Consumers Will Consume, If Not With You Then With Your Competitors

It has been three full weeks with my new role at Payfast and I know that I declared my intention to provide value to you, the reader, (in my previous article - "Good-bye Debit Orders?") instead of trying to win a sale with you. My intentions haven't changed and I am more excited, this time around, to share what I know in hope that it would prove to be really useful, game-changing and possibly life changing for you. #prayinghands

Websites are by far underutilized by many businesses in the world today, if you ask me. My opinion is not that more businesses should have websites but rather how businesses use their websites is nowhere close to what it could be. I consider this a misfortune.

Having a website because other businesses have one, should be the last reason that any business decides to have their's developed. Yes, your website does present your company to the market digitally but depending on how it was developed, it has the potential to operate as a member of staff, working for your business, while you and I are getting rest for the next day's madness. As opposed to just educating visitors, if you rely on sales to keep your business going, your website should be selling your products/services. That way making them accessible to your visitors.

With the beauty of e-commerce you can usher your prospect one step further down the line by making it possible for them to make a purchase right there and then. What better time is there for you to offer an opportunity to make the purchase than when they’re emotionally charged by the valuable content you’ve provided to them about how your product/service can solve their problem or satisfy their desire??

Bear with me on this because before 2022, I always thought that an e-commerce website was one that needed to have a cart and checkout process through which buyers could place their orders and pay. Is that what you think as well or was it just me - living under a rock?

Little did I know that there was new technology available for use and that the nature of it was dynamic enough to change the experience through which businesses offer their products/services and the experience through which clients make payments online. How? Great question.

Payfast offers multiple payment facilities such as Pay Now Buttons, Payment Requests, Onsite Payments, etc., and among them there are some that can integrate with your website and some with which no integration is needed. Within those payment facilities, there are various payment methods to suit every clients’ needs, such as BNPL (Buy Now Pay Later - a facility that allows consumers to make big purchases while their payments are spread over a number of months and without interest), Purchases via Credit, Cheque & Debit Card Purchases, QR Code Purchases (Snapscan & Zapper), your regular Instant EFT and even SCode Purchases (SCode allows you to make the purchase online and make the payment at a retail outlet near you).?

Let’s only look at Pay Now Buttons for the sake of this article and how we can make use of them. A Pay Now Button is a widget that can be used almost anywhere on your website and it makes the payment gateway’s (Payfast) payment software accessible from where it exists on the website. There’s absolutely no need for a shopping cart to be set up and neither is there any need for a checkout process with multiple pages needing to be built for it. Amazingly, you can even set a subscription payment method up where your client consents to it, enters their details and gets billed regularly.??

My previous article explains how easily Payfast’s Subscription Payments can be used instead of Debit Orders and how much of a benefit that can be. Pay Now Buttons can be used as frequently as you see fit and is one way of giving your prospects easier access to solutions for their problems that your business happens to provide. I think a valuable note to keep top of mind is that consumers are going to consume, if not with you then with your competitor. It’s that simple.