How customers pay for goods and services has changed a lot in the last ten years. Checks have all but disappeared from point-of-sale situations. However, businesses still rely on them so that customers can pay the bills. Your company should adapt to the times. When it comes to accepting payments, IVR payment solutions are faster, efficient, and more reliable.
In the latest Federal Reserve Payments Study, 46% of all checks paid in the United States were consumer-to-business. The number of checks people use, on a regular basis, is on the decline.
Evaluate Different Payment Methods
Why have checks disappeared from PoS purchasing? It’s because credit/debit card readers became more commonplace at the register. Now, money can get withdrawn from a customer’s account faster.
So why make your customers use a slower process when it comes to paying for your services? When a customer sends a check by mail, you have to wait at least two business days for it to arrive. Then you still have to run it to the bank. Of course, some banks may not credit your account until the next business day.
Checks
Writing a check is easy. Having to deal with the process is an inconvenience. If you can even find the checkbook you have to get a pen, envelope then, and stamp. If you don’t have a stamp, there could be a long wait at the post office in your future.
Once you have a stamp, it’s just a matter of dropping it in the mailbox and wait for it to arrive. Unfortunately, it’s not that easy. There could be a chance someone could tamper with a mailbox and steal your check. So ultimately your identity could wind up getting taken, your credit rating hurt, and your bank account drained.
If this scenario sounds ridiculous, that’s because it is. However, it’s entirely possible. So why have you customer run the risk of going through that for trying to pay their bill promptly?
- Checks aren’t free– People have to pay their bank for the privilege of writing checks. Stamps and envelopes can be costly as well.
- Due date? – Should a payment be made on the due date of a bill or should the check have arrived by then? One miscalculation and your bank will issue overdraft fees.
- Checks are not secure– Would you hand out your address, phone number, and bank routing number to a stranger? A check has all that information printed clearly for an identity thief to read.
Online Payments
If your company offers online payments, it’s not much better than just taking checks. A customer couldn’t just make a payment anywhere. They would need to connect to a network that is safe.
When customers go to their local coffee place and connect online they make not be connected to the network they intended to, but a rogue network. One recent study found that over 56% of laptops were broadcasting the name of their trusted Wi-Fi networks and that 34% of them were willing to connect to highly insecure Wi-Fi networks. Even if your customer is 100% certain that they’re connected to the proper network, in public, they could be victim to someone reading over their shoulder. After all, most facilities that offer free Wi-Fi tell the customer they are using it at their risk.
If your customer is to make a payment online, the best possible place to do so is in their home. This is hardly a convenience. Also, just because they connected to a network they believe to be secure it doesn’t make it so. Your customer could have spyware or malware that could put them at risk. They could even be going to the wrong site, thinking that they are paying you.
Even if a customer has taken all possible measures to prevent all these possible scenarios, it can still be a hassle. Say your customer is tech-savvy enough to know they don’t have spyware. Say they only connect online with that computer to pay your account. What good are all these preventative measures if they forget their username and password?
Pay By Phone
An IVR payment processing system saves your company time and money. It can take days for your company to get a payment they could have received in minutes. Your customers will also see an added benefit. They can call to receive an updated account balance after they make a payment and provide a secured payment by following an automated series of prompts.
When a customer makes a payment in a store, they usually get a receipt that provides proof of purchase. In the case of an IVR payment processing system, a confirmation number can be provided. This confirmation number allows a company to identify the transaction. It can not only be presented at the end of a call but texted to the customer.
Accept Payments 24/7
With our application, your customers make a quick payment from anywhere at any time. A customer that calls they can hear their account balance check the status of their last payment and even make a payment. They can follow an easy to follow series of prompts, make, and confirm their payments without having to take time out of their busy schedules. Payments can be processed 24/7 and from anywhere your customers can reach you by phone.
Accurate Payment Reports
Our IVR Payment Solution improves the quality of customer service by providing accurate accounting reports. If a customer has an issue with their billing history, one of your customer service agents can look up a customer’s account and be able to track down the transaction quickly. Our online platform hosted reports that will show information such as:
- when the customer made their last payment
- when the transaction took place
- the amount paid
A customer can receive a confirmation number by text that they can look up while on the phone with your customer service agent. This is an accurate way to help know which transaction they are discussing. However, if they know the date and amount of the transaction that information should suffice.
Billing Reminders
Sometimes, we all need a little reminder. With automated messaging reminders, customers will be sent a friendly reminder that a bill is due.
Security
If you don’t offer your customers an IVR Payment Solution, the company is putting your customer’s identity at risk. IVR Technology Group provides quality customer service with security in mind. When a customer makes a payment, they can rest assured that it does through the highest level of security compliance that a service provider can receive.
Paying Bills Should Be Hassle-Free
When your customers pay their bills, they customers deserve the peace of mind that their sensitive payment data remains safe. Our IVR payment solution allows your customer’s payments to be made quickly without compromising safety. The added option of text reminders and notifications will increase the likelihood of payments arriving on time.
Compass Payments Suite
Learn more about our Pay By Phone solution, the Compass Payments Suite.