How to Sell More With Payment Links

Most sales in Ghana don't die because the customer said no. They die in the gap between "I'm interested" and "I've paid."

That gap is where your customer asks for your MoMo number, then gets distracted. Where they promise to send it tonight and forget. Where they screenshot a transfer that never arrived. Every hour that gap stays open, your chance of getting paid drops.

A payment link closes the gap. You already know how to create one — this guide is about the nine moments where sending one turns a maybe into money.

1. Reply with a link, not your MoMo number

A customer messages: "How much for the black one?"

The slow way is to answer with a price, then your number, then your name to confirm, then wait for a screenshot you have to verify by hand.

The fast way is one message: the price and a link. They tap, they pay, the order lands in your dashboard already marked paid.

This matters more than it sounds. Sending your MoMo number puts the work on the customer and asks them to trust a number in a chat. A payment link shows them exactly what they're buying, from a store with your name on it, before any money moves.

2. Chase the carts people already abandoned

Someone filled a cart on your store, reached checkout, and left. Strawlo keeps that cart under the Abandoned tab in Orders.

Those aren't cold leads. They're people who picked your products, entered their details, and got interrupted. Open the abandoned cart, turn it into a payment link, and send it with a short message:

"Hi Ama — saw you were checking out the two dresses. Here's your link if you still want them: [link]"

You're not selling from scratch. You're handing back a cart they already built.

3. Take a deposit instead of a promise

Custom work is where money gets lost. You buy fabric, block out three days, and then the customer disappears.

Send a payment link for a deposit — half the price, or whatever covers your materials — before you start. Put the terms in the note field so there's no argument later:

Deposit for custom kente set. Balance of GHS 800 due on delivery.

A customer who has paid GHS 800 towards a GHS 1,600 order is a customer who shows up. And when the work is done, you send a second link for the balance.

4. Charge for delivery instead of absorbing it

Payment links let you add a delivery fee on top of the items. The customer sees the breakdown before they pay — items, delivery, total — so nothing feels sneaky.

Merchants quietly lose real money here. If you're delivering across Accra for GHS 30 and not charging it, twenty orders a month is GHS 600 gone. Add the fee. Customers expect delivery to cost something; what annoys them is finding out afterwards.

If the order doesn't need shipping — a service, a consultation, a digital product — just leave the fee off.

5. Ask for an address only when you need one

There's a toggle for requiring a delivery address. Use it deliberately.

Turn it on when you're shipping something and need to know where. Turn it off for pickups, services, and anything digital. Every field a customer has to fill is another second they can change their mind, and asking a consultation client for their house address just makes them wonder why you want it.

6. Use expiry to create a real deadline

You can set a payment link to expire after a number of days. This is the most underused feature on the list.

"Pay whenever" means pay never. "This link works until Friday" gives the customer a reason to act today. It's honest urgency - you're holding stock, and you can't hold it forever.

7. Fill in their details before you send

You can prefill the customer's name, phone, and email when you create the link.

If you've been chatting with someone for twenty minutes, you already know their name. Typing it in for them removes three fields from their side and makes the link feel personal rather than generic — like a bill written for them instead of a form they stumbled into.

8. Sell what isn't in your catalogue

A payment link doesn't have to point at a product you've already listed. You can pull items from your catalogue or add a custom item with any name and price.

That covers the things that never fit a product page:

• A negotiated wholesale price for one bulk buyer
• Alterations, repairs, or a rush fee
• A bundle you invented on the spot to close a sale
• Your time, priced by the hour

You don't have to pollute your storefront with one-off products just to take payment for them.

9. Read the statuses and follow up

Every link sits in one of four states: pending, paid, expired, or cancelled. That list is a to-do list.

Pending links are people who said yes and haven't paid — the single most valuable group of customers you have. One polite message the next day recovers more sales than a week of new posts:

"Hi Kwame, just checking if you still want the shoes — link's still active."

Expired links tell you something too. A cluster of them usually means your window is too short, or your price needs a conversation.

Put it together

Here's what a week looks like for a merchant using all of this:

Monday, a customer DMs about a dress. You reply with a link, prefilled with her name, expiring Friday. She pays in four minutes.

Tuesday, you check the Abandoned tab, find three carts from the weekend, and send all three a link. One converts by evening.

Wednesday, a bulk buyer wants forty pieces at a negotiated rate. Custom item, delivery fee added, no expiry because he pays on invoice terms.

Thursday, you scan your pending links and message the two people who haven't paid. One replies immediately.

Friday, a custom order comes in. You take a 50% deposit before touching the fabric.

None of that is extra work. It's the same conversations you were already having, ending in a link instead of a MoMo number.

Start today

Open Strawlo, go to Payment Links, and create one for the next customer who asks you a price. Send it in the chat where they asked. Then look at your pending list tomorrow and message anyone who hasn't paid.

That's it. The gap between "how much?" and money in your account is where your sales are going — and closing it doesn't take a bigger audience, just a faster reply.

Get started with Strawlo — or download the app and send your next payment link from your phone.