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How Cross-border Payments Can Help Expand Your Business
July 4, 2024
Introduction to Cross-border payments
Ever wonder how some companies seem to gain market share across borders effortlessly? You’ve built a solid business, worked hard to gain loyal customers, and want to expand into new markets. But breaking into new territories and gaining new customers there seems daunting.
The truth is, payment is one of the bridges that connects you and your ideal customers. You may have the best products and services, but a cumbersome payment process can deter a customer from converting. Now if you run a crossborder business, simplifying your payment process becomes even more crucial.
In this article, you’ll discover five proven ways cross-border payments can help you expand your cross-border business. Using techniques that leading disruptors employ, you can leverage partnerships, optimize the customer experience, offer innovative payment options, and more to gain new customers in international markets.
1. Understand Your Target Markets and Customers
You need to understand their diverse needs to reach more customers across borders. So conduct market research to identify your target groups in each region. Some things to consider:
- Language: Translate your website and marketing materials into the major languages of your target markets. Offer customer support in multiple languages as well.
- Payment methods: Enable the most popular payment options in each region. For example, Alipay and WeChat Pay for Chinese customers and PayPal for most Western countries.
- Local partnerships: Work with established local companies to help promote your services. They already have the trust and reach. Co-brand or private label with them if possible.
- Pricing: Adjust your pricing for different markets based on living costs and competition. You may need to lower prices in some areas and raise them in others. Offer location-based discounts and coupons.
- Regulations: Ensure you understand cross-border payments and e-commerce laws in your target countries. Some have strict regulations on data privacy, security, and more. You must comply to operate there.
- Culture: Learn about cultural differences that could impact your marketing and service delivery. Things like color symbolism, etiquette, and customer expectations can vary in different places. Accommodate them.
With the right approach for each market, you can gain more insights and make the necessary investments and adjustments to connect with your target customers wherever possible.
2. Offer Competitive Exchange Rates and Low Fees
If you are running a cross-border business, you know that one of the biggest challenges you face is managing your payments. It can be difficult to find a payment solution that offers competitive rates for international transactions, while also providing the security and convenience that your customers demand.
However, customers want to get the most for their money when making international payments, so make sure to leverage affordable payment solutions to avoid scaring away your potential customers with high fees and hidden charges. Here are a few reasons why choosing a payment solution with competitive rates is so important:
- Attract More Customers: Customers are always looking for the best deal, so if your business charges high fees for international transactions, you may be driving them away. By choosing a payment solution with competitive rates, you can attract more customers and increase your revenue.
- Build Trust: Customers want to feel confident that their payments are secure and that they are not being charged exorbitant fees. By choosing a payment solution that offers competitive rates and transparent pricing, you can build trust with your customers and establish a reputation as a fair and trustworthy business.
- Reduce Costs: High transaction fees can eat into your profits and make it difficult to grow your business.
By choosing a payment solution with competitive rates, you can reduce your costs and reinvest that money into your business. In conclusion, if you want to succeed in the world of cross-border business, you need to choose a payment solution with competitive rates. By doing so, you can attract more customers, build trust, and reduce costs, all of which are essential for long-term success.
3. Provide Multiple Payment Methods
To reach a larger market share with cross-border payments, offer customers multiple ways to pay. Don’t limit yourself to just bank transfers or credit cards. The more payment options you provide, the more convenient and accessible it is for people to pay you, especially those in other countries. You can leverage the following options:
- Digital wallets: Services like PayPal, Google Pay, and Apple Pay are popular with those making international transactions. Integrate these digital wallets into your payment options. Customers can link their bank accounts or credit cards to their wallets, allowing fast, secure payments. Digital wallets also convert currencies automatically, so customers know exactly how much they pay in their local currency.
- Prepaid cards: For those without a credit card, prepaid cards offer a way to pay online or for cross-border transactions. Services like Neteller and Skrill allow customers to deposit funds onto virtual prepaid cards to make purchases or send payments. You can accept these prepaid cards just like regular credit cards.
- Bank transfers: Don’t forget traditional bank transfers and wire transfers. Especially for large cross-border business-to-business payments, bank transfers are still commonly used. Make it easy for customers to pay via bank transfer by providing account details and any reference information needed to identify and track the payment.
