How Can Your Business Use Text to Pay?

Posted on July 5, 2023

Late or missed customer payments can occur for a variety of reasons, including forgetfulness and not knowing a payment’s due date. Whatever the case, late payments can impact your company’s bottom line.

Fortunately, there is a proactive way to increase payment propensity through SMS—convenient reminders to pay via text messages delivered directly to your customer’s mobile phone. SMS messages outperform traditional communication methods, with a 42% open and read rate versus only 32% by email.

What Is Text to Pay?

Text to Pay is an approach to promoting payment through text message reminders. Using this service boosts your business’s efficiency and accuracy in payment capture. It’s also helpful for reducing paper waste and invoicing expenses.

These reminders are business-initiated messages to customers who have opted-in to receive SMS messages. The SMS messages display a secure, clickable link that automatically takes the user to the payment platform to easily complete their payment. For example, CSG Forte’s Text to Pay solution directs users to a secure webpage. Once the customer accesses the site, they can enter their details using our reliable payment-processing platform.

SMS payment reminders help facilitate quicker payments and allow your business to create a more seamless and enjoyable customer experience. Since the reminder link is accessible anytime and anywhere, these services can help your company avoid or reduce late or missed payments.

How Text to Pay Works

CSG Forte simplifies the process of sending SMS payment reminders:

Develop a dedicated opt-in site: Your customers must consent before you can send them text messages. We host an opt-in webpage that you can customize to meet your needs.
Configure your reminder messages: You can set up multiple notifications in our system. We’ll forward them on your behalf directly to your customers’ devices with the secure link to your mobile-friendly site.
Capture the payment: Customers enter their payment information once they follow the link. CSG Forte’s online payment processing platform collects and distributes the funds to your business.

3 Major Business Benefits of Text to Pay

Equipping your business with text payment reminders delivers substantial value in three primary ways.

1. Convenience

Smartphone ownership is prevalent today, with over 68% of the global population having access to mobile devices. The average U.S. user spends over three hours a day on their phone. As a result, businesses have more opportunities to reach their customers where they are. Doing so enables your company to collect payments sooner and more efficiently while providing the convenience that modern consumers expect.

With CSG Forte’s solution, you can increase customer convenience by adding multiple payment options, such as ACH debits and credit cards.

2. Higher Response Rates

Since customers are more likely to open their SMS payment reminders, they’re also more likely to act on them. This improved response rate compared to other communication channels helps you generate more payments faster.

3. Time Savings

It takes just moments to configure and deploy payment reminders by text, getting them in front of consumers more quickly than traditional methods. Using technology helps eliminate the manual invoicing process to save time. You’ll also spend less time on follow-up communication due to the increased payment propensity.

Industries and Use Cases for Text to Pay

Multiple industries can realize the benefits of Text to Pay, including:

Retail and e-commerce companies wanting to simplify the payment process
Service-based businesses, such as healthcare providers, salons and landscaping professionals
Food and beverage vendors for home-delivery subscriptions
Nonprofit organizations and fundraising campaigns

Security and Compliance Considerations

When choosing a Text to Pay solution, there are multiple security and compliance factors to consider, including:

Data protection and encryption: Offer high data security and advanced encryption to inspire consumer confidence.
Regulatory compliance: Follow the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards (PCI-DSS) to accept credit or debit cards as an option.
Customer information privacy: Draft a customer privacy policy and ensure it meets data privacy laws for the areas where your customers reside.

How to Implement Text to Pay in Your Business

Implement Text to Pay by following these steps:

Select a provider or platform: Select a provider or platform that will meet your business’s needs and is familiar with working with businesses of your size and/or in similar industries.
Integrate with existing systems: True integrations happen when you work with innovative developers focused on delivering solutions. Ensure the platform or provider you choose works with your current infrastructure.
Maximize success with best practices: Abiding by all industry privacy and permission laws is crucial when using a Text to Pay solution. Follow industry best practices to stay compliant.

Choose CSG Forte for Text to Pay Solutions

CSG Forte provides complete payment solutions for many industries via in-person, mobile and online channels. Our capabilities include customizable deployment for SMS payment reminders to help you achieve higher efficiency in your billing. This service is fully compatible with our other payment solutions covering the entire revenue cycle, from bill presentment to returns management. We individualize our approach based on your unique business needs.