Are You Taking Advantage of ACH Payments?

A recent study from NACHA (the

electronic payments association) revealed

that, “49% of all recurring bills” are made

through ACH structures.

The association indicated that the majority

of these payments continue to be made in

the consumer to business realm, with a

slight increase in business to business

usage.

The association was quite surprised to discover that although many large corporations have

incorporated ACH payments for their customers, they still continue to pay their own vendors

with paper checks.

Worse, small businesses are lagging behind in making ACH payments available to their own

customers and to their vendors, with less than 28% taking advantage of this option.

According to Wesley Yuhn, who is recognized for his work in financial services and solutions,

the main reason that small businesses fail to utilize ACH direct deposit for their payroll either

because they believe they are too small or they believe that the cost doesn’t warrant the expense.

However, ACH is not just for payroll; the options that it creates for potential clients and

customers to use alternative methods of payment makes up for the costs.

Are You Limiting Your Sales Potential?

There are plenty of articles about providing customers with a positive experience--- whether you

have an online store, a brick-and-mortar store or a combination of both. Part of creating a good

customer experience is making it as easy as possible to buy your products or services.

Those businesses who limit the type of payment that they accept are also limiting their own

sales potential.

It is extremely surprising that many businesses remain under the impression that only retail

companies need to consider expanding their type of payments. Contrary to popular belief tool

companies, lumber companies and wholesalers can also take advantage of selling online as well

as accepting paper checks, eChecks, credit cards and checks by phone as well as establishing

automatic invoicing and recurring payments for their clients.

Using an ACH payment solution, paper checks can be verified, converted to electronic debits

nearly instantly and deposited to your account in a matter of moments. Some companies are

known to use a system called Check 21 that allows you to scan a paper check into the system. It

also allows you access to funds on the same day.

Increasing Your Opportunities

With the holidays just around the corner, any marketing specialist will be suggesting that you

consider using mobile bill pay, electronic payments via email or mobile phone and click2call

options for online orders.

In order to accept payments via mobile phone, for example, in a click2call advertising strategy,

it is important to use an ACH service to protect your customer’s information and make it easier

to do business with you.

One question that is repeatedly asked is how a company paying electronically can produce the

necessary paperwork for their accountant and tax records. Regardless of the type of electronic

payment a customer prefers to use, receipts are immediately sent with all the information needed

to satisfy their CPAs and government offices.

One of the top reasons to use ACH is because all transactions can be stored on a flash drive, in

the Cloud or a virtual storage facility instead of one physical paper for the next ten years or

more.