What is Payment Digitalisation & Why Switch to Digital Recurring Payments

The foremost step in payment digitalisation was the introduction of the first credit cards in 1950. More than 70 years later, digital payments are replacing cash transactions, with new and convenient ways to complete purchases, pay bills, and sign up for subscriptions, payments, and charity donations. Are you wondering how to switch to digital payments in order to generate more sales and increase conversion rates when your business has always relied on paper invoices, bills, or sales letters and manual payments? Read on to discover how to digitalise payments for a paper-based organisation.

What is payment digitalisation?

Payment digitalisation is the process of using modern technology to streamline transactions between buyers and merchants. It eliminates the need for cash payments, bank transfers, and payment cheques and allows customers to complete purchases with the use of electronic devices. 

So if your business or organisation relies on cash payments, bank transfers, or cheques, we have bad news for you; there is a high possibility that you're missing out on many sales opportunities. Just think about it. Have you ever been in a situation where you used your card to pay for a coffee? Do you use your phone or smartwatch to pay for most of your purchases? Or maybe you couldn't buy something because the business only accepted cash. If these examples sound familiar to you, be sure the same happens to your target audience. This is why nowadays digital payments are a norm expected by your audience, no matter your business or industry you operate in. 

Why opt for payment digitalisation: top reasons

1. Boost conversion rates by offering more digital payment options to subscribers, donors, and clients

Your outstanding pitch or impressive marketing campaign may deliver great results and guide your customers, donors, or subscribers through the decision-making process to right where you want them to be: ready to convert. However, if your prospects arrive at your online checkout to see you only accept bank transfers or your street fundraisers can only accept donations in cash, there is a high chance that a big percentage of prospects will drop off. This is because today's customers expect convenience. 

By giving your target audience the option of proceeding with their preferred payment method you significantly boost the possibility of converting them into paying customers. Therefore, accepting credit card payments, direct debit, and mobile wallets has a great impact on your conversion rates. Besides, a smooth purchase process results in higher user satisfaction, which is often manifested by brand advocacy. 

2. Digitalise payments and operate with less hassle

Digital payments consume less time and effort than cash payments and cheques or cross-checking bank transfers. Automated payments don’t require scrutinous processing and they’re instant and flexible, meaning you can choose which day of the month withdrawals should be made. Another important aspect of payment digitalisation is fewer human errors, something very common with cash counting or dealing with paper cheques. Let’s not forget about how easy it is to keep track of digital payments, too! Opt for payment digitalisation and let your team focus on other tasks.

3. Pay from anywhere, any time

If telemarketing is a significant aspect of your strategy, you’ll know how difficult it sometimes gets to close sales and get the prospects who have initially agreed to pay to actually complete the payment. This is often due to the fact that we all lead busy lifestyles and therefore lack time. So if you ask your customers to complete bank transfers or fill out lengthy paper forms to create direct debit mandates, you’re involuntarily losing out on customers.

Instead, provide users with payment methods that allow them to complete purchases from anywhere, anytime, just with a few clicks on their mobile devices. For example, with Waytobill's telesales checkout you can send payment links directly to your prospects' mobile phones. By clicking on the link, your conversationalist will be redirected to an online checkout pre-filled with their personal information available in your sales system. Instead of having to fill out the form, the customers review the information and choose their preferred payment method before completing the purchase or donation. 

Take a look at the above image to see an example of a payment link sent to a customer's mobile device. 

Choose Digital Autogiro and AvtaleGiro for recurring monthly payments

Does your organisation collect regular payments from its members? Do you run a non-profit that relies on public funding and donations? Do you regularly send out sales letters that account for a big chunk of your revenue? If you answer “yes” to one of these questions then you might want to consider migrating to a digital subscription or adding automatic recurring monthly withdrawals to your existing payment model. Why is that, you may ask?

Firstly, by offering digital payment methods you stand better chances of converting younger - and busier - potential donors who find it difficult to visit bank branches or complete online bank transfers, as well as those who no longer carry cash. Secondly, recurring monthly donations will significantly increase customer lifetime value; for example, when it comes to charity donations, recurring donors are 440% more valuable than one-off donors, while the most loyal subscribers account for 79% of total subscription merchant revenue. 

With Swedish Digital Autogiro and Norwegian AvtaleGiro you can easily close sales at the point of sale, whether it’s online, over the phone, or in person. The ease of signing up for monthly donations dramatically increases conversion rates as users don't have to spend time on lengthy paper forms or time-consuming bank transfers.

Boost revenue by sending interested customers a text message or email with a direct link to your subscription, charity, or goods checkout which comes pre-filled with personal information.

If, until now, you've relied on paper sales letters or invoices, print them with QR codes that after scanning redirect the customers to your checkout. Users choose Autogiro or AvtaleGiro as their preferred payment method, confirm their identity and connect their account by logging in via BankID, and then select the account they want to pay from. Just like that, they become your monthly clients, subscribers, or donors, and your organisation gets regular monthly income and eliminates the need for manual payment processing. 

Do you think it's time to consider payment digitalisation for your business? Are you wondering how to migrate your current paper-reliant customer base to recurring monthly subscribers?

We have some good news! We have teamed up with a post-distribution provider to help companies provide more payment options to clients acquired through physical media and communications and therefore migrate them to digital recurring payments. Do you want to find out? Make sure to contact us and we’ll keep you updated!