UK businesses, do you know how your customers actually want to pay you?

Have you ever thought about how your customers actually want to pay you? The payment methods you offer them can make a world of difference - the difference between a prospect and a customer, or loyalty and loss.

If your business sells to other businesses on a recurring basis, understanding their payment preferences can have a huge impact on your stability and growth.

However your business operates, preference affects how you should collect payments. And by catering to your customers’ payment preferences, you give your business the best chance of winning new customers, maintaining their satisfaction, and developing a long, prosperous working relationship.

But preference doesn’t start and end with only your customer in mind. You also need to offer the payment methods that you prefer - the ones that work best for your business. There are three main elements for most SMBs to consider here - cash flow, cost, and success. The ideal payment methods for your business are not only the ones your customers prefer to pay by, but also the ones that help you get paid on time, with the lowest cost to your business, and with the lowest chance of failure.

We partnered with YouGov to survey more than 1,000 UK businesses across the UK which payment methods they prefer to use, so you know which to offer them to get paid on time. Here are a few of the insights:

• UK businesses prefer to pay by Direct Debit in 75% of use cases

• Up to 71% of UK businesses are equivalently likely to pay by bank transfer and Direct Debit

• Businesses paying with a corporate card are most likely to use it for digital subscriptions

Want your free copy of the full report? Download How UK businesses prefer to pay today.