For B2B companies, offering flexible payment experiences has never been easier

Photo courtesy of Scott Graham on Unsplash.

This article is Sponsored Content by Gavin Cicchinelli, BlueSnap and Lance Owide, BigCommerce.

Too many B2B companies today continue to rely on outdated and manual methods for managing payments and accounts receivables. Within these businesses, paper invoices, checks sent through the mail or to a lockbox, and Excel spreadsheets remain the norm.   

These approaches have always been inefficient, holding businesses back and causing tremendous friction among customers and finance teams – even more so in today’s digital economy. 

The failure to modernize payments can be a barrier to growth, a threat to customer satisfaction, and can perpetuate inefficiencies within operations. Reliance on manual reconciliation inevitably leads to late collections and money left on the table. 

B2B buyers want payment flexibility

Today’s modernized, advanced, and highly accessible digital payment platforms deliver the flexibility and measurable value that B2B buyers want and any business needs and craves. 

Digital payment platforms enable B2B companies, no matter the size or industry sector, to automate payment processes and reduce DSO (days sales outstanding). Automated accounts receivable reconciliation accelerates collections and strengthens organizational cash flow, enabling business leaders to forecast more accurately, invest in growth, and allocate less time towards administrative tasks.

Moving to digital payments can also have a profound positive impact on customer satisfaction. B2B buyers have become accustomed to fast, seamless, and convenient payment experiences using credit cards, ACH, digital wallets and services like Apple Pay or PayPal. They want and expect this same ease across all their suppliers, so much so that 72% B2B buyers are more loyal to suppliers that offer their preferred payment methods. 

Buyers also want better experiences, with 86% of B2B buyers willing to pay more for it. When the options to pay an invoice are limited to mailing a check, picking up the phone, or navigating an unwieldy first-generation online experience, frustrated buyers are more likely to delay payment or even worse, churn to a competitor with a simpler and more delightful payment process. 

A strong case for modern payments

The evidence that businesses offering online and flexible payment options experience higher customer satisfaction and deeper loyalty is compelling. According to IDC, companies that modernize payments see a nearly 400% return on investment over three years. Organizations also experience double-digit increases in sales productivity and efficiency.  

Finally, digital payments can also unlock new opportunities for revenue growth. By integrating product recommendations, upsell and promotional offers, or reordering options directly into the payment experience, payments can become an additional sales channel. 

Easy to adopt and implement

One of the most common misconceptions about digitizing payments is that it’s difficult to execute. This notion can prevent B2B companies, particularly those operating within more traditional bricks-and-mortar industries, from abandoning legacy systems and moving on from the tried-and-true processes they’ve used for decades. 

In reality, advanced payment and automated AR capabilities have never been more accessible. Today’s modern SaaS platforms have made it faster for businesses to launch and deploy payments within weeks instead of months, integrated with CRM and accounting functionality. The days of lengthy and costly integrations that consume IT resources are long gone. 

And it doesn’t have to be done all at once. Businesses that fear disruption can adopt a phased and incremental approach on the path to introducing digital payments and achieving full digitization.

With clear financial benefits, easily adoptable technology, and an increasing universe of B2B customers who are opting for vendors that provide a better buying experience, the case for digitizing payments has never been stronger. B2B companies that continue relying on offline invoicing risk slower cash flow, customer attrition, and lost market share to more agile competitors. 

Gavin Cicchinelli is President of BlueSnap, a payments technology company and division of PayRoc, a leading payments platform and merchant acquirer. Lance Owide is General Manager of B2B at BigCommerce, a flexible enterprise ecommerce platform built to help brands, retailers, manufacturers, and merchants of all sizes grow and innovate without compromise.