Pay by Link to digitize your customer payments

Today, many companies find it difficult to get paid, and the payment methods accepted (e.g. cheques) are tedious to process and make reconciliation more complex.

In France, card payments account for ^60%1 of all cashless transactions. Conversely, although the fraud rate is extremely low, transfers and direct debits account for just ^16%1. Although cheque payments are declining sharply, accounting for just ^6%1 of transactions, they are still used by many companies, and their fraud rate represents ^46%1 of total fraud involving cashless payment methods. A secure credit card payment solution is therefore essential.

Perfectly suited to the construction, energy and craft industries, or any other business without a website or wishing to accept remote payments, payment links provide greater security and flexibility in the management of cash receipts.

Craftsmen face three main payment problems :

• The absence of credit card payments during intervention
• The lack of a website
• Reconciling operations

The majority of craftsmen are still not very digitalized. For the most part, they don’t have a website for online payment, nor the resources to accept payments on the move (at the place of work).

This makes it difficult for them to accept credit card payments, so checks and bank transfers remain their preferred means of payment. However, on the one hand, these means of payment represent a higher risk of fraud, particularly for cheques, and on the other, they make bank reconciliations between invoices and payments much more complex.

Companies in the construction and energy sectors face similar problems to those in the craft industry : difficulties in reconciling bank orders and payments, and the lack of websites that allow online sales.

But there are other issues too, such as :

• Invoice collection : for many companies in this sector, accounts receivable invoices are processed manually, which requires time, human, material and financial resources, and increases the risk of error (e.g. : typing error).
• Phone orders : the lack of digitization of payment means that the sale cannot be concluded directly by phone, leading to further manual steps and the possibility of losing the sale (e.g. : the customer changes his mind in the meantime).

As a payment service provider and electronic money institution approved by the Banque de France, CentralPay has developed solutions, such as the payment link, to meet the needs of these sectors and any other business whose activity requires remote payment taking.

When settling an invoice remotely or during a service call, sending a payment link is the simplest, quickest and most secure solution for both the company and the customer.

But CentralPay has gone one step further. CentralPay offers a complete solution to all your problems :

• Send payment links by email and SMS : digitalize your payment requests and send them to your customers by email and SMS with an optimized delivery rate.

From your interface, you enter the amount, customer details (surname, first name, e-mail address), and your internal reference (purchase order, quotation, invoice, etc.). Then all you have to do is insert the clickable link in the e-mail/sms to enable your customer to pay you instantly.

You’ll be able to collect payments remotely without a website, and your customers will be able to place orders instantly, even while on call, increasing your conversion rate.

CentralPay also offers mobile payment with the Push&Pay application, making mobile payments even easier. For example, during a service call to a customer :

1. Directly edit a payment request and display the QR Code on your phone
2. The customer scans the QR Code with his own phone
3. They are immediately redirected to the secure payment page to complete the transaction.

• Give your customers the option of paying as they wish: by card, bank transfer, direct debit, in instalments or with several cards. Offer your customers flexibility.
• Make it easy to reconcile your payments and invoices: each payment is referenced, so you know exactly which invoice or quotation is associated with which payment. You’ll also benefit from a single interface and comprehensive accounting exports, making reconciliation child’s play.

Would you like to find out more about the CentralPay payment solution ? Contact our team

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Source : https://www.vie-publique.fr/rapport/276365-observatoire-de-la-securite-des-moyens-de-paiement-rapport-annuel-2019