- Mobile payments: In many parts of the world, more people have mobile devices than bank accounts. Offering mobile payment options, like SMS billing, direct carrier billing, and in-app payments, makes you accessible to these markets. Customers can charge payments directly to their mobile phone bill or account. Work with a mobile payment services provider to enable these options.
- Multi Currency wallets: With multi currency wallets, businesses can hold multiple currencies in a single account, allowing them to easily receive and send payments in different currencies. This can help businesses avoid costly currency conversion fees and reduce the amount of time spent managing multiple accounts. For example, a business that operates in multiple countries can use a multicurrency wallet to receive payments from customers in their local currency. This eliminates the need for the customer to convert their currency before making a payment, making the payment process more convenient for both parties.
The key is not to rely on any single payment method. Provide multiple channels for your international customers to pay through, and you’ll reach more people, gain a larger market share, and boost your cross-border payment volumes.
Keep optimizing and expanding your payment options as new technologies and services emerge. Meet your customers where they are and make paying you as easy as possible no matter where they are in the world.
4. Leverage Technology
To reach a larger market share with cross-border payments, leverage technology to your advantage. These include;
- APIs and integrations : Integrate with as many partners, platforms, and payment methods as possible through APIs (application programming interfaces) and open banking. This makes it easy for customers to pay you from anywhere, through any channel, using their preferred method. Offer popular options like credit/debit cards, bank transfers, e-wallets, QR codes, and more. The more seamless and flexible you can make the payment, etc experience, the more customers you’ll attract and retain. For businesses in Africa, you can integrate payment gateways like Enovepay, Paystack, Flutterwave, etc., to leverage seamless cross-border payments for your business.
- Seamless Transactions: Use technology to reduce friction in the transaction process. This could include features like:
- Auto-fill customer info to minimize data entry
- Saved payment methods for fast checkout
- One-click buy buttons
- Subscription and recurring billing options
- Seamless authentication like biometrics or single sign-on. The less hassle for customers to complete a purchase, the more inclined they’ll be to buy from you again.
- Data-driven insights : Leverage data and analytics to gain valuable insights into your customers’ buying behaviors. See what payment methods, platforms and channels they prefer. Find patterns in the times and locations of their purchases. Use these insights to tailor the shopping experience, run targeted marketing campaigns and make strategic business decisions. The more you know about your customers, the better you can serve them.
- Customer Service : Provide helpful customer service through chatbots, phone support, and social media. Address questions and concerns quickly. Make it easy for people to report issues and get them resolved. Superior service will strengthen your reputation and loyalty, especially as a cross-border business.
- Omnichannel experience : Offer an omnichannel customer service and payment experience across your websites, mobile apps, in-store, over the phone, and anywhere customers shop with you. Recognize customers and their payment info across channels so they can check out quickly and securely no matter how they’re buying from you. An omnichannel approach is key to competing in today’s global digital economy.
By utilizing technology in these ways, you’ll provide a seamless yet, personalized experience that customers expect. This is how you gain a competitive advantage and capture a larger share of the cross-border market.
5. Form Strategic Partnerships to Access New Customers
Forming strategic partnerships with other companies in your industry or adjacent sectors is a great way to access new customers and gain market share. Partnering with established money transfer companies, especially those focused on the industries you serve, allows you to tap into their existing customer base.
Offer incentives for their customers to buy from your business, like fee waivers or bonus rewards points. Many will become repeat customers once they experience your seamless, low-cost service.
Ecommerce is booming across emerging markets. Look for ecommerce companies, especially those with a large customer base from your target location. This arrangement can help you expand your reach and maximize your customer base.
Remember, partnerships take time to develop and yield results, so start building relationships now. Meet with companies that you and your customers could benefit from from their offerings Highlight a partnership’s advantages like added user value, new revenue streams, and operational efficiencies.
Be open to revenue sharing or promotional partnerships to get your foot in the door. With the right strategic partners, you’ll gain the access and visibility needed to expand your market share significantly.
Conclusion
So there you have it, 5 ways to boost your market share through cross-border payments. The world is more connected than ever, so don’t limit yourself to domestic customers. Think global, open your platform to accept payments from anywhere, build partnerships and integrations to reach new markets, focus on customer experience to gain loyalty, and use data insights to find new opportunities. With some innovation and the right strategy, you can gain a bigger piece of the pie and reach new heights of success.
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