Does Your Business Really Need to Take Credit Cards?

When starting or running a business, you have a lot of different things to consider. There are a lot of pieces in the puzzle that make up a successful business. One thing a lot of business owners debate is payment processing. What types of payments will they accept? How will they accept them? Does their business really need to accept credit cards?

The last question is perhaps the most important. Should your business start accepting credit cards? Is credit card processing really that important to your company’s success?

Well, consider these interesting statistics on credit card and debit card usage in America. 84 millio
American households have at least one credit card; that’s 80% of all households in this country. Furthermore, there are over 609 million credit cards in use in America. Still not convinced? About 97% of consumers in a given year will use a credit card at least once.

The simple fact of the matter is that consumers are increasingly using plastic. In fact, a lot of customers don’t even carry cash anymore. Credit cards and debit cards are just much easier to use and track.

So if your business isn’t currently accepting credit cards, you’re really missing out on a huge number of potential sales. What’s worse is you’re creating an inconvenience for your customers. You’re forcing them to forego their preferred payment method in favor of using cash. It’s just not good business on your part.

You also need to remember this. Your competition is probably accepting credit card payments, most companies in the U.S. are these days. So if you’re not accepting credit cards, your customers might migrate over to your competition because of the added convenience they offer.

These are only a handful of the reasons that you should open a merchant account and get a credit card machine. Your customers want to pay with credit cards and debit cards. Why would you deprive them of this?

It’s especially confounding when you consider just how inexpensive payment processing can be. The best credit card processing companies offer very low rates with no hidden fees. Not to mention the quality equipment they provide along with the great customer service to back it up.

There’s just no good reason your business shouldn’t be accepting credit cards. You might be convincing yourself that you’re saving money by not paying for a merchant account, but are you really? Or are you actually losing money because you’re missing out on sales opportunities from customers who don’t carry cash but prefer to use their credit cards and debit cards instead?

Stop missing out on sales, and get your business caught up to speed with the times. The sooner you start accepting credit card payments from your customers, the sooner you can reap the benefits.