Bill to phone – the right ecommerce payment solution for your site?

You’ve been hearing more and more about bill to phone as an ecommerce payment solution. Maybe it’s raised conversion rates for a colleague. Perhaps you’ve come across it as you searched the Web, looking for alternative payment solutions that will attract clients and boost revenue.

So is bill to phone payment suited for your ecommerce business?  Here are three categories that are ideal for this alternative:

Once and done services – Whether it’s a charge for technical support or a software download, bill to phone offers a low-risk payment option to clients who may be wary of doing business with an online company they’re unfamiliar with. By entering their phone account information, consumers are no longer required to provide sensitive credit card info to complete their transaction.

Subscription services – When you charge a monthly fee, an option such as bill to phone provides a common sense payment solution. You benefit from a manageable, easy-to-use billing platform, while your customer enjoys the convenience of paying for dating sites, online video games, or other ecommerce subscriptions with their monthly phone bill.

Pay-per-use products and services – From web conferencing and streaming movies to podcasts and music, when clients buy a product on a regular basis, they want an easy payment system that they don’t need to think too much about. In fact, the less a customer needs to handle bills and submit payments, the easier it becomes to do business with you. Bill to phone is transactions made easy—for you and your customers.

Learn more about bill to phone – This ILD Blog entry will give you the details on how the entire bill to phone process works. If your ecommerce firm will benefit from higher conversion rates and increased revenue, contact ILD, a team with the tools and hands-on expertise to transform your payment options into an asset.

ILD – Protect Ecommerce Revenue with These 3 Tips

Ecommerce merchants lose more than 1.2% of their annual revenue to fraud, according to a survey by the Merchant Risk Council (MRC) and CyberSource. Some might be tempted to shrug their shoulders and say, “Eh, that’s the cost of doing business.”

But that’s not your attitude. After all, what would you do with that 1.2%? Hire additional staff? Invest in a new revenue stream? Pay yourself what you’re worth? These three tips will help you stop the ecommerce fraud that’s draining your bottom line:

#1Get a good partner – Find a payment processor with the experience to help you reduce the risk of fraud. Look for a proven track record in the alternative payment industry, as well as established best practices in place to minimize fraud. Also look for a company that uses best-in-class technology and continually works to improve services.

#2 Use tools – The same MRC/CyberSource survey found that the more tools—both automatic and manual—a merchant uses to detect fraud, the lower the level of fraud that merchant experienced.

Look for an alternative payment processor with the right tools, such as real-time verification of a customer’s name, address, and phone number. Implement fraud detection tools for other payment options, like credit cards, too. Ecommerce Resources, for instance, recommends asking for the credit card verification code (CVV2), which is the tiny 3- or 4- digit number on the card’s signature strip. A customer who provides a correct CVV2 number should, theoretically, have the card in their physical possession.

#3 Create a plan – When it comes to protecting your business revenue, fraud prevention shouldn’t be a fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants effort. Design internal strategies to manage the risk and reduce fraud. Don’t let your newly-minted plan collect dust in the drawer, either. Schedule periodic assessments so you’re able to continually improve the processes.

Don’t continue to lose 1.2% (or more!) of your hard-earned revenue. Contact ILD, a team with the alternative payment processing technology and know-how to help merchants stop losing money to ecommerce fraud.

Lift: The B2B Social Commerce Summit is a “must attend” event for marketing executives, senior management and business owners looking to apply real-world social tactics that drive sales lift to their business. Co-hosted by Wharton Interactive, OfficeArrow and Social Strategy1, and bringing together the brightest minds in the B2B space, this 2nd annual 1-day information-packed all-inclusive event delivers educational workshops on how to grow your business using simple social commerce ideas, how to quickly generate quality leads, and how to translate social data into measurable conversions.  We’ll be in attendance – hope to see you there.

Bill to phone – Is your ecommerce strategy missing this revenue booster?

Are you doing everything you can to generate revenue through ecommerce? Well, if you’re not offering bill to phone payment processing, then perhaps you’re missing out. It’s time to learn more about how this increasingly popular payment method can boost revenue.

