With payment processing the more options you can give your customers at checkout the better. Accepting credit cards as well as debit cards is a must for any business wanting to succeed online. They should be the first payment choice for your customers. With that though adding other methods will increase your conversion rates. A lift of around 5% to 20% isn’t uncommon when just one new payment option is available for your customers.

The first new payment option you should add if you haven’t already done so are eChecks. eChecks are a great alternative payment option. There are many consumers that don’t carry cards and others with maxed out ones. By offering an eCheck payment option your store can increase its sales from this customer base. They can also save you money with lower rates and they offer an ideal processing service for recurring and subscription services. With ACH processing you can have people pay for services using routing and account numbers. Some customers would rather have money deducted than being put on their credit cards especially if they have a balance they are trying to pay off. Using eChecks for a recurring service also keeps the recurring customer longer because if a recurring order is put on a credit or debit card eventually the card will expire or get lost and a new card will need to be inputted. Many times customers simple forget that they need to reapply the new card and the merchant now has to issue more time and money into customer support with getting a hold of these customers and getting their new cards attached to their accounts. So by adding eCheck with ACH you can avoid having to spend more resources on customer support and be assured your customers are still able to access their products or continue your service with no expired or lost card inconveniences.

As we mentioned early, eChecks can grow your customer base and improve conversions. About 175 million Americans have checking accounts, that is about 90% of the population of the United States. Over 70 million don’t have credit or debit cards. By offering eChecks you greatly reduce the chance of losing sales to this customer group and with credit cards getting harder and harder to get approved for this number will most likely grow and you will want to able to offer these customers an alternate payment solution at checkout.

So if growing your customer base, improving conversion rates, and having better subscription payments are important to your business, you should look into adding eChecks as another payment option for your customers at checkout. Please be sure to ask us about our eCheck solution at eMerchant and we can help you get your business excepting eChecks.