Consumers nowadays use a wide variety of payment options to carry out transactions. Here are some of the reasons why your small business should try to cater to the most popular payment options out there:

• Offering payment in installments can be a powerful tool to attract customers, particularly for products or services with a higher price tag. Additionally, B2B transactions often require settling payments within a specific period, so providing options like checks can be a deal-maker for some customers. By offering a range of payment options, small businesses can cater to the diverse needs of their customers and potentially increase their revenue streams.
• Refunds and cancellations - Offering payment methods with built-in refund policies, such as credit cards or Paypal, can give first-time customers more confidence when purchasing your products or services. This can also help facilitate quick responses and reduce friction between customers and the business owners in case of cancellation. By prioritizing transparent and customer-friendly refund and cancellation policies, small businesses can create a positive experience for customers and build a loyal customer base.
• Security - If your business revolves around online transactions or e-commerce services it's vital to build the trust for customers to enter their sensitive information such as credit card numbers, etc. into your platform. Certain payment methods like Paypal, Stripe, etc. have been in the business for quite a long time and earned a reputation over other payment processors.

Different payment processors have different requirements that you need to satisfy before you can integrate their payment systems. To individually handle all these requirements can be a difficult job and requires specialized knowledge for each payment processor.

This is where small businesses can use online invoice maker software like Zintego to cut through the technicalities and accommodate some of the most trusted payment options like Paypal, Stripe, Square, credit cards, cheques, etc.

After you create a Zintego account you can walk through their setup guide for a particular payment option and integrate it into your invoices.

Every payment processor or method comes with its fee model. In certain cases, the business may decide to bear the cost, while in other cases, the fee is charged to the customer. Alternatively, your business may also choose to implement a hybrid fee model. Whatever model you choose, it's important to understand the relevant fees associated with all the payment options that your business offers to its clients.

The types of fees can be classified into the following:

• Transaction Fees - This is the fee charged by the payment processor for every transaction that is carried out. This is typically a percentage of the amount of the transaction plus a fixed fee.
• Setup/Account fees - Depending on the pricing plans offered by the payment processor you may have to pay an initial fee for setting up the payment gateway or a recurring annual or monthly payment.
• Interchange fees - Interchange fees are fees that are charged to merchants by the card-issuing bank when a customer makes a payment using a credit or debit card. These fees are charged for the processing of the payment transaction and are typically paid by the merchant's bank to the card-issuing bank.
• Chargeback fees - If a customer disputes a transaction and requests a chargeback, the payment processor may charge you a fee to process the chargeback. This fee can vary depending on the circumstances of the chargeback.

Overall, offering multiple payment options is an important way to improve the customer experience and increase the likelihood of successful transactions. As a small business, it's important to carefully consider the payment options that are most convenient and cost-effective for your business and your customers. An online invoice maker software like Zintego has in-built features to make integration of payment methods simple, streamlined, and hassle-free.