Posted by NationalACH on Jul 29, 2015

Echecks Trump Cards for Recurring Billing

Online dating sites increase profits from recurring billing by offering echecks as a payment option.  When you accept checks online, members pay you from their bank accounts rather than with a credit card.  Echeck transactions are processed via ACH or Check 21 technology.

Echecks offer you significant benefits over cards.  When members pay with direct debits from a bank account, the lifetime value of customers increase.

Your members rarely change bank accounts.  It's simply too much hassle since bank accounts are generally linked to direct deposit of payroll, payments of billing for household expenses, and subscription services.

Compare this with cards.  Each year more than 20% of cards are reissued due to expired dates, security breaches, and lost or stolen cards.  This requires an update of card information, which creates additional work for your staff.  Addtionally, members may need to be contacted to obtain the information, creating an unnecessary risk of cancellation.

Online Dating Growth

As most of our lives move online, it is not surprising to see that dating follows the same trend. The opportunity to find and interact with like-minded people easily, while preserving anonymity, is the driving force that pushes online dating into the mainstream of human experience. The extensive use of mobile technology and smartphones means that dating apps are accessible and can be used at all times.

Most importantly, the latest data released by Pew Research shows that attitudes toward online dating are changing, in the sense that finding a partner online is considered increasingly acceptable. More users that spend time online means bigger profits for dating websites, so it is not surprising that the entire industry is now worth over 2 billion dollars.

Online Dating High Risk Merchants

Despite positive changes to the industry, online dating websites still have an image problem. The industry as a whole is perceived negatively because users find themselves turned into targets for a variety of scams.

In addition, dating websites sometimes collect private information that can cause great damage to an individual if released to the public. One recent unfortunate incident concerning Friend Finder being hacked showed that privacy, so important in online dating, is not guaranteed.

Echecks Increase Profits

Online dating websites often find it challenging to find a payment processor  to offer a merchant account for credit cards. This happens mostly because the chargeback rate is high, especially when the amount is collected through recurring billing.

In addition, some customers may not feel comfortable with providing their card information for this type of service, or they may not even own a card. As a result, the best way to circumvent the whole problem is to make alternative payment methods available on the website.

Echecks  are the best option due their popularity, ease of use, reliability, and less stringent chargeback rules. Websites that have a business model based on automatic renewal will find electronic check payments considerably more dependable because the payment information does not have to be updated periodically, as it is the case with card payments.

Conclusion

Offering echecks as a payment option at checkout results in immediate profits.  The more way customers have to pay you, the more sales will be made.

Echecks increase the lifetime value of your customers.  Payments are continue month after month, with no need to update payment information.

Are you an online dating site that wants to increase your profits by protecting recurring payments cash flow?  

Contact info@nationalach.com today