The Real-Time Impact of Payment Links

In a fast-paced digital marketplace, payment links are becoming the norm. That’s because modern customers crave easy, convenient, and straightforward ways of interacting with businesses. To boost your conversion rates and add value to your customers’ shopping experiences, you need to give them more power over when, where, and how they pay.

In this article, we’ll go over the benefits of payment links and how you can make them work for your business.

Jump to:

• How Payment Links Work

• 8 Ways Providing Payment Links Impact Your Business

  • 1. Builds Your Brand

  • 2. Allows for Next-Day Payment Collection

  • 3. Contactless Payment

  • 4. Provides Flexibility in Terms of Payment Methods

  • 5. Automates Traditionally Manual Processes

  • 6. Tracks Your Online Payments

  • 7. Ensures Security

  • 8. Allows for Faster Checkout

• Conclusion

How Payment Links Work

Setting up and managing payment links doesn’t require a lot of technical know-how. It’s the perfect solution for businesses that want to deploy an easy-to-use and cost-effective payment channel.

If you’re unfamiliar with how payment links work, here’s a step-by-step overview:

1. The merchant creates a payment link with the help of a payment processing provider or payment app. The merchant can customize the details and elements of the payment page.
2. The payment link — usually a QR code or URL — is shared with the customer via email, text, or instant messenger.
3. When the customer receives the payment link, he or she can make the payment by simply clicking the link or scanning the QR code.
4. The customer is redirected to a checkout page — which generally features a payment amount and description of the purchase.
5. Depending on how the payment page is set up, the customer may be required to enter their bank account or credit card details. Many merchants also let customers pay through digital wallets.
6. The merchant gets notified once the payment has been completed.

8 Ways Providing Payment Links Impact Your Business

Improving payment processing at your business is not as overwhelming as it seems. Plus, payment links are useful for businesses of all types and sizes — you get all the benefits of a safe, secure, and convenient payment process both for your customers and your business.

Here are some of the top ways payment links can transform your business and leave a lasting impression on your customers.

1. Builds Your Brand

Many payment links allow you to offer a branded checkout experience — making it an important part of your business’s marketing campaign.

You can add your business colors, logo, background, and other branding elements to the payment pages. You can also customize your payment pages to include your contact information and policies and maximize them for promotion and upselling opportunities.

2. Allows for Next-Day Payment Collection

Cashflow is the lifeblood of any business. Sadly, more than 50% of businesses still end up wasting hours chasing late payments. This can lead to serious cashflow problems that devastate your business’s survival and growth.

Source: Balance

Late payments shouldn’t be the norm. And payment links are among the easiest ways for businesses to avoid cashflow problems. That’s because payment links let you get paid fast — you will usually receive the funds in your business account the next business day. You’ll get notified as soon as a customer makes a payment, and you can also send automatic reminders to ensure customers pay on time.

3. Contactless Payment

Payment methods are evolving rapidly, and cash is no longer king. Contactless payments are dominating the business sales scene, with the number of contactless card purchases worldwide expected to reach over 522 billion by 2026. Businesses that do not adapt to the current tech environment are already falling behind.

Source: NFCW & RBR

Contactless payments give businesses a competitive edge in terms of offering affordable, secure, and safe payment options. Your customers will enjoy the convenience of not having to pay in person to complete a transaction. Payment links let them pay anytime, anywhere — from any device.

4. Provides Flexibility in Terms of Payment Methods

Modern customers want personalized shopping experiences — that means the freedom to choose how they pay every time they interact with your business. Stay top of mind with your customers by offering multiple payment channels — credit cards, debit cards, ACH debits or bank transfers, mobile and online payments, etc.

5. Automates Traditionally Manual Processes

From helping your business save time and resources to improving customer satisfaction, reducing payment delays, and more, payment automation is the way to simplify and streamline your processes.

Payment links allow your business to cut down on the time and effort it takes to manage administrative and financial concerns. You won’t have to worry about any overlooked invoices or any errors in payment collections. Plus, you’ll have more time to focus on getting and retaining customers and innovating your products and services.

6. Tracks Your Online Payments

With business links, you get real-time financial feedback. It stores your payment records online so you can get a big picture of who has paid you and who hasn’t.

Each payment link typically comes with easy-to-find, unique identifiers (such as ID or reference numbers), making it simple to manage online payments and control cashflow.

7. Ensures Security

In today’s digital world, it’s no surprise that customers are more concerned about the security of their personal information online. They want their payment data to be safe, secure and protected. Here’s where payment links come in handy to provide the highest level of security for your customers so you can build strong relationships with them.

Online payment systems follow Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards (PCI DSS). That means they have multi-layer security measures — like encryption and tokenization — to ensure that transactions are always authenticated and protected.

8. Allows for Faster Checkout

Payment links can significantly boost your conversion rates because it lets you provide a simplified, frictionless checkout experience every time customers make a purchase. Inconvenient payment methods and lengthy checkouts — including unnecessary steps, redundant forms, multiple OTPs, and redirections — are enough reasons for your customer to leave the payment page.

With smart payment links, customers pay in a few seconds or clicks. Many payment links also offer a checkout experience with zero input — meaning no logins and passwords.

In Conclusion: Seamless Payments Make for a Better Customer Experience

Businesses must embrace modern payments to be more responsive to the ever-changing expectations and demands of today’s customers.

Use payment links to offer not just convenience and security for your customers but also a digital-first customer experience — one that meets their needs, streamlines the buying process, and adapts to their new purchasing habits.