There are a number of benefits you can enjoy if you take ACH payments. Keep reading and see how useful taking ACH payments can prove for you and your business.
ACH Payments Are Convenient
One of the benefits of ACH payments is that they are quite convenient for everyone. If your customers make a one-time ACH payment, they will see that the process is easy and it gets the money to you efficiently. However, payees can also choose to set up automatic ACH payments if they so choose. This makes ACH payment services even more convenient since payees can just choose to have payments withdrawn from one of their accounts automatically on a certain day every month.
This is more convenient for your business, too, since you will not have to worry about getting checks and spending the time to manually review each one. ACH payments also prevent you from having to keep a ledger and endorse all of the checks. Since ACH payments are totally digital, you don’t have to deposit any paper checks at your local bank, either. Customers also enjoy various ACH benefits like not having to fill out paper checks and not having to stick them into an envelope before stamping them. Customers don’t have to venture out to the local post office regularly to mail checks, either.
ACH Payments Are Secure
Naturally, there is no form of payment that is completely safe and totally protected from fraud at all times. However, the data shows that fraud affects paper checks most of all, far more than ACH payments. We understand that customers and businesses alike sometimes worry about the security and safety of their various digital accounts.
The security measures for digital checks have continually improved over time while we cannot say the same for paper checks. Paper checks still include both routing numbers and account numbers. Furthermore, quite a few people handle paper checks as they go from the sender all the way to the recipient.
ACH Payments Are Fast
Paper checks can often take many days to get sent out, get received, get processed, and finally get posted. Quite a few consumers and businesses alike don’t view waiting for long periods of time as acceptable. Another one of the ACH benefits is that ACH payments happen in a matter of seconds. This helps both the party who is receiving payment and the party making the payment. Both can rest assured that the transaction will happen in a timely manner.
ACH Payments Are More Accurate
We all realize that people make mistakes. Sometimes, people could enter the wrong numbers when inputting data into a database or a spreadsheet. Other times, people could miss an envelope because it fell down in some obscure corner somewhere. No matter the case, these sorts of mistakes can cause serious problems for customers and the organizations that serve them.
As ACH payments processing becomes more and more digital, the number of errors decreases accordingly. Fewer errors also means that you can spend more time on other tasks rather than on figuring out problems and working to resolve them.
ACH Payments Cost Less
If businesses accept debit or credit cards, they realize that they will have to pay processing fees as a result. Naturally, you have to pay fees when you accept ACH payments, too. However, this does not mean that paper checks are the cheapest method of accepting payments. ACH payment services are the most cost-effective method you can use to accept payments when you consider the amount of time and labor necessary to process paper checks.
ACH Payments Improve Your Cash Flow
If you make it more convenient for people to pay, people are more likely to make their payments. This added convenience also makes it more likely that people will make their payments on time since ACH payments processing is not a hassle for anyone. ACH payments simplify the process of people making payments. As a result, your revenue stream is both more reliable and more consistent since people can pay easily.
ACH Payments Work Well for Subscription-Based Businesses
ACH payments may prove to be a good option for your business if your business uses a subscription-based model. If your company uses a subscription-based model, you are no doubt familiar with the challenges that come with this model such as very high payment processing costs. The main reason that you might deal with high payment processing costs is that your business processes quite a few recurring transactions every single month. Another common problem is that your customers may forget to pay their bills on time. Missed payments can cause other issues like problems with your cash flow and unpaid invoices as well.
Lower payment processing costs are one of the benefits of ACH payments. Since ACH payments are an extremely cost-effective payment method, this helps decrease your payment processing costs. These savings can accumulate and significantly help your business’s bottom line. ACH payments also benefit your customers because they won’t have to remember to pay each bill. Recurring ACH payments ensure that the customers pay the bill on time, and you won’t have to contact your customers about late payments, either.
ACH Payments Are a Popular Payment Method
The use of checks declined from almost 40 billion transactions back in 2003 to less than 20 billion only nine years later in 2012. Conversely, ACH payments increased 5.1% a year from 2009 to three years later in 2012. One reason why customers may prefer ACH compared to paper checks is that customers can rest assured that they will pay their bills on time if they sign up for recurring ACH payments.
The security of ACH payments also helps customers feel more confident about paying for goods and services. Customers are more likely to pay for goods or services from you if you let them pay you via ACH payments. Customers feel more comfortable making payments when you provide them with convenient and safe payment options. It is also worth noting that giving customers a variety of different payment options could help you get more customers in the first place.
ACH Payments Let Customers Pay on the Go
When you talk about the benefits of ACH payments, it is important to mention that ACH payments let customers pay their bills remotely. Credit cards do allow customers to make online payments and even pay over the phone as well. However, some customers might not want to provide their credit card information.
For those customers, ACH payments processing is a suitable alternative option that still lets them pay remotely all the same. Additionally, some of your customers simply might not have a credit card at all. Customers without credit cards can use ACH payments to make payments without any problems.
ACH Payments Can Improve Customer Relations
An improvement in the relationship between your business and your customers is one of the ACH benefits that is often overlooked. Since customers won’t have to stress about paying bills on time, thanks to recurring ACH payments, that removes some tension from the interactions between your business and your customer. Additionally, if you reach out to customers about late or missed payments, it can sometimes lead to negative interactions with customers. ACH payments eliminate all of those potential problems.
Now, we want to hear what you think. What benefit seems most useful to you? Leave us a comment, and begin the discussion. If you want digital check services, browse our website to learn more.
