How do I get my customers to pay my invoices?

Getting customers to pay their invoices can be a day-to-day challenge for small businesses. Conversion is a constant battle – buyers have more choice than ever and payment method innovation has opened a new frontier in the sales battleground.

Cash flow is a key concern for businesses in the UK – especially during these particularly difficult times for trade. Research by Intuit QuickBooks found that 69% of business owners had been kept up at night over cash flow concerns and two in five of the businesses surveyed had experienced cash flow issues in the past year. As a result of this, a third of businesses polled had encountered issues in paying their suppliers.

Give customers time to pay

The business-to-consumer (B2C) space has seen an explosion of buy now, pay later solutions in the market. Their success is largely due to an increase in revenue for the businesses adopting them. Consumer demand is rising for the buy now, pay later model – research by Duologi shows that it increases customer loyalty to a business by providing a more positive payment experience.

But the business-to-business (B2B) market has been slow to catch up. 70% of iwoca customers come to us for finance to cover cash flow gaps – gaps that can make it difficult to pay on time. This is why iwoca is building iwocaPay. We want to reduce the stress involved in offering customers payment terms and improve the payment experience for everyone.

Current B2B solutions that attempt to tackle the cash flow problem usually only benefit one side of the transaction. iwocaPay seeks to take the risk off of the sellers books while giving buyers a great way to keep on top of their cash flow and outgoings.

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Be transparent with payment options

Think about how you show payment options to your customers. Helping your customers to spread costs can improve conversion, in fact a lack of choice in payment methods can potentially limit sales opportunities. So use your payment options as a competitive advantage – it’s another reason your customers should buy from you not someone else. Giving customers clarity and options saves them from nasty surprises, gives them comfort in that they can pay and encourages them to go ahead with the transaction.

Keep your invoice front of mind

If you're having trouble with your customers paying on time, try implementing a process to remind them about their due payment. Sending an email a week and 24 hours before an invoice is due might be enough to remind customers to pay their invoices. If they've missed the due date, give them a phone call as soon as possible - the personal touch and the reminder that you have a business to run may be enough to kick them into action.

Don't want the admin of chasing payments? Refer your customers to iwocaPay and let us take that weight off your shoulders.