounts. The presence of a PayPal option helps you tap into this vast user base and (potentially) secure more sales.
BNPL
BNPL is the latest craze in the online payments world. It stands for “Buy Now, Pay Later” and refers to a method of paying for things over a longer period. Offering this payment method means you let customers split the costs of their purchase to suit their budget. They pay a chunk of money now and then make repayments to fulfill the purchase amount.
Again, it’s another genius way of attracting more people to your business and landing more sales. You’ll find this especially useful if you sell expensive items that a lot of people might not want to purchase in one go. Giving them the option to buy now and pay later means your products/services are suddenly more accessible.
How Offering These Payment Methods Can Boost Your Small Business
The common point with all of these payment options is that they help you draw in a wider audience and boost conversions. If you offer different (and popular) ways for customers to pay, then there’s a bigger chance you’ll make sales. It’s pretty obvious that a great conversion rate is the key to helping your small business succeed – and this is one of the simplest ways to improve it.
The best payment methods for small business success focus on convenience, flexibility, and customer preferences. Whether you run an online store or a brick-and-mortar shop, offering contactless payments, mobile wallets, PayPal, and BNPL can increase conversions and improve the customer experience.
By diversifying your payment options, you make it easier for customers to say yes to your products or services. Don’t let outdated payment methods hold you back—upgrade your payment system today and watch your business thrive!
Jessi is the creative mind behind The Coffee Mom, a popular blog that combines parenting advice, travel tips, and a love for all things Disney. As a trusted Disney influencer and passionate storyteller, Jessi’s authentic insights and relatable content resonate with readers worldwide.