The top reason invoices go unpaid is because the buyer has questions. By this logic, providing reliable customer support reduces DSO (Days Sales Outstanding) and helps improve cash flow. While you can easily make an invoice from an online template and manually email it to the client, that’s not a frictionless process. For example, customer responses could get lost in your inbox. Here’s why you should consider offering live customer chat or highly responsive support for invoice inquiries:
Customer Experience (CX)
With a mounting list of ‘to-dos’, anything that makes your customer’s life simpler can improve not only their experience, but also their perception of your brand. A word of caution—if you’re going to offer ‘live support’, ensure you only promote this feature as live if someone is available to respond.
Changing Communication Preferences
While email or phone calls used to be the preferred methods of customer support, there’s increasing interest in chat support as it facilitates faster inquiry-resolution times and often requires less effort on the customer’s part.
Timeliness
Timeliness is crucial when it comes to customer support for accounts receivable. Your customers are busy individuals with numerous responsibilities, so if they take the time to reach out with questions about their invoices, it's important to have someone available to respond promptly. By providing timely responses during the window when they are actively addressing their invoices, you significantly enhance the chances of getting paid quickly. Additionally, it's been shown that timely responses often lead to more business.
Differentiation
Offering real-time or quick support sets you apart from your competitors. Many businesses overlook the importance of immediate assistance in the accounts receivable process, leaving customers frustrated and unsure about the status of their questions, payments, or value to you. By being proactive and providing responsive customer support during regular business hours, you demonstrate your dedication to customer satisfaction and stand out as a reliable and trustworthy partner.
Faster Resolution
Having outstanding invoicing questions can be stressful. Working with customers to resolve payment issues quickly, so they can check one more thing off their ‘to-do’ list is a win-win. You get paid quickly and they can move on to other important tasks that require their attention.
Start Delivering Better Support for Your Customers' Invoicing Questions
While you could apply any number of live chat plug-ins to your website, that’s probably not the best approach when it comes to offering AR support. Not everyone visiting your website is going to be a customer yet. Instead, consider choosing a B2B accounts receivable (AR) platform that includes collaboration features. Bill360 can do all this and much more, like scheduling payments to further decrease your accounts receivable and making your company "easy to do business with". To learn more, click here.
