Subscription billing and recurring payments for high-risk merchants. Stabilize cash flow.  Increase profits. 

Recurring billing provides high risk merchants with predicable revenue streams. And expands the lifetime value of customers compared to one-time transactions. 

Once recurring billing is established, customers become accustomed to seeing the payment on credit card or bank statements.  Payments continue uninterrupted until the customer cancels or the term of the agreement expires. 

Consumers already enjoy the convenience of recurring monthly payments for utilities, rent and other household bills. As more and more Americans embrace online shopping, recurring billing gives high risk merchants another way to make it easier, more affordable, and simpler for buyers to purchase from you.

High Risk Merchants Embrace Recurring Payments

Any businesses classified as high-risk can qualify for recurring billing merchant accounts.  Recurring payments are one of the easiest ways to increase orders without additional work. 

Examples of high-risk merchants enjoying the benefits of recurring payments include:  internet services; digital advertising; professional services; online gaming; digital entertainment; installment lenders; streaming services; social platforms; online dating; telecom; finance companies; insurance; telemedicine; newsletters, subscription services; and ecommerce companies selling all types of products & services. 

Ecommerce is one of the fastest growing segments for recurring billing.  Online sellers now offer a wide variety of recurring billing plans or affordable installment payment options.  Ecommerce merchants often promote sales through special offers for items shipped, downloaded, or streamed on a recurring basis. 

ACH / Echecks and Credit / Debit Card Recurring Payments

The two primary payment methods for recurring billing are credit / debit cards and ACH / echecks.   It is always wise to offer different payment methods. The more ways your customers can buy from you, the more money you make.

Debit and credit cards are the most popular payment method for Americans.  Therefore, you certainly will want to offer card recurring payments. 

ACH / echecks are the most common alternative payment method for US shoppers.  By accepting ACH / echecks for recurring payments you capture orders from shoppers that do not have cards, are maxed out on cards, or who simply prefer to pay you through a bank account rather than a card. 

The advantage of ACH / echecks over cards for recurring payments is that bank accounts rarely change.  It’s too much of a hassle to change bank accounts because household bills and direct deposit of wages are tied to the bank account. Therefore, there is rarely a need to update payment methods.  Meaning recurring payment continue without interruption.

Compare this to cards.  Every year more than 20% of credit and debit cards are reissued.  For recurring billing to continue, updated card info is needed on the reissued cards.  While there are ways to automate the updating of card info, not all cards can be updated automatically.  Additional efforts may be required by customer service to obtain the updated card info.  

Helpful Hints to Increase Recurring Payment Revenues

• Provide customers small rewards to sign up for recurring payments. For instance, motivate your customers to sign up by offering a special discount or other incentive.
• Make the sign-up process simple and easy to understand. Clearly let the customer know when the recurring payments will occur.  Prominently post your customer service phone or emails on your site.  Respond to all contacts quickly and professionally.
• Make it simple for customers to cancel recurring billing. Advise customers how to cancel, how long cancellation will take and any other pertinent information.   Make the process as seamless as possible.  Communicate clearly with customers.  Confirm all the details of the cancellation with the customer. Excellent customer service prevents chargebacks, while increasing customer satisfaction.
• During the first few cycles of recurring billing, send an email, text or other notification to the consumer before the recurring payment is due.  Some high-risk merchants continue sending notifications of billing on a regular basis. Others simply send an email the first month confirming the on-going billing along with information on how to cancel.  Once recurring billing is in place, consumers get used to seeing on a monthly statements and advance notices may or may not be necessary.
• Accept debit / credit cards and ACH / echecks for recurring payments.  More payment methods translate into more sales for you.  
• Keep recurring billing safe by using tokenization within your payment gateway.  Instead of keeping payment data, the gateway encrypts transactions and sends a token to complete the transaction.  This eliminates the need for you to keep payment details on file and protects your company from data breaches..

Conclusion

Merchants in all high-risk categories can easily enjoy the benefits of recurring billing. 

• Stabilize cash flow
• Increase lifetime value of customers to your business
• Convenient for customers
• Offer affordable payment plans for increased sales
• Gain a competitive advantage in the marketplace

Recurring payments are now  affordable and convenient way for shoppers to buy from you. And increase the lifetime value of customers to your business. 

Are you interested in increasing your sales & profits with recurring billing?

Contact info@paynetsecure.net today