Digital payments have revolutionised the way businesses handle their financial transactions and the way consumers expect to make payments. The use of Apple Pay, contactless payments, and alternative currencies such as crypto and digital currencies means cash payments are fast becoming irrelevant. According to Payments Journal, 60% of consumers are using some form of digital payment, 44% have set up automated payments with their checking account, and 39% pay over a mobile app or website. For law firms, implementing their own branded digital payments system can bring numerous benefits, including faster and more accurate bank reconciliation, improved security, increased flexibility, and a better client experience.
In this article, we’ll explore the advantages of digital payments for law firms and how they can help to streamline the payment process, increase efficiency, and help your law firm securely win new clients. Whether you’re a small legal practice or a large corporate firm, the implementation of a digital payments system can help you improve the way you handle your financial transactions and provide better services to your clients.
What is a branded digital payments portal?
A branded digital payments portal is a platform that enables businesses to receive payments electronically from their customers through a personalised, branded interface. This interface can be integrated into a company’s website or accessed through a unique URL. The branded digital payments portal provides a secure and convenient way for customers to make payments and helps businesses streamline their payment process, improve cash flow and reduce manual administrative tasks. This solution can be tailored to meet the specific needs of each business, offering custom branding, payment options, and reporting capabilities. The aim of a branded digital payments portal is to enhance the customer experience, provide increased efficiency and improve the client onboarding journey.
Speed and cash flow
Your client wants to pay you, but actually it is often law firms that are not making it easy to be paid. With time-consuming and manual bank transfers which are prone to human error and multiple layers of verifications required – the client needs to dedicate time to process a payment to you which can lead to them being frustrated, going to another firm with a swift onboarding process or delaying the payment.
One of the core benefits of having your own branded digital payments system is helping speed up the payment process and improve cash flow for law firms. With the automated and centralised recording of payments, it is not only faster for your clients but also reduces the amount of time and effort required to reconcile accounts. This can help to improve the accuracy of financial reporting and reduce the risk of errors or discrepancies. The increased speed and accuracy of the bank reconciliation process can also help to provide valuable insights into the financial performance of the law firm, allowing it to make more informed decisions and plan for the future.
Faster bank reconciliation
One of the pains of handling cash or bank transfer payments is being able to track and reconcile the payments. By automating the manual payment processes, and taking payments through a digital portal, law firms can easily track and reconcile accounts using accounting integrations and payment reference tracking. Law firms finance departments therefore spend less time on administrative tasks and more time helping the business grow. By sending a link with the invoice, it reduces the amount of time required by the accounts team to process payments, freeing up valuable time and resources and gives accounts team the ability to harness data to understand friction, gaps in processes, and opportunities for process improvement.
Convenience and customisation
Making it easier for clients to instruct and pay is essential to improving client satisfaction and maintaining strong client relationships. Making it easier for clients to instruct and pay also helps to support their responsibilities and busy schedules. Many clients may not have the time or ability to come into the office to make payments or provide instructions, especially in today’s fast-paced and mobile-driven world. By offering a branded digital payments system, law firms can accommodate these busy clients and provide a convenient and accessible payment option. This not only supports clients’ needs and responsibilities, but it also helps to improve the law firm’s reputation. Clients are more likely to return to a law firm that offers a seamless and convenient payment experience, helping to establish the firm as a trusted and reliable provider of legal services. A branded digital payments system can help achieve this by providing a simple and user-friendly payment process with your company logo, colours and language. Clients are able to easily access the system through the law firm’s website and make payments with just a few clicks. Verify 365 offers law firms the ability to customise their digital payments system to match their brand, making it a seamless and professional experience for clients. The system can be tailored to match the law firm’s existing website design, providing a seamless payment experience that gives confidence to the client to make that payment.
Security and compliance
In addition to the convenience, the security of clients’ payment information is also a major factor in improving the overall client experience. The system can provide strong customer authentication (SCA) and allow clients to make payments with confidence using their credit or debit cards. This improves the safety of client data, protects against cyber attacks, and helps to avoid the financial and reputational consequences of a security breach.
Improved client experience
By providing clients with a simple and efficient payment process, law firms can help to build strong and lasting client relationships, contributing to the overall success of the business. The system also accommodates the busy schedules and responsibilities of clients by offering a convenient and accessible payment option, which can improve the law firm’s reputation as a trusted and reliable provider of legal services. The system can be integrated into the law firm’s website, allowing clients to make payments with just a few clicks. This increased convenience can lead to increased client satisfaction and loyalty.
Benefits for Law Firms
-Streamline Accounts Receivable operations
-Improve cash flow
-Increase accuracy of financial reporting
-Provide valuable insights into financial performance
-Free up time and resources
-Support business growth
Benefits for Clients
-Convenient and fast payment experience
-Strong customer authentication
-Safe and secure payment options
-Flexible payment options to suit individual needs
How can Verify 365 Digital Payments help?
The process of managing payments and keeping track of finances can be a time-consuming and manual task for many businesses, especially in the fast-paced and demanding environment of law firms. With the help of advanced technology, however, this process can be streamlined, simplified, and made more efficient. This is where Verify 365 comes in, offering a branded digital payment solution designed to meet the specific needs of law firms. This can be hosted in a bespoke app, website with your firms branding and chosen client or office account. Alternatively, you can use the Verify 365 Enterprise portal to complete the ID verification, AML checks and request a digital payment.
Verify 365 removes the need for manual chasing of payments, freeing up time for finance and accounts teams to focus on higher-value activities. With real-time data and payment references, it provides a clear and accurate overview of payments coming into the business. Payments can be made directly into client or office accounts, ensuring better tracking and reconciliation. Additionally, by automating the payment process and removing the risk associated with taking payments over the phone, Verify 365 makes financial processes more compliant and secure.
By leveraging the latest technology, Verify 365 helps law firms improve their payment process and makes it easier for clients to instruct and pay. Our workflow with Verify 365 saves time improves client satisfaction by completing payment alongside other tasks which can giver your firm a reputation for using cutting edge technology and be known as a law firm that is easy to work with. With Verify 365, law firms can free up time, resources, and reduce the risk of errors or discrepancies in financial reporting, allowing them to focus on delivering exceptional legal services to clients.
Are you interested in having your very own branded digital payments portal? Need more information on how this would work for your legal practice?
Contact our team here and book a demo.