In a bill to phone transaction, the customer submits their telephone account information as their payment method—much like they would enter credit card information. After the info is authenticated, the billed amount is added to the customer’s monthly phone bill. The customer simply pays the amount in full at the same time they pay for their phone charges. The payment is then remitted to the merchant. For a full explanation of the process, check out this ILD Teleservices blog entry.

Why should you offer this payment option? Here are just two advantages of bill to phone payment processing:

• You gain instant access to unreachable customers – Maybe your ideal customer is part of the senior set that shuns the use of credit cards. Perhaps some of your clients don’t have bank accounts. Engaging in ecommerce with these customers can be virtually impossible. In fact, in some cases you might find yourself consigned to doing business old-school style, complete with illegible handwritten order forms and personal checks or money orders.

By offering this payment solution you instantly gain access to groups that were previously inaccessible—after all, bill to phone services are available to more than 90% of the U.S. More customers. More revenue. What’s not to love?

• You provide customers with peace of mind – There’s no doubt your clients are worried about identity theft and credit card fraud. In fact, the 2010 Unisys Security Index found that 62% of Americans are seriously concerned about credit card fraud. (To put that number into perspective, the same survey found that a virtually identical number, 65%, of Americans are seriously concerned about national security.)What’s more, they found that the fear of credit card fraud is at its highest level in three years.

A bill to phone solution provides an alternative that alleviates this very real fear among consumers. Because they’re not required to share credit card information, the risk of fraud and indentify theft is lowered. This makes bill to phone an excellent way to reduce customers’ vulnerability.  When consumers are more confident in the safety of the transaction, they may be more likely to initiate and/or continue their relationship with you.

To learn more about how bill to phone processing can build your company’s bottom line, contact the team at ILD .

1. Virtual Currencies

• With the integration of virtual worlds like Facebook and Twitter into the physical worlds of nearly 400 million users, social media and digital content have created a new market for virtual currencies.  In 2010, we will see more virtual flowers sent to mom, more Christmas trees gifted online, and more gifts exchanged through virtual worlds.  Note – KITN Media recently acquired virtual currency service provider, Super Rewards for a rumored $30 million. 

2.  Digital Content and Games

• With Zynga’s FarmVille gameon Facebook accounting for more active users than Twitter, (69 million active users), online entertainment will continue to grow, and as a result we’ll see more ways to ‘pay for play’.  Note – FarmVille’s rival Playfish was recently acquired by Electronic Arts in a deal valued at up to $400 million.

3.  Pay By Mobile Phone

• The mobile payment channel is one to watch in 2010, as more wireless carriers enter the payments space, much like ILD Teleservices’ LEC billing is to the landline, we’ll see more wireless devices used for ecommerce and social entertainment. 

4.  Credit Card Transaction Decline

• While we are a plastic dependant society, “cash is king”, and with 45% of consumers telling Consumer Reports that they are paying less with credit than last year, we will see more credit card account closes and more prepaid and direct bill payment options. 

5.  Credit Card Companies Look to Alternative Payments

• Credit Card companies like Visa and MasterCard will look deeper into alternative payment methods, following the footsteps of the acquisition of Revolution Money by American Express for $300 million.

For many online merchants, it is difficult to pick an Alternative Payment Method (APM).  There are payment platforms like PayPal which is very popular amongst merchants but not a popular option to the consumer, because not everyone has a credit card or checking account option.  Alternative payment options are on the rise with the credit crisis and economic downturn hampering the average American’s budget.  Adding an APM to the checkout process allows merchants to reach a bigger market and ultimately grow their business in a down economy. 

ILD Teleservices offers a Bill to Phone payment option for merchants conducting business online.    Additionally, the company operates as a back office backoffice resource for ecommerce providers and digital merchants.  ILD operates US based call centers and support to handle any backoffice problems a merchant might have.

Visit our site to learn more about how ILD Teleservices can help you grow your online business.