What to consider when choosing an AR payment portal vendor

1. Does it integrate with your existing ERP or accounting software?

When considering a payment portal vendor, it is important to evaluate how much time it will actually save and how much it will impact your customer service. A portal that integrates with your ERP can automate cash application and close out open invoices once payment is processed. It can also pull in invoices and statements directly from your ERP, allowing your customers the ability to retrieve copies without having to reach out to your team. If a portal doesn’t sync with your ERP (these are typically just a static payment link), you will still need to go in and manually close out all of your invoices. Your customers won’t be able to see all invoices and statements, making their experience suboptimal and reconciliation for your team more challenging.

2. Ease of use for your company

There is little to no point in getting a payment portal if it will be more work for your employees and company. A big reason people consider payment portals is to save their company time, and therefore money. A good portal is simple and intuitive to use for your team and employees. Having the ability to sync with and act as an extension of your ERP is a huge plus.

3. Ease of use for your customers

Payment portals are supposed to provide a simple solution for your customers to view invoices and statements and quickly pay you anywhere, anytime. You want to look for a portal with as little friction as possible. If the portal requires more work from your customers to pay you than previously, there will be little incentive for your customers to want to use it. An easy-to-use portal acts as another way for you to provide quality customer service for your customers and differentiate from your competitors, whereas a clunky portal may have the opposite effect.

4. How secure is it?

Security and fraud is an unfortunate but necessary consideration when choosing a portal. Most portals involve saving both your business’s and customers’ financial information for quick payments. A portal that encrypts you and your customers’ data is essential for security and peace of mind. You will want to look for portals that prioritize security through encryption and PCI compliance, as well as ones that prioritize fraud prevention through ACH processing and 3DS (two-factor) authentication on card processing.

5. What forms of payment can it process?

The form of payments you would like to receive through the portal will play a significant role in your decision process. Some portals can process either credit and debit cards or bank transfers (ACH). The best and most useful portals are able to process both forms and provide you the flexibility. Bank ACH is largely becoming the standard today for B2B payments. Being able to compliantly pass on a credit card surcharge online is important if you’re currently doing this today or are looking to implement a process to reduce processing fees.

6. Cost

There are a few different ways vendors charge for their AR payment portal services. Almost all have a combination of a monthly fee, and charge transaction fees for ACH and card processing. These fees typically differ in price or percentage based on a few factors, such as the number of monthly transactions, average transaction size, and annual sales. Keep in mind that if a payment portal vendor offers ACH processing and compliant credit card surcharging, this can factor into your ultimate cost, as it can lead to an overall reduction in processing fees.

7. Customer Service

Going with a vendor known for high quality 24/7 customer service and reachable by email or phone provides immense help should your portal ever experience any issues. The ability to quickly troubleshoot any issue and get your portal back online is a big factor. Some vendors will not only provide support to your company but also help your customers get set up through tutorials. Finding a portal vendor that is also continuously doing R&D and incorporates user feedback to improve the platform is a plus.

These are the most common questions we have encountered while helping wholesalers and distributors figure out what payment portal is right for them. If you need help with the selection process or have any additional questions, we at Dill are happy to help. For a free consultation, click here.