How SMS Payment Systems Work For Businesses
An SMS payment, short explained, is when a consumer makes a transaction for a service or product and instead makes a specific payment with it over a SMS which then is sent to the receiving phone. The service provider then adds the applicable charges to the client s monthly billing, or simply debits their prepaid cellular account. These SMS are used just like any other credit card or debit card by selecting the appropriate payment option from a wide variety of available choices. However, instead of making the purchase with a credit or debit card, the SMS is the actual payment method instead. Most consumers are already familiar with this type of payment process as they are commonly used by online merchants and sellers such as PayPal and others.
So what are my payments and how do they work? The concept of SMS payment is fairly simple and it really just involves a third party company. The companies set up a special account with a bank or a vendor and set up the SMS gateway between their end and the merchant's end. The service provider will then charge the amount of the sales transaction every time a customer or a client sends a payment to the merchant through the SMS gateway. This can be done either through a closed loop system using a credit card or debit card, an open rate system that allows multiple payments to come in at the same time or a recurring rate which charges every month.
There are many different ways that you can send payment links and information to your customers. You can do this through text messages, emails or instant messages (through the mobile phone) to a recipient's mobile phone. One of the primary reasons why people like SMS payments is because of the flexibility it allows them to have. They can send as many text message payments as they want each month, depending on the amount they have loaded into their text messaging account.
SMS marketing is starting to spread outside the boundaries of the world of SMS payment. In addition to providing a new way to send payment links, many entrepreneurs and business owners are starting to use sms payments to drive traffic to their websites and generate leads for their businesses. In fact, more people are starting to use their mobile phones as a way to purchase items on-line. The trend seems to be fueled by recent studies which show that over 90% of all internet users now have access to some form of mobile web browsing.
SMS payment processing is also starting to take the place of traditional credit card and debit card payment processing. Many online stores are allowing customers to make purchases using their mobile phones. Websites like Starbucks, Google, Yahoo, Amazon and others are all implementing systems that allow customers to pay with their cell phones instead of a credit card or debit card. They are able to process transactions immediately because there is no need for the business to maintain a database of customers or collect payment information. Instead, a text messaging system allows customers to easily pay for products and services.
SMS payment methods can be used in a variety of ways from anywhere a mobile phone is used. The biggest advantage to this technology is that businesses no longer have to maintain a dedicated system for managing and processing payments. A text messaging system can simply add another line of text messages to an existing account. Businesses should remember that customers may only be willing to use sms payments if they feel comfortable doing so. If they are not, they may not make any future purchases from the business.
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