Mobile Payments for Small Business

Mobile is on the rise -- and not just with younger generations. The mobile revolution is all-encompassing -- it has permeated every age bracket, every country, and virtually every sector of life impacting the way we operate -- and payments are no exception.

96% percent of Americans now own a cellphone of some kind and 81% of Americans own a smartphone. 

The average user will tap, swipe, and click their phone 2,617 times a day.

The average time spent on smartphones is 2 hours 51 minutes (or 171 minutes) per day.

47% of US smartphone users say they couldn’t live without their devices. Mobile phones have exceeded the dependence phase and jumped straight to being a necessary tool for survival.

You can see that the overwhelming majority of consumers in America are mobile phone users, to say the least. The reliance on mobile is only growing. Your business can either ignore the trend or get ahead of the times, be a pioneer in the mobile shift, and you can start this journey by accepting mobile payments.

What are Mobile Payments?

Before we fully dive in, let’s dissect what we mean by mobile payments. At first, you might think of mobile payment as paying via mobile wallet -- and that’s a part of it, but mobile payments cover so much more. 

When we say mobile payments, we’re referring to an all-encompassing term that covers any form of payment for a good or service or any transfer of money between two parties, executed through a mobile device. 

Here we are going to focus on mobile payments including mobile point-of-sale (mPOS), text-to-pay, and online payments, all of which require no additional hardware.

With a payment processor like GoSite’s, all you have to do to use our mPOS is download a mobile app. From there, you enter the credit card information and the payment is complete. 

For text-to-pay, you will send your customers a payment link via text message. When the customer clicks the link, a checkout page opens up in an internet browser where the recipient can view a digital invoice and can enter their card details to complete a transaction.

Customers also have the option to manually enter card details on a website to make a payment (just like on a desktop computer). This can be done in advance, at the time of the booking or in real-time.

The Benefits of Mobile Payments for Small Business

The most obvious advantage of mobile payments is its portability. Without a clunky cash register and robust wires locking you in place, payments on the go become effortless for both you and your customers. But that’s not all mobile payments offer -- not even close.

Complete Mobility

As you know, many small businesses do a lot of their work out in the field, making up a majority of the deskless workforce. 40% of small businesses report all their employees to use wireless devices or wireless technologies to work away from the office; a 66% jump over the past two years.  

Small businesses are already accustomed to -- even dependent on -- conducting business on the go through their mobile devices. Adding a mobile payment option just makes sense. With mobile payments, you and your employees can accept payments wherever your business ventures take you and never have to wait to get paid.

Get Paid Faster

Accepting mobile payments means getting paid faster. When a small business decides to accept mobile payments, they are able to collect payment either in advance or in real-time. With mobile payments, you no longer have to wait until you get back to your office to mail an invoice or wait for a check to come. Payments become quick, easy, and on time.

More Sales

Having the ability to accept payment anywhere, anytime through a mobile device means more sales for your business and more money in your pocket. You never have to turn away another customer again -- at least not because of payment options. It’s been reported that upwards 80% of consumers have credit cards, yet according to a recent NFIB small business survey, 51% of small businesses don’t accept credit cards. There is a huge discrepancy here, which you can use to your advantage and get a leg up on your competitors.

Efficiency 

Get time back in your day with mobile payments. Mobile payments mean no more handwriting invoices, manually updating them, or wasting time on billing and chasing down people to pay you. Mobile payments are efficient, convenient, and ensure that you get paid on time and don’t have to waste unnecessary time doing administrative building tasks. Instead, you can focus your time running and growing your business.

Improve Customer Experience

Flexible and convenient payment options equate to happier customers and an overall expedited payment process. With mobile payments, you can eliminate all of the friction in the payment process by having the ability to accept any form of payment a customer chooses. They can also pay in whatever way works for them (text-to-pay, mPOS, in-app, or online payments), which adds an additional layer of convenience. At the end of the day, it’s a win-win -- you’re getting paid and your customers are happy. 

Grow Your Bottom Line with Mobile Payments for Small Business

Clearly, the omnipresent mobile device is a gadget that’s here to stay—that we know for sure. How your business responds to the mobile revolution and the steps you take to evolve with the changing times is still up in the air. 

Mobile is where the people are. Ignoring the mobile channel is no longer an option. Opening your business up to and embracing the mobile revolution might be the secret weapon you've been waiting for.

For small businesses, mobile payments represent a great opportunity to increase cash flow while being more efficient and providing a better customer experience. The question is no longer whether or not you need to accept mobile payments, it’s how to find the right payment processor for your business. 

Your search stops here—GoSite’s all-in-one payment processor does it all. You can accept payments everywhere and every way using GoSite’s omnichannel payment processing solution.