Small businesses and mid-sized corporates face unprecedented challenges leading to more significant pressure to manage cash flow more effectively. However, there is a better way to achieve cutting transaction costs whilst increasing customer loyalty. It begins with being smarter about how you manage collections by keeping up with the latest payment trends.

Growing payment pressures

You will undoubtedly recognise common pain points associated with getting paid: time spent identifying late or missing payments, reconciliation and keeping your books up to date, chasing payments without annoying your customer. It’s not easy, and we know that.

Other challenges that add to cost pressures include:

• Card, cheque and cash handling fees
• Slow receipt of funds from inefficient settlement processes
• Legal and debt collections for non-payers

But help is available that builds on three key trends in the market.

1) Everyone is going digital

The continued rise of digital within your customers’ day-to-day lives has seen many processes transformed to make them easier and faster. Digital adoption has accelerated due to the pandemic where more employees are working from home than ever.

From digital natives through to your parents and grandparents, everyone is having to adopt new technologies and mastering Zoom or likes of Netflix thanks to impressive ease of use from the latest generation of smartphones, apps, and websites. 

Managing payments for your business is no different.  Automation and offering your customers a choice on how to pay is even more critical for the best online checkout experience.

2) Making a payment is getting easier

Digital-savvy customers are happier to make payments using new technologies. Customers now expect the ability to transact from anywhere at any time. People love the speed, simplicity and security that have made mundane processes such as paying a bill as easy and instantaneous as ordering an Uber.

3) Cloud solutions are a game-changer

Cloud-based technology solutions are agile, flexible, and have a lower cost of operation, the benefits of which can help the customer in the form of lower prices. 

It has enabled solution providers to capitalise on the new capabilities created by Open Banking to put customers front and centre in the design of financial products and services.

It’s a win for you and your customer

Open Banking powers initiatives such as Pay Direct. They allow you to give customers a simple and secure way to make payments. With a click of a button, customers can log in to their bank account. 

Next, a pre-populated payment form appears, where all the payee has to do is authorise a payment to be made by bank transfer – all without ever leaving your website.

The transaction, made by Faster Payments means you get the funds faster, and there is less risk of customer dropouts. Other benefits include fewer payment errors resulting from incorrectly keyed data; it acts as a cost-effective alternative to card payments, with no chargeback liability.

The smarter way

Solutions like Pay Direct mean that the customer enjoys a smoother checkout experience and fewer fulfilment delays due to payment issues. You also save on transaction costs by up to 50%, plus your customer is much happier giving you the opportunity to manage your cashflow better and focus on the growth of your business.