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Rocket Matter Pay Lets You Meet Your Clients Where They Are
Payment problems often come when a client has difficulty—any kind of difficulty—completing the payment.
The inverse is true, too. The easier it is to make a payment—the more you put payment at your client’s fingertips—the less likely there will be any problems.
But how do you bypass challenges and make it convenient—really convenient, even!—for your clients to settle their bills with your firm?
(Hint: the answer involves Rocket Matter Pay.)
Why do legal clients pay late?
Put yourself in your client's shoes for a moment and consider what the obstacles to payment may be. Here are just a few.
Unresolved questions about invoices
When you have doubts about a bill you need to pay, pulling out your wallet isn’t appealing. You can help remove doubt about the validity or accuracy of charges when you provide clear, concise invoices. Invoices that detail…
- All tasks that were performed
- Hours billed
- Billing codes
- Invoice number
- Contact information
- And a link to online payment
…are invoices more likely to be paid promptly.
Unclear payment terms
“I wasn’t sure when to pay” is a great excuse for not settling an invoice on time.
Confusion over payment dates, discounts, and late fees can lead to serious issues. It’s much faster to head off disputes by stating payment terms at the start of engagements than it is to slog your way through conflicts. It’s also a lot better for client relationships. To avoid potential problems, put your payment terms on each invoice in an easy-to-understand format.
Large balances are hard to pay all at once
Few Americans have significant savings, and in certain areas of legal practice like family law, immigration, or others, your clients are unlikely to have thousands of dollars lying around to settle their legal bills all in one go.
A majority of clients say they would like payment plans, and some processors do not have this feature built-in. Look for one that does, and it will be a boon to your cash flow.
The preferred form of payment isn’t accepted
“Do you take American Express?”
The more you can say “yes” to every form of payment, the better your firm’s cash flow. Some people like to use ACH—a great way to save on credit card processing fees—while others prefer to keep a credit card on file and settle up in just a few clicks. The convenience of paying is a big part of getting it done.
An unpredictable invoicing schedule
Your clients have busy lives and lots of financial obligations, and they need to be able to anticipate their expenses.
If your firm’s invoices go out on time like clockwork, it’s much easier for clients to anticipate them and handle them (on time).
Streamline Cash Flows and Get Paid Faster with Rocket Matter Pay
Law firms have plenty of good reasons to offer online credit card processing:
- Faster, more reliable payments
- Less administrative time spent processing checks and reconciling books
- Offering clients the payment options they actually prefer
- But why have so many firms chosen not to take advantage of all the benefits of credit card processing?
How to meet clients where they are
The key to overcoming these problems is making payments frictionless for clients. Data shows that a majority of clients will pay a bill on the same day they receive it, so it’s all about getting it to them where they are.
You can do this via:
- Mobile payments
- Payment plans
- Alternative fee arrangements
- Transparent fees
- Options to pay with every credit card, including AmEx
- Automatic payment reminders (so the platform does the work of contacting clients for you)
5 ways Rocket Matter Pay helps you meet clients where they are
Rocket Matter Pay is purpose-built with all the features a law firm needs to make it easy for your clients to pay.
We also make the process easy on your end, making your workflows more efficient and eliminating any friction—from the time you start client work to invoices landing in your clients’ hands
Let’s explore some of the features that benefit you and your clients.
1. Payment plans to pay over time
Some clients, especially in practice areas like criminal defense, family law, and immigration, are more likely to need to pay over time.
Structured plans for regular payment are a big bonus for clients who can’t pay a large balance all at once, helping them feel secure that they can afford to work with you. Set the plan up once, and you’re ready to go!
2. Take (all the) credit
It’s increasingly understood that law firms benefit when they offer online payment options for their clients…but not all online payment processors are equal in the legal industry.
Many legal payment processors don’t accept a full range of credit cards, but Rocket Matter Pay stands out for allowing clients to pay with a full range of credit card providers, including specialty cards.
3. Recurring billing for ease
Rocket Matter’s system allows your clients to set up recurring billing with payment information stored securely online. This way, invoices are settled every month without extra effort. (And for your firm, instead of tracking that client month after month to collect on their bill, you can do so automatically).
4. Integration with automatic time-tracker (and automatic invoicing)
Rocket Matter’s best-in-class, cloud-based, and mobile-activated Automatic Time Tracker is part and parcel of your work. It works quietly in the background to capture all your billable time, whether you’re in Microsoft Office or email.
With this software, you can track more of your time (boosting billable hours) and apply it directly to invoices, reducing the risk of manual data entry and avoiding billing discrepancies.
5. Straightforward trust account management
Rocket Matter legal trust accounting software makes trust accounting clear and convenient for all involved. Rocket Matter Pay keeps things above board by ensuring compliance with IOLTA obligations, with safeguards to make sure processing fees aren’t removed from IOLTA accounts.
You can also provide clients with the option to top off retainers with online payments (both one-off or on a recurring basis).
Rocket Matter Pay delivers more convenience for less effort
Meeting clients where they are means constantly innovating based on the latest payment needs used by clients, in whatever form they want to pay. Let Rocket Matter take care of all of that technology so you can focus on lawyering and generating new business.
With Rocket Matter Pay, we will help you decrease any friction between you and your clients when it comes time for payment so you can generate invoices faster, generate more billable hours, and speed up collections. Schedule a free demo now.
Streamline Cash Flows and Get Paid Faster with Rocket Matter Pay
Law firms have plenty of good reasons to offer online credit card processing:
- Faster, more reliable payments
- Less administrative time spent processing checks and reconciling books
- Offering clients the payment options they actually prefer
- But why have so many firms chosen not to take advantage of all the benefits of credit card processing?
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