APMs - The Marketing Lesson You Didn’t Get in School

You’re already using the 4 P’s (product, price, promotion, and place) to maximize revenue—but your marketing strategy may be missing the 5th P: payment. Digital stores cannot live by credit cards alone. In fact, merchants who want to maximize their conversion rates need to offer alternative payment methods (APMs) to their shopping carts. Let’s consider a few facts:

  • Interest rates on credit cards have climbed to record highs, with the average APR on a new credit card at nearly 15%.
  • Almost 30% of consumers do not have a credit card.
  • About 9 million U.S. households are unbanked, which means they cannot (or, in some cases, will not) use traditional banking services, like checking accounts or credit cards.
  • Up to 64% of American online retailers have cart abandonment rates over 20%.

Consumers want and need alternative ways to pay for digital products and services.

The good news is that if you’re a merchant who sells digital products and services (content, software, downloads, subscriptions, gaming, etc.) you can offer an LEC billing option, such as ILD Teleservices’ Bill to Phone. What does this alternative payment method, which allows ecommerce shoppers to charge transactions to their phone bill, do for merchants?

  • Provides instant access to more than 150 million North American consumers. What’s more, merchants enjoy access to markets that may have been previously out of reach, such as the unbanked or financially-conscious consumers not willing to pay credit card interest rates.
  • Lowers shopping cart abandonment rates. Shoppers ditch transactions for a variety of reasons, whether they’re reluctant to share credit card info online or don’t want the hassle of opening a merchant account. Merchants who utilize ILD’s Bill to Phone offer consumers a safe and remarkably hassle free way to shop.

Whether you’re selling industry reports for the C-suite or online dating subscriptions for seniors, phone billing allows you to expand your reach and boost conversion. To learn more about lifting revenue with an alternative payment method, like Bill to Phone, contact the payment team at ILD.

 

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