Stay-at-home orders and temporary closings have created challenges for businesses nationwide. As these mandates and regulations begin to lift across states, it is time to think ahead.
Here we are sharing how you can use PaySimple to increase business and recover lost revenue in the coming weeks. We hope that applying this guidance helps your business overcome anticipated difficulties and move toward long-standing success.
Market Your Business with PaySimple
Many small businesses find it difficult and costly to market their business. Conveniently, there are ways you can leverage your PaySimple solution now to positively impact your customer base and profits.
- Email Marketing: PaySimple provides integrations to two email marketing solutions: Constant Contact and MailChimp. Each of these solutions enable your business to create cost-effective email marketing campaigns. You can even use payment data to make your email marketing even more effective. Thinking of running a promotion to top customers? Easy. How about an email campaign to customers that you haven’t seen in a while? Simple with these email capabilities.
- Leverage Social Media: Facebook, Twitter and Instagram are popular outlets for many small businesses to tell people about products and services. However, a profile alone cannot generate revenue for your business. With PaySimple, you can link payment forms or offers to your profiles, creating a clear purchasing path for visitors that come to your page.
Supporting Resources
Free Revenue Generating Email Marketing Templates you can use for promotions, relation building, cross-sell and up-sell. Includes a template specifically for reaching out to customer after a long period of absence.
12 Ways to Find New Customers. No Marketing Budget Needed. Use these cost-effective marketing tips to bring to expand your customer base and recover your business quickly.
Free One-Page Marketing Plan Template you’ll actually use.
Provide Safe and Flexible Payment Acceptance
For many businesses, lifts in stay-at-home orders will lead to an influx of customers. Though healthy for profits, these increases in demand create new challenges as social distancing measures and sanitization procedures will remain a priority. The solution? Adopting PaySimple payment features that benefit you and your customers.
- No-Touch Check-Out: If you haven’t yet began using PaySimple’s online payment forms it’s time to start. Online payment forms can be linked on your business website, allowing customers to pay you on their own computer or mobile phone, eliminating any use of a shared payment device. You can also send payment links to your customers via email or text, keeping lines at check-out low. Or if your business prefers, online invoicing is another great option for collecting payments without direct customer contact.
- Accept Credit Cards: Credit card payments help consumers manage expenses during these times of uncertainty. With PaySimple, your business can accept credit cards for one-time and recurring purchases. If you have yet to accept credit cards, our team can help you provide this level of flexibility to your customers today. PaySimple can securely store cards on file, so if you have repeat customers, there is no need to physically exchange payment methods with every purchase.
Supporting Resources
Learn how to accept credit card payments on your phone for your business through these easy steps.
Ready to use online payment forms? Here’s how to set up an online payment form for business.
Reduce Administrative Tasks and Automate Cashflow
Changes in processes and operations naturally happen in a business. Though sometimes being proactive in making updates to business operations is better than reacting when needed. When aiming to recover and get ahead, it critical to reduce time spent on day-to-day so you can plan for tomorrow. These features help make that possible.
- Self-Serve Customer Service: We at PaySimple know that providing great customer service is important. We also know that it is difficult if a business is short-staffed. The PaySimple Customer Portal was created to help solve these issues. By using Customer Portal, your customers can handle administrative tasks they typically request from you and your staff such as: updates to addresses, changes in payment methods, completing failed payments. Need assistance? Visit our Help Center for instructions on getting started and email templates you can use with your customers.
- Recurring Payments: Businesses that offer recurring services or subscription models benefit from automated, consistent cashflow. If there are areas in your business that could benefit from a recurring payment model, PaySimple can help. With PaySimple, you can automate recurring payments for groups or customers or individuals, customizing payment amounts, charge dates and payment methods.
Supporting Resources
More ways you can reduce administrative tasks with automated customer service
Begin using recurring payments to generate steady cashflow
Additional Recovery Steps to Take Now
In addition to the ways you can use PaySimple to recover your business, there are a handful of additional steps we believe are worth sharing. While not all businesses are at the same stage, these steps can help you plan a business recovery strategy specific to your needs.
- Review Financial Assistance Available Through SBA CARES Act: As you begin planning, it is important to know what financial assistance is available to your business from government aid. To make that easier, we’ve published a comprehensive SBA CARES Act Guide for small businesses.
- Audit Your Revenue Streams: If your business pivoted to new revenue streams to adapt to COVID-19, now is time to evaluate that offering. You may find that keeping that revenue stream alive going forward is financially beneficial.
- Evaluate Systems and Processes: Are there processes or systems that have made business difficult for you and your customers? Are there ways you can consolidate solutions your business uses to improve operations and create cost-savings? Consider making changes now that will help your business going forward.
- Communicate Updates to Customers: Letting customers know when you are opening and hours of operations can be done well in advance and should not be left till after stay-at-home orders are lifted. Furthermore, you may consider offering virtual appointments for any services that can be handled prior to opening. If you have the ability, adding a website banner or pop-up that informs customers of your opening details can be beneficial. Instead of calling in, customers will receive the information they need right when they visit your site.
- Contact Your Payment Processing Partner: An increase in customers positively impacts revenue. If you anticipate a large increase in the amount of volume your business handles, you may want to request a higher processing limit from your payment processing partner prior to having any issues.
As your payment partner, we look forward to helping your business move forward. If your business needs assistance leveraging any of the features we’ve covered here or wants to learn more about how our solution can help you recover, let us know. Our product experts are available.
