What is a backend payment system?

Generally any system for processing payment instruments and settling consequential debts among parties to the system.

Why there is a need for a backend payment system?

Getting paid is the key to survival as well as success. When your business only exists online, the payment process is not always straightforward. You need a merchant account, payment gateway (i.e. to process credit and debit card payments, bank transfers and installments). Did you know that when you accept credit cards, you can expect your sales to increase by an astounding 50 to 400%? You simply can't compete if you don't accept credit cards.

How and where can I get a backend payment system?

If you are selling single digital product such as e-book or video clips, you are encouraged to use Click Bank for the billing system. The advantage of using Click Bank is that it has the associate program building into it (i.e. Associate program refer to a program that are able to get people to promote your products and when others buy your product through these people, they will get some commissions.

If you are selling multiple digital / physical products or services, but would wish to reduce your investment cost for a backend payment system, you could signup for a paypal account. The setup is free and they only charge you a small percentage of commission when a sale was close using their system. However, they could terminate your account anytime if anyone complaints about your product.

For paypal system, you will need to key in your credit card information. They will charge you US$3 and upon successful become a verified user, they will re-fund the money back to you. The process of becoming a verified user is that it will send you 4 digit numbers through your monthly credit card bill. Just enter this 4 digital numbers into your account webpage in paypal and you will be verified accordingly.

What is a customer follow-up system?

It is a email marketing software that delivers your campaigns, offers, newsletters, follow-ups and autoresponder messages.

Why there is a need for a customer follow-up system?

The key to being able to send follow-ups to your customers is to have such system in place. The system can dramatically increase your sales as it has the ability to send follow up messages to your customers AFTER they buy from you.

Let's say you sell weight loss supplements. With a proper customer follow-up system, you can automatically send a follow up email to your customers every 30 days to remind them to come back to your site to order refills. You can also take advantage of the tool by giving them other great tips on how to more effectively lose weight. This way, your customers will come to trust you and be more willing to do more business with you. You can also tell them about other products you sell that will help them with their weight loss objective.

Research has shown that customers are much more willing to buy from someone they have already done business with than from a complete stranger. Once a customer has bought from you, the chances of them buying from you again are very good.

How and where can I get a customer follow-up system?

Before you get a customer follow-up system, you need to draft out a simple thank you and confirmation emails, as well as a series of promotion emails. If you are not sure how to create such email, one of the techniques you could use is search for your topics. Get those websites that are listed on the top and subscribe to their newsletter. From their newsletters, you will easily know how these emails could be properly drafted.

After that, you could subscribe to a customer follow-up system or commonly known as autoresponder software. I have been using "Get autoresponder" since a few years ago and the software is reliable and trustable.