Investing in a bespoke online booking system for your business is one of the best decisions you will ever make. Online booking systems are becoming widely used, not only by large companies but start-ups and freelancers too. Businesses of all sizes and from all industries can benefit from having their own booking systems, with one of the main reasons being that it allows them to take payments online.

Here we will explain how you can take payments online through your booking system and the benefits of doing so.

How to take payments online
Although booking systems were traditionally designed so customers could make bookings and reservations online, today more advanced systems also allow customers to pay for the service they require online too. Using an online booking system that allows you to take bookings and payments directly from your website enables customers to benefit from a more seamless booking experience.

Using an online booking system, you can take both straight forward payments for your services and more complex partial payments e.g. deposits, where customers pay a sum upfront and the rest of the money later, either online or in person.

A major benefit of having a booking system built just for your company is that you can choose the currencies and payment providers you want it to support. We recommend that businesses support as many currencies and payment providers like PayPal and SagePay as possible, in order to allow as many customers as possible to make secure online payments.

Facilitating group pay
Online booking systems can also be designed to facilitate group pay. This is particularly useful if you take large group bookings for something like paintballing. With group pay, the main booker can make the payment for the deposit online and then each member of the group can login with the booking ID and user email to pay their part of the fee.

Block bookings and discounts
If beneficial to you, you could also design your booking system to facilitate bulk discounts. These are often used by driving instructors who allow their pupils to book blocks of lessons online in one go and receive a discount for doing so.

You may also want to consider allowing your customers to use discount coupons and gift certificates to pay for your services using your online booking system.

Benefits of taking payments online
Allowing your customers to make payments online using your online booking system will improve their experience with your company. It means they can pay for the services they require at a time that is most convenient for them and is likely to result in increased sales and profits for your company.

Save time and increase the efficiency of your operations by taking payments online through your booking system.

Improve efficiency
Taking payments online using your own bespoke booking system can also improve the efficiency of your business operations. Not having to take payments in person on your premises will save a lot of time, allowing your employees to be more productive.

Less risky
Allowing your customers to pay for services upfront online using your booking system is also less of a risk for your business. You won’t have to worry about customers walking out without paying (resulting in a loss of profit) or having to keep large amounts of cash on-site.

Cost effective
Taking payments online through your own booking system will also prove to be very cost effective. Having your own booking system will mean that you only have to pay a small fee to the payment processor, as there will be no commission to pay to a third party provider.

Are you interested in having your own bespoke booking system built so you can take payments online? Contact us today!