I bought a book on Amazon the other day. It took, literally, 30 seconds.
Have you ever stopped to think about why it’s so easy?
I’m sure you know the answer: it’s super easy for the buyer to pay.
It happens in one click, before you even realize it.
As an online business owner, you want the same. You want to get paid easily and make the process super simple and pleasant for your clients.
Let’s be practical, taking a deposit or full payment when you’re holding a clarity/discovery call, is a sign that your clients are committed to working with you. You secure your clients while the momentum is high.
If you don’t have this system in place, you end the call, and then your prospects may start to overthink what you talked about, doubts start creeping in, and by the time you prepare the invoice, they changed their minds and decided that it isn’t the right time to work with you.
You want to make it as easy as possible for your clients to pay you because you want to make them feel absolutely safe and reinforce the idea that they made the right choice to work with you.
Now, as a Tech Expert, I can tell you that there are many ways you can set up a simple and quick payment process for your business, so let’s see them!
How to Get Paid Effortlessly in Your Online Business
1) PayPal
This one is the most popular because it’s so easy to set up. There is absolutely no coding required, all you need is a PayPal business account, and you’re ready to create buttons to embed on your website/emails and links to share to get paid in one click.
One pretty cool feature of PayPal, is that you can redirect the buyers to a specific page once they make the payment.
For example, if you are offering a virtual coaching session, you could redirect them to your calendar and have them book the session immediately. Or if the buyer changes her mind at the last moment, you can have them sent to a down-sell page, where you offer something at a lower price point, or free.
With PayPal, you can create one time payments, payment plans, and even collect donations. Since is so easy to use, however, it comes with higher commissions for every payment you receive.
Related: How You need to be Setting Boundaries with Clients
2) Stripe
This is very popular when you want to embed your payment process on your website. Unlike Paypal, you’re probably going to need some coding knowledge for this one.
In Europe, Stripe’s fees are lower than PayPal’s, and that’s the reason why it is used more commonly. But in the States, both PayPal and Stripe have the same fee for each transaction.
Stripe can process both one-time payments and subscriptions. Being my payment method, I can tell you that I have never had any troubles with them in more than three years.
Now, to be able to use Stripe, you either need a developer to code the checkout for you or use of an invoicing tool like Xero, QuickBooks, WaveApp, And.Co or WooCommerce.
While PayPal creates a shareable link that’s super easy to send via email or even in the chat, Stripe makes it a bit more challenging.
But there is a way around it! If you are a service provider and have a WordPress website, you can use Woocommerce to create “products” out of your coaching packages or VA support. In this way, you have a link you can send your clients during the call, so you don’t need to get off the phone and create an invoice.
Related: Why Code is the Best Skill to Have in Your Tool Belt for 2019
These two are the main and most popular payment methods for online business and they work pretty much with all of the invoicing and bookkeeping systems out there: Xero, WaveApp, FreshBooks, Square, And.Co and many more. In my experience, Paypal & Stripe are the most reliable, safe, and easy to manage payment methods you can use.
Now I want to hear from you! What payment system do you use in your business? Are you satisfied with it? Let me know in the comments!
