How To Use Your Payment Tool To Increase Company Sales

 
As a new entrepreneur or small business owner, you've probably spent considerable time developing a strategy to increase revenue. Typically, the most sought after methods of increasing revenue deal with targeting demographics, product advertisements, marketing and pricing. However, one key factor consistently overlooked that can lead to increased sales is the method of payment itself.

In today's digitized world, online purchases have become an increasingly prominent method of payment with e-commerce sales jumping from 2.5 percent of total retail sales in 2006 to a projected 10 percent in 2017. Therefore, it is important to pick and use payment tools that will maximize your company's chances of acquiring additional sales. Here are a few important factors to consider to increase sales with your payment tool.

 
Use a convenient payment tool

One way online payment tools can be used to increase sales is by making the online purchasing as seamless and convenient as possible. In 2012, a survey of online buyers listed convenience as the number one factor in their decision to make an online purchase. Payment tools like PayPal, which seamlessly integrate into a website, can be essential in increasing revenues because they offer the greatest convenience of purchase for customers. PayPal also provides a one-click option that takes customers directly from the company's website to check out. Because PayPal is commonly used by many online vendors, a customer's information is often already saved on their PayPal profile, allowing them to purchase an item online with just a few clicks of a mouse. Other payment methods that are more cumbersome, difficult to maneuver or inconvenient may turn away potential sales.

 
Make sure the payment tool is secure

While convenience is a major factor in a consumer's decision to purchase an item, it is far from the only one. Another factor that consumers strongly consider before making a purchase is the security of the payment tool or method. With the current battle against hackers and identity theft, today's consumers are taking more precautions than ever to ensure that they do not become the epidemic's latest victim. Failure to use a secure payment tool can have an adverse impact on a business's sales and reputation if compromised. It's a norm that many customers simply refuse to make a purchase online or in-person without the presence of a secure payment tool.

 
Go mobile

Smartphones are no longer used for just texting, making phone calls or playing Candy Crush anymore. It's no secret that many consumers spend most of their time on their mobile devices, as well as make purchases this way. Close to one-fourth of the U.S. population is made up of millennials, who have an estimated $1.3 trillion in buying power, and on average use their smartphones at least 45 times per day. Whether this is your target demographic or not, it is important to recognize that mobile payment tools are the future. With smartphone purchases gaining more consumer popularity and trust, opting to use mobile payments for your business can lead to many perks including an increase in consumer loyalty, in-store purchases and overall convenience. An example of a business doing mobile payment right is Starbucks. If you haven't gone mobile yet, payment tools such as Google Wallet, Stripe, Paypal, Square, Apple Pay, and millennial beloved Venmo are ideal tools for doing so.

 
This article was written by Marie Flounoy for CBS Small Business Pulse.