Invoice Links: How To Utilise Them

An invoice link, also known as a payment link, can help you get your invoice paid much quicker and avoid late payments. In this post, we’ll define what invoice links involve and detail how you can utilise them.

What is an invoice payment link?

An invoice payment link is a simple way to request payment from clients paying for goods and services. It is basically a “Pay Now” or “Pay Invoice” button which will be included in an email sent to customers with the invoice due. When customers click this button, they will be taken to a payment page where they can quickly and easily pay their invoice. At this payment page, customers can safely enter their credit card details, or pay via e-wallets or other alternative payment methods.

Who uses payment links?

Businesses and service providers that don’t take payments from traditional online stores can greatly benefit from using payment links to collect their invoice payments. B2B companies, for instance, that chiefly send out electronic invoices to customers, can receive quicker payment by including payment links directly in emails by attaching them to e-invoices.

However, smaller B2C companies can also find payment links useful when selling at events or fairs. If you don’t have access to the payment terminal, you can instead send customers payment links. They’ll receive it directly to their smartphone or device and can quickly pay there and then.

What are the benefits of creating payment links?

There are a myriad of benefits to using payment links as a means to collect invoice payments. Some of these are outlined below:

Easier for customers to pay

Providing payment links makes the whole process of settling an invoice much simpler from a customer perspective. This is because the link will take them directly to a page where they can make their payment, with the amount displayed clearly. For repeat customers, their information may even be stored - which makes it even quicker and easier to complete the payment.

The feature also allows clients to pay invoices on their smartphones, devices and online via a variety of payment methods. Facilitating payment in this way will inevitably result in fewer late payments and non-payments — which is a big plus for a business’s cash flow.

Easier for businesses to collect payments

Creating a payment link requires minimal work and can be done quickly and easily with GoCardless. Using invoice links can reduce the amount of work your accounting department is required to perform as it centralises and streamlines payment collection.

Quicker payment collection

Having a “Pay Now” link means you can collect payments much faster. The convenience it provides customers, who can pay simply by following the link, translates to quicker payment collection.

Invoice payments with GoCardless

While payment links can speed up payment collection, pull payments initiated by businesses to customer accounts can be even quicker.

With GoCardless, businesses can collect invoice payments directly from their customers' bank account - meaning prompt payments and no more delays. Indeed, data from invoicing software Xero suggests merchants can get paid twice as fast by accepting GoCardless payments on their online invoices.

We can help

GoCardless is a global payments solution that helps you automate payment collection, cutting down on the amount of financial admin your team needs to deal with. Find out how GoCardless can help you with one-off or recurring payments.