Many customers prefer to pay their bills on an automated, predictable schedule. If your business does not offer this level of automatic and recurring payments to ensure a customer-centric experience, this article presents the basics of what recurring payments are, how they work, and the benefits they offer to your business and your customers.
What Does Recurring Payment Mean?
Recurring payments, also known as auto-pay, are when businesses charge customers and are paid on a repeating schedule. Oftentimes customers elect to participate in auto-pay programs to avoid having to remember due dates on paying their bills. Common recurring payments include streaming service subscriptions, utility bills, phone bills, etc.
How Do Recurring Payments Work?
From a business standpoint, you should be aware of how recurring payments work as a process:
- A customer decides to use the auto-pay option and self-enrolls in the program.
- The customer accepts the terms and conditions. These can include the type of recurring payment, fees, payment schedule, and expiration timeline of the recurring payments.
- The customer saves a preferred form of payment in their customer profile. This may include credit card information, bank routing information or third-party payment processors, like PayPal.
- The payment processor contacts the customer’s bank network for transaction approval, upon receipt of the invoice per payment cycle.
What Are the Different Types of Recurring Payments?
There are two types of recurring payments: fixed and variable. Your industry and products or services determine which payment type you would leverage.
Fixed Recurring Payments
Fixed auto-payments charge a fixed rate for a subscription and are billed at the same rate. Your bill is never a surprise.
Variable Recurring Payments
The amount that businesses charge will vary, depending on the business. For healthcare, pricing can change significantly depending on the provider’s patients, what services or testing are performed, health insurance changes, etc. Utility bills also fluctuate, but people typically don’t see dramatic changes.
The Benefits
What do recurring payments mean for you and your consumers? Automatic payments are beneficial for both consumers and businesses. On the consumer side, it saves time and energy by not worrying about a bill being paid. You receive money faster and in a more reliable way for your business.
Fixed recurring payments can be beneficial to both parties, as set rates prevent non-payment. Your customers know what to expect, so they tend to be better about having that money available in their account. You can help achieve this with variable payments by sending reminders before billing and informing customers of the exact charge so they can transfer funds if needed.
Make Recurring Payments Easy with CORE
Are you ready to start implementing automatic recurring payments for your customers? CORE can seamlessly integrate a new payment processing solution to support your business needs. Get started with CORE today!
