5 ways to encourage customers to use Direct Debit payments

Direct debit is a useful payment option in many circumstances. For brick-and-mortar establishments such as fitness centres or co-working spaces, direct debit is a great way to accept recurring payments with minimum hassle. Businesses selling their products as subscriptions and online service providers can also benefit from the use of direct debit as a payment method.

While direct debit is increasingly popular, some customers are still reluctant to use this payment method. Their reluctance may be caused by lack of information, misunderstanding, or other reasons. In most of these cases, you can assume a more active role in encouraging the use of direct debit payments; here are the top five ways to do that.

Make It Easy to Set Up

One of the first things you have to do to increase the appeal of direct debit payments is simplifying the transaction process. Pick a reliable piece of software for your direct debit payments and be sure to integrate the payment processing system seamlessly with your checkout process and direct debit payments, both online and offline.

Payment service providers such as AccessPay make it very easy for businesses to integrate direct debits. The payment solutions are designed to be highly compatible with various POS and e-commerce systems, so integration should not be a problem.

You can also further simplify the checkout process itself. Instead of asking customers to complete three or four steps, try to cut the checkout process down to a maximum of two steps. You will be reducing the rate of dropped carts and abandoned transactions in the process.

Make It Seamless

The initial setup process is just the start. For the direct debit payment to be appealing, you also have to make sure the subsequent payments are processed seamlessly. This means using a reliable system that can calculate and bill customers accurately; one error and you’ll lose your customers’ trust.

Again, the payment system you choose to use matters. The best systems are designed to make direct debit payment processing as seamless as it can be. The customers won’t even have to worry about making a payment; as long as a sufficient balance is available in the registered account, the transaction will go through successfully.

Communicate the Ease of Use

Now that you have the best system in place (from one of the best ach processing companies available), it is time to communicate the advantages of using direct debit to your customers.Talk about the amount of time customers can save by opting for direct debit as a payment method for their subscriptions. Explain how the system – your system – works and detail the effortlessness of this method.

 You should also touch on the issue of security. Let your customers know that you have multiple layers of security in place, so payment errors and double charges can be avoided. The payment system itself is immensely secure and follows strict financial security standards set by the government.

Add Customer-Centric Policies

Even with the most reliable system in place, there is still a risk of mischarging or other issues with direct debit payments. To anticipate these issues, you need to create a set of policies that put the customers’ interest first.

In the case of a customer being charged twice for the same bill, for example, make sure you can do a quick check, confirm the error, and refund the customer quickly. Don’t wait for 14 days; don’t even wait for seven. You want to be proactive rather than passive, so set policies that allow you to act quickly in such circumstance.

The direct debit system generates regular reports. Checking reports and spotting errors before customers complain is even better. When you do see an error, contact the customer first and immediately explain how you will correct the error.

Develop Trust

The policies we talked about in the previous tip are there to develop trust. When the customers know that you’re putting their best interests first, getting them to trust you is really not that difficult. It goes beyond your existing customers too; your happy customers will be more than happy to share their positive experience with others, especially potential customers.

When these tips are implemented correctly, getting more customers to use direct debit isn’t difficult. Now that you have the best strategies in place, start benefiting more from using direct debit today.