While having your own website does confer several serious advantages for your e-commerce operations, not having a website is no longer the hurdle it used to be. With today’s third-party tech tools and platforms, you’ll be able to run effective e-commerce operations even without a dedicated website. Even popular social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok have expanded beyond their roles as marketing tools to become accessible online business platforms.
Despite the improved access to these tools, managing online payments without a site can still be challenging. By taking the following best practices into consideration, you can avoid payment hassles and ensure smooth transactions for your online customers:
1) Use Maya Payment Links
Payment Links is a simple yet powerful payment acceptance solution for SMEs that rely on social media or messaging apps to reach customers. It’s a link payment solution that works over any messaging platform that enables live links, including Facebook Messenger, Instagram Direct Messenger, Whatsapp, Viber, and Telegram. Once a customer clicks on a live online payment link generated through Maya Payment Links, they’ll be sent to a payment portal where they can pay with any cashless method they prefer, including payment cards, QR Ph codes, and popular digital wallets like Maya or GCash.
Offering a customer a link for payment is especially beneficial, as it can reduce the steps needed to complete transactions, improving the customer experience and encouraging repeat purchases. Conveniently, Maya Payment Links also lets you use the same hassle-free payment link for all your transactions, simplifying your payment processes and reducing costly human errors.
2) Set Up Chat Automation on Social Media and Messenger Apps
If you have a business account on the more popular social media platforms, you should be able to set up automated chat responses that walk customers through your payment options and processes. Properly setting up your automations will not only save you valuable time but it will also help customers understand your payment processes better, cultivating trust and encouraging future purchases.
3) Leverage Third-Party Marketplaces
In the Philippines, major third-party marketplaces like Shopee, Lazada, and Zalora are now highly accessible to small business entrepreneurs. While these platforms lack the customizability or social aspect of other online channels, they offer convenience as well as potentially high visibility. Importantly, these platforms can also handle payments, which can save you the hassle of setting up your own payment gateway.
But while these marketplaces can be a great place to expand your reach, they can charge substantial participation fees and they will also not always permit a full range of digital payments. With that in mind, it’s usually a good idea to maintain an online presence elsewhere to appeal to the widest set of customers possible.
4) Use Maya Invoice Payments
Maya Invoice Payments is a simple invoicing solution that can be used to process credit and debit cards, e-wallet payments, and other digital payments without the need for a website. You can create custom branded invoices with this tool and send them over email, chat, or SMS as part of your billing process, giving your business a simple payment acceptance solution as well as a more trustworthy online presence.
5) Offer Safe In-Person Payments
While a majority of Filipinos have already adopted cashless payments, not everyone necessarily wants to use them for all their online purchases. This tendency is more evident when it comes to high-value transactions as customers may become more concerned with the condition of the products they receive.
Offering convenient in-person payment options such as cash-on-delivery (COD) and cashless on delivery can help address these customers’ pain points and help build trust for your online business. Even the fact that you offer these options can help reassure potential customers that your business is legit, even if it doesn’t have a website.
If you want to offer cashless on delivery, be sure to invest in a Maya Terminal Lite POS device. This ultraportable device lets you facilitate a complete range of popular digital payment methods, including payments by QR codes and InstaPay. The Maya Terminal Lite can also connect through WiFi or mobile data, ensuring you can process payments anywhere you and your customers are.
Get a Head Start in E-Commerce with Maya Business Payment Solutions
Maya Business’s range of online payment solutions helps you surmount the biggest challenge in e-commerce—getting paid. Even better, we’ve come up with ways to ensure that you can still operate a thriving online business, even without a website. Create your Maya Business Manager account to jump headfirst into your first e-commerce venture or expand your available online payment channels.
Signing up for Maya Business lets you in on the exclusive Maya 1-2-3 Grow bundle. Maya 1-2-3 Grow offers you a 1% MDR (merchant discount rate) discount on all QR Ph transactions for 3 months after joining. That translates to PHP 14,600 in transaction fee savings for every PHP 1 million in QR Ph sales.
The Maya 1-2-3 Grow bundle also lets you use a Maya Business Deposit account for your settlements. Maya Business Deposit offers an industry-leading 2.5% per annum interest rate, allowing you to earn PHP 25,000 each year on each PHP 1 million deposit. Maya Business Deposit’s zero maintaining balance and free transfers via InstaPay and PesoNET also gives you more savings on your day-to-day business banking.
Finally, Maya 1-2-3 Grow also entitles you to a Maya Flexi Loan offer of up to PHP 2 million in just 3 months, giving you extra cash to finally set up an e-commerce website or expand your business in other ways. To receive a higher loan offer, just use Maya Business solutions daily.
Sign up for Maya Business Manager today for simple but powerful solutions like Maya Payment Links and unbeatable business-boosting offers like Maya 1-2-3 Grow.
