Should Your Business Offer Customer Financing?

More and more businesses are starting to offer to customer financing options like “buy now, pay later.” This can be a great way to increase sales and advance your business’s growth – especially as consumer credit rates increase.

But is it the right choice for you?

In this blog, we’ll explore the pros and cons of offering customer financing programs. We’ll also provide tips on choosing the right program for your business and how to integrate these programs into your shopping cart.

Let’s dive in.

Do This Before You Offer Customer Financing

There are a few things to consider before you decide to offer “buy now, pay later” financing. Here’s what you should be thinking about:

• Will your customers use the program? If you provide customer financing and no one uses it, then it’s not worth your time or money.
• Can you afford the fees? There are fees associated with “buy now, pay later” programs, so you’ll need to research customer financing and make sure the fees are within budget.
• Is the program right for your business? Finally, you need to make sure the program is right for your business. There are a lot of different “buy now, pay later” programs out there. Some offer better terms than others, so it’s important to compare and contrast the various programs to find the one that best meets your needs.

3 Steps to Effectively Offer Customer Financing

1) Market the offer to customers before and at Point-of-Sale

Making the buy now pay later offer known throughout the customer journey is crucial – you need to pique their interest in both the consideration and decision stage.

When a customer is interested in an item, offer them the option to finance it through a buy now pay later program. This can be done either in-store or online.

If you’re offering the financing option online, make sure it’s prominently displayed on your website. You don’t want customers to miss it. In-store, you can offer customer financing by letting consumers know about the option when expressing interest in an item. You can also have signs or displays that let customers know they can finance their purchases.

2) Training

Make sure your employees are trained on how to offer to finance and answer any questions the customer may have. Your employees should be trained on how to present to invest and how the program works.

They should also be able to answer any general questions that the customer may have.

This will help ensure that customers have a positive experience with the program and extend loyalty to both your business and the buy now pay later option.

3) Promote the program

Make sure to promote the buy now pay later financing option to your customers. This can be done through ads, social media, email marketing, and in-store displays.

The more you promote it, the more likely customers will take advantage of it.

Can Merchant Accounts Help?

If you’re looking for ways to offer financing to your customers, merchant accounts can help.

Merchant accounts allow businesses to offer credit and debit card payment options to their customers. This can be a great way to offer buy now pay later financing. Many merchant account providers offer special financing terms to their clients.

A reliable payment processor can help your business deliver more favorable terms to your customers. Contact a Seamless Chex representative today to learn more about if we can find a tailored, affordable, and profitable payment program for you.