6 Reasons Why Text Message Payments Are Good for Your Business

Imagine you're at a family gathering, catching up with relatives you haven't seen in years, only to realize it's also the day you have to pay your utility bill. As you're about to sit down to a lovely dinner, you receive a text notification on your mobile phone reminding you about the upcoming payment. No need to stress or hope you remember to do it later. Instead, you pay the bill in seconds by responding to the text message, and you immediately return to having fun with your family. 

Text messages are among the most customer-friendly payment options available today. Leveraging these solutions is essential for satisfying consumers across all demographics.

1. Faster Payment Processing

Consumers are done with waiting days for their payments to process, especially when they need to make a last-minute payment. 

Accepting payment via text accelerates processing times in several ways: 

• Faster response rates: According to data from the Pew Research Center, 97% of American adults own a mobile phone. These people typically open and respond to text messages in only a few minutes, which means they're likely to submit a payment as soon as they receive the short message service (SMS) link.
• Simplicity: A streamlined text payment solution can process payments in or near real time, avoiding the complications and delays associated with more complex systems.  
• Security: PCI-compliant payment solutions efficiently track payment information, keep sensitive data safe, and provide customers peace of mind with automated payment confirmations.

A real-time payment processing solution, KUBRA EZ-PAY®, immediately alerts consumers that their payments have been received, eliminating the wait and allowing them to budget more effectively.

2. Unmatched Convenience

Text-to-pay is one of the most convenient payment methods available today. Here's why:

• No rush: SMS texting is an asynchronous form of communication, which means your consumers can engage with your organization when it fits into their schedules instead of waiting for you to reach out. 
• User-friendly interface: Most people today are familiar with texting, so using this technology to send payments is quick and intuitive.
• Conversational: With natural language processing (NLP) capabilities, an automated SMS solution can facilitate payments and address consumer concerns without requiring anyone to remember specific commands and prompts. Instead, consumers can talk like they normally do.

3. Increased Engagement

Increase customer connections through ongoing text updates and automated notifications reminding consumers of upcoming payments. Since SMS text messages have such high open and response rates, the likelihood of your consumers seeing your notifications and engaging with them is significantly higher. 

Notifi® from KUBRA is an automated notification solution that enables consumers to select SMS messaging as their preferred communication channel. This means they will always get your updates delivered to their channels of choice. 

4. Enhanced Security Measures

Payment security is a major concern for all consumers. After all, you don't want your sensitive information falling into the wrong hands. Fortunately, text-to-pay can be highly secure with the proper compliance measures in place.

PCI-compliant mobile payment solutions eliminate the need for customers to read off credit card numbers or provide additional personally identifiable information (PII). Instead, consumers only need to select their payment method. The PCI Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) safeguards cardholder data and sensitive authentication data wherever it is processed, stored, or transmitted. It enforces stringent security controls to protect all payment card account data. Post-authorization, it ensures that sensitive authentication data is never stored, thereby protecting customer payment details.

Security should be one of your top concerns and priorities when searching for a text-to-pay solution. KUBRA is dedicated to ensuring secure mobile payments with advanced protections like secure stateless tokenization and a comprehensive disaster recovery plan. 

5. Access to a Wider Consumer Base

Text-to-pay is an excellent tool for scaling your business without doubling your consumer communication workload. Because smartphone ownership is so widespread, adopting SMS payments expands your access to consumers. 

One of the other advantages of SMS texting is that you can automate it to engage more consumers simultaneously. Whether they're on the go or lounging at home, consumers can chat with your support team whenever they need help or guidance with business text payments. 

Or, if your solution has NLP capabilities, they can speak with an automated system that forwards them to a human representative for more intensive help. This kind of automation can save your team valuable time responding to repetitive consumer inquiries so they can focus on the big picture and their most urgent tasks.

6. Competitive Advantage

Keeping up with evolving digital payment trends is the most effective approach to ensuring you stay ahead of your competitors. Today, one of the most notable emerging trends is the rising demand for digital payment options, including SMS payments.

Text-to-pay solutions offer greater efficiency and a smoother, more convenient consumer experience, significantly increasing the likelihood of customer loyalty. When everything can be handled in one easy step, there's no reason for consumers to go elsewhere. Additionally, satisfied customers are more likely to recommend your company to friends and family, potentially attracting new customers and boosting sales.

Best Practices for Implementing Business Text Payments

Here are some tips and tricks to successfully add text payment capabilities to your organization:

• Consider the consumer: Organizations that successfully implement text-to-pay integrate it directly into the consumer experience, so it comes across as a natural extension of their interaction. For example, a health care provider might use SMS to send appointment reminders to their patients and then use the same number to send a secure link they can use to pay their bill.
• Choose the right solution: Look for a solution provider offering a comprehensive, fully integrated billing and consumer experience solution to streamline your tech stack and ensure a seamless data flow across your organization.
• Offer multiple channels: An omni-channel payment solution enables consumers to seamlessly switch between communication and payment channels when it fits their needs. Each channel provides a consistent experience where your company's branding and the consumer's account information are present.

Add Text Message Payments to Your Business With KUBRA

While implementing digital payment solutions has rapidly become a necessity for delivering a positive consumer experience across virtually every industry, adopting text-to-pay is the next step to success.

If you want to expand your company's digital payment options to SMS texting, KUBRA can help you. Our fully integrated payment and customer communications solutions provide the convenience and speed your business needs to meet the expectations of today's increasingly tech-savvy consumers. 

See how SMS Service from KUBRA can enhance your consumers' experiences. Request your free demo today to get started.