Today, a growing number of consumers are leveraging digital payments when purchasing products and services.
It is estimated that the digital commerce segment will have 4.8 billion users by 2028, including 2 billion users transacting from mobile phones. These figures highlight the growing importance of a secure, seamless, and inclusive payment experience in winning more customers and driving sales.
By making early investments in enhancing the payment experience, small and medium Businesses (SMBs) can capitalise on trends such as growth in online shopping and the shift to digital payments.
In this blog, we recommend five strategies for ensuring efficient payment settlements for SMBs and the role of a superior payment gateway in driving 100% transaction success.
What are payment settlements for SMBs?
Every digital transaction comprises a number of steps in the payment workflow. Payment settlements refer to the last step in the transaction cycle, when funds are deducted from the shopper’s bank account and transferred to a merchant’s bank account. Hence, this is the most important step of the transaction, without which the funds do not get transferred.
Payment settlements for SMBs specifically refer to the final step in a transaction between a shopper and a small or medium-sized enterprise. A failed payment settlement can make a customer’s shopping experience extremely frustrating.
Merchants that are unable to ensure a smooth payment experience will see a growth in abandoned carts. They will also experience low retention rates and a decreased Customer Lifetime Value (CLV), key metrics that help SMBs measure growth.
Best practices for ensuring smooth payment settlements
We outline five strategies to help ensure a smooth payment settlement process in every transaction.
1. Automate the payment workflow
Managing payments manually can be tedious and error-prone, especially as businesses scale. From sending payment reminders and sharing bank account details across multiple channels to notifying customers about payment status—manual processes are not only time-consuming but also prone to miscommunication and mistakes.
To streamline operations and enhance accuracy, businesses should automate every step of the payment workflow. Automation ensures seamless payment tracking, timely updates, and smooth settlements, allowing businesses to focus on growth while delivering a better customer experience.
2. Offer multiple payment modes
Today, consumers have a wide range of preferences when it comes to making payments. Popular choices include:
- Net banking
- Debit cards
- Credit cards
- EMIs (includes Credit card EMIs, Debit card EMIs, Brand EMIs, and No card EMIs)
- Buy Now Pay Later
- UPI apps
- Digital Wallets
By accepting payments via all modes rather than just one or two modes, SMBs can convert more browsers into customers.
3. Accept payments via multiple channels
Today, consumers shop across a wide range of channels. These include brand websites, apps, social media, and messaging apps.
The estimated market size of social commerce alone in India is estimated to increase to $ 84 billion by 2030. Today, a growing number of businesses are also developing their digital footprint via messaging apps. Hence, exploring the payment feature across more platforms can give businesses a competitive edge.
Small and medium-sized enterprises, especially, must consider making early investments in payment solutions that allow them to accept payments via any channel, securely and seamlessly.
4. Leverage payment scheduling for timely payments
Customers often forget to make timely payments, leaving items in their digital carts. Those shopping via social media or messaging apps may also forget to complete the transaction.
It is advisable for merchants to set up payment reminders to gently nudge customers to complete their transactions. This proactive approach can help businesses reduce cart abandonment and customer drop-offs across platforms.
5. Ensure regular payment reconciliation
Businesses have a large number of transactions, refunds, and other types of payments being executed every day.
Payment reconciliation is a process by which the number of transactions executed is tallied with the number of transactions reported by the payment software in use. By conducting payment reconciliation regularly, every month, businesses can ensure that there are no duplications and errors, or misuse of funds, in the balance sheet.
How to power successful payment settlements for SMBs
Businesses can most optimally ensure that all best practices are followed by automating each practice. To this end, they can consider integrating a superior payment gateway such as Plural by Pine Labs into their shopping workflow.
This software solution enables seamless payment settlements for SMBs through the power of automation. Today, a wide range of small and medium enterprises in sectors such as hospitality, eCommerce, BFSI, consumer electronics, and EdTech are leveraging payment gateways to elevate the payment experience.
The gateway can be easily integrated into a brand’s websites and apps to make the entire payment experience convenient, secure, and inclusive for customers. It comes with the following benefits:
- The gateway powers instant payments and instant refunds, which help businesses improve monthly cash flows. Smooth payment settlements have an almost 100% success rate.
- Plural by Pine Labs offers over one hundred payment options, which creates flexibility for customers.
- Businesses can also offer point-of-sale payment options such as EMIs (Equated Monthly Installments) and Buy Now Pay Later, which enables businesses to drive customer growth. They can also design discounts and cashback schemes with ease. These options help drive customer retention and the acquisition of newer audiences.
- The gateway enables businesses to securely accept payments via customisable payment links across channels such as social media and messaging apps. This feature comes as a game-changer as more businesses adopt an omni-channel marketing strategy.
- Businesses can automate the reconciliation process, and ensure that it occurs at regular intervals.
- The gateway leverages multiple methods to ensure the security of customer and business data. Businesses that integrate the gateway are less prone to cyber-attacks and cyber scams.
Wrapping up
By adopting the best payment practices, businesses can pave the way for smooth payment settlements for SMBs. This includes reaping the benefits of automation, unlocking multiple payment modes, omni-channel payment acceptance, scheduling payments, and regular payment reconciliation.
Businesses that make early investments in a superior payment gateway can adopt these practices early on.
Plural by Pine Labs offers Plural Gateway, an innovative payment solution that enables businesses to transform users’ payment experiences. The gateway offers almost over 100 payment options, including credit cards, debit cards, and net banking; credit card EMIs, Debit card EMIs, Brand EMIs, and no card EMIs; UPU Autopay to drive subscription-based models; secure, customisable payment links; and Buy Now Pay Later.
Plural Gateway offers developer-friendly APIs, multiple integration modes, convenient settlements, and high security. The platform is also updated with the latest RBI regulations.
Reach out to us about your needs and start a conversation today!
