Friday, October 21, 2011

It's Important To Accept Credit Cards

Why It Is Important To Accept Credit Cards

Accepting credit cards online іѕ incredibly іmрοrtаnt fοr аnу online store аnd аnу οthеr business thаt allows іtѕ customers tο mаkе orders online. If уου want tο gеt thе maximum number οf people ordering уουr service thеn уου need tο bе аblе tο inspire confidence whеn thеу bυу аnd уου need tο hаνе thе facilities thеrе tο accept аll kinds οf payments.
If there is one main lesson to be learned about conducting business online, it is that you must accept credit cards to compete.  It is by far the most convenient way for potential customers to spend money on your site and sets up the environment for impulse buying.
The impulse buy is an incredible advantage for businesses because of conversion.  If your site is set up properly to entice customers who may be on the fence about buying, your ROI on your site will increase dramatically.  Statistics show that consumers are becoming exponentially more comfortable with purchasing online and doing so in their own environment give them a sense of being in control of the transactions.
Customers are no longer bound by making purchases on the retailers home floor with pushy salesman and store hours creating a sales deadline.  When consumers are free to browse on their own terms they will not feel pushed into buying when in fact a website can be the most pushy salesmen of them all.  Giving your customers the ability to buy instantly, effectively taking money out of their wallet and into yours, changes the way business should be approached online.
Getting set up to accept credit cards online is first and foremost.  Most first time business people assume the easiest way to start accepting credit cards is by using PayPal.  This is a fairly reasonable assumption but it is not correct.  It’s true that PayPal transactions are simple and adding PayPal buttons to your site so your customers are alerted where to pay is easy, but what if you don’t have PayPal.
That’s right, believe it or not every one who uses the internet has a PayPal account and expecting them to set one up just to buy something from you is foolish.  In essence, you are killing your impulse sale opportunity by relying solely on PayPal.  But the good news is that most people who use the internet and are over 18 do have a credit or debit card and fairly well versed in using it online.
One of the best things about those businesses who have come before you online is that they are the ones who had to go through the bumps and bruises of establishing good ecommerce practices and training people to spend.  There is something called trust marketing which has evolved over the years and it shows that seeing a Visa or Mastercard logo on a site established a sense of trust with consumers.  Further it helps identify your brand as more trustworthy because of the association your business has with the credit card providers.
Whether this is true or not, a perceived level of trust from your potential customers bodes well for merchants just because they accept credit cards.  Now PayPal has come a long way over the years and their logo also elicits a trust relationship with consumers, but remember that the actual numbers of people who have an active PayPal account is extremely limited compared with those ready to use their credit cards to purchase.
So whether you are just getting started online, or are an established business entity looking for more sales, it is important to accept credit cards both for your customer’s convenience and to establish trust.  Using a third party merchant account provider to process your credit card transactions is simple