Three words can describe the direct response marketing industry - quick, measurable, and effective. Businesses across the country have always applied some form of direct response to attract and quickly convert viewers into buyers. Traditionally, this meant short-term sales and exclusive deals advertised on television or radio.

But the rise of ecommerce and mobile platforms in the past few decades has injected new life into this industry. Now, direct response marketing is more prevalent than branding. A report by eMarketer found that direct response marketing accounted for 58.4% of all ad spending in the US. In 2016, that meant $18.6 million for radio ads, $660.5 million for short form ads and 192 million for long form ads on TV. In 2018, spending on digital ads will surpass traditional media and 75% of these digital ads are expected to be on mobiles.   

The market is expanding and increasingly going digital. Online tools and sophisticated algorithms can help marketers automate much of the sales and targeting process, but payments is still a bottleneck for the industry. Legacy payments infrastructure in the US makes direct response more difficult.

Adopting ACH payments could help you unleash the potential of your direct response business. Here’s how:

Easier Payments

A quick and easy shopping experience is the core tenet of direct response marketing. By making the payments gateway easy to use, you can boost the conversion rate on your marketing efforts. The federally-regulated automated clearing house (ACH) payments system is particularly well suited to this industry. ACH payments include Echecks, which are digital versions of traditional checks. Consumers find the use of Echecks more intuitive. There’s no requirement to divulge private details or use a credit card to complete a transaction online. A direct response merchant account hooked to the ACH payments network will help you offer convenience to customers and boost sales.

Digital Infrastructure

Many payment providers help merchants seamlessly integrate the payments gateway on their website, so that payments can be processed online, over the phone, or through a virtual terminal.

The ach payments network is one of the most durable financial networks in the world. Last year, ACH accounted for 13 million credit transactions worth more than $17 billion across the country. More businesses and consumers are adopting the network every year.

Sophisticated developer tools can help you get the most out of this network. APIs, virtual terminals, PCI-DSS compliant security features, and quick-books integration can help you tightly integrate this system and process transactions with efficiency. 

Lower Risk

The ACH network is designed to prevent the most common risks of card payments - fraud and chargebacks. Same Day ACH enables a quick transfer from the customer’s bank account to your business merchant account. A direct network between banks is substantially less prone to fraud, consumer chargeback requests, and heavy fees merchants suffer on the traditional debit and credit card systems. By mitigating the risk, your direct response team can sell more confidently and boost profits over the long term. 

Conclusion

Direct response marketing is only effective if the process is quick and simple. You can offer heavy discounts and limited-period sales on popular products, but your payments system could be holding you back. Card payments carry heavy fees and risk, while conventional bank transfers are slow and inefficient. Joining the ACH network through a professional merchant account provider is a great way to eliminate payment hurdles for you and your customers.

Think the ACH network can help you cut costs, reduce risk, and boost sales for your direct response venture? Visit us at www.paynetsecure.net and speak to our consultants today.