Payment Processing Tips for Pet Care Businesses

As a nation, we love our pets. Indeed, more than half of us share our homes with a dog or a cat – and it’s easy to see why. Pets are a constant comfort in an increasingly uncertain world, and they bring us so much joy while demanding so little.

With so much pet love going on, it stands to reason that the pet care industry is thriving, with everything from dog walking and pet-sitting to grooming services currently seeing a major surge in popularity. But many of these businesses are run by pet lovers who might never have owned or operated a business before, and they need to be aware of the latest business trends and practices. This includes the realities of getting paid.

With the sheer volume of payment methods available for customers today, cash-in-hand simply isn’t going to be good enough anymore. Providing convenient and secure payment options should be a cornerstone of your business and will be tied to the success of your venture. That’s why we’ll be exploring some valuable processing tips specifically tailored for pet care business payments.

Accept a variety of payment methods

To stand out from the competition, flexibility is key. Today’s pet owners will have diverse preferences when it comes to how they pay so catering for as many needs as possible will give you the greatest chance to bag the most custom. Ensure you have a credit/debit card machine setup that accepts all major cards and offers both mobile payment and online payment options. Thankfully, these are easier and more affordable to set up than ever before thanks to platforms like GoCardless, which take care of most of the behind-the-scenes work on your behalf.

Mobile payment solutions

We’re moving towards an increasingly cashless society. In fact, in many cases customers might not even choose to carry their wallets on them, instead choosing to use their smartphones to make contactless payments on the go. Implementing mobile payment options into your business will streamline the checkout process for many tech-savvy customers.

Online booking and payments

Truly embracing technology doesn’t just mean doing the bare minimum and buying a card machine, it means going the extra mile and implementing an online booking and online payments system that allows clients to schedule appointments and make payments conveniently. This saves time for you and your customers and cuts down on the chances of missed or late payments.

Recurring payments and subscriptions

For businesses that rely on repeat business, such as dog walkers with regular clients, setting up recurring payments that automate the billing process can really help to streamline your operations and ensure a reliable cash flow. GoCardless offers recurring payment features that allow you to easily manage subscriptions and provide a hassle-free experience for your clients.

Secure transactions

When shopping around for a payment processing system, prioritise providers with robust security measures like encryption and tokenisation in place. These technologies help safeguard sensitive data and minimise the risk of fraud and will set you apart as a more legitimate and trustworthy business, which always looks good on the marketing copy.

Transparent pricing and policies

How much do you pay a pet sitter? This is the first thing any prospective customer of your pet-sitting service will Google before seeking out your services, so why not beat them to the punch? If you want to know how much to charge, check out the competition and either undercut them to remain competitive, match them to put yourself on a level playing field or put yourself in a more premium bracket by charging a little more. Whatever you charge, however, be clear and transparent with your rates, cancellations policy and all additional fees that might be involved. Thankfully, your payment processing solution should allow you to provide detailed invoices and receipts, ensuring both your transparency and accountability.

Streamline accounting and reporting

Managing finances is something you’re going to have to at least become familiar with when running your own pet care business. Thankfully, there are dozens of exceptional software solutions on the market to do most of the hard work for you. GoCardless even integrates with leading accounting software Xero to provide a solution that keeps track of revenue, expenses and all customer transactions and allows you to generate financial reports. These can prove invaluable in planning your next business move.

We can help

Embrace convenience, security, and transparency in your payment processes to build strong relationships with your clients and stand out in the competitive pet care industry with GoCardless.

We offer a global payments solution that helps you automate payment collection, cutting down on the amount of financial admin your team needs to deal with.

For pet care businesses that might invoice dozens or even hundreds of different individuals every month, it also allows them to collect invoices automatically with you in control of the payment amount and date.

Find out today how GoCardless can help you with one-off or recurring payments.