Why your Firm Needs to Move to Online Invoicing

Why aren’t you using online invoicing? Don’t know where to begin? Have an office manager who doesn’t want to get with the times in fear of losing their relevance? Whatever the reason may be, if you’re still printing out invoices and mailing them out, your firm is doing business the same way law firms did 100 years ago.
Here are six great reasons your firm should consider the move to online invoicing.

Other firms are already doing it.

Your competitors are most likely already taking online payments in the form or credit cards or e-checks. If you’re not equipped to handle these kind of payments, there’s a good chance a client could overlook your firm and go with one of your competitors. Credit cards are the most common form of payment and it’s silly to lose clients because of how bills are being paid.

You can decrease collection time.

With paper invoicing, you have to type up the invoice, address an envelope, mail it, wait for the client’s check, etc. But with online invoicing, receiving payments is so much simpler. By emailing an invoice, you can include a link for the client where they can enter their payment information and the money is deposited into your account with little interaction from you.

Increase your chances of getting paid.

Online payments are easy to make. This will prompt more clients to pay in full and on time. You can also give clients the option to set up automated billing or payment plans. Also, if you are using a PCI-compliant payment processor, you can store the client’s credit card information. You’ll be able to charge a balance owed if a client defaults on a payment, for example.

Electronic invoicing is just faster.

With an online invoicing system, it will generate bills and email them automatically. This eliminates a lot of mindless work that goes into paper invoicing. With electronic invoices, you simply click a button in your billing software and send the invoice to your client.

Batch billing is also available in many legal billing applications. This saves even more time by allowing you to instantly send invoices to all of your clients at once.
Online invoicing keeps the cost down.

Think of all of the supplies you won’t need when using online invoicing. No more letterhead, envelopes, or stamps. The labor required to send out paper invoices will also not be a factor anymore.

The ease of automation.

If your payment processor is PCI-compliant and can store payment information securely, then you can and should be automating your invoicing. Payment plans are great options for clients that want to pay for legal work overtime. This can help you increase your client-base by opening up options for clients that are willing to pay but are not able to pay all at once.