Self-Service Billing Portal

Account Balance, Invoice, and Payments

What are the most popular uses of a billing portal?

The most common uses of a customer self-service billing portal are 1) checking the account balance and 2) making payments on demand.  Some of the other use cases include researching historical spend patterns and validating line item charges before payment.

1) Account Balance

The home page of a billing portal typically provides an up-to-date view of the account, including the current balance.  Customers can see invoices that may have recently been posted, as well as any recent payments that have been processed.  If they have questions about the balance or transactions they can drill down into the details by clicking on links to the associated payment activity and invoice charges.

2) Pay Now

Billing portals typically offer customers the ability to make a payment on demand. These “Pay Now” features, as they are often called, are helpful for customers whose invoices are past due or have a deadline fast approaching. 

The most common method of payment is via credit card.  However, a growing number of billing portals offer the ability to via an electronic funds transfer from a bank account.  Bank transfers are far less expensive than payments made via card.  In fact, some businesses will assess customers a convenience fee for credit card payments to recover the 2-3% fees charged by the banks.

Billing portals typically offer customers a choice of what amount  they want to pay, which might be 1) the full balance on the account, 2) a single invoice total, or 3) another specific dollar amount.  

3) Invoice Attachments

The portal also enables you to share additional files that may be too large or contain sensitive information that is not appropriate for transmission via email.  The most common are attachments that provide supporting details about the products/services being invoiced, for example a detailed accounting of billable hours for a consulting engagement.

4) Usage Records

Supporting details for usage-based billing is one of the more common types of usage attachments. Usage-based billing invoices generate a higher volume of customer inquiries. A complex set of rating calculations is performed behind the scenes and typically presented as a single line item on the invoice. The billing portal can help reduce inquiries about usage charges by empowering customers to view the raw data used in the calculations.  If desired, customers can download the usage data for more detailed analysis in a spreadsheet or business intelligence application.

5) Invoices and Statements

Customers can view their latest invoice to understand the line item charges, taxes, and due date.  Billing portals also include links to historical invoices in case the customer needs a copy of a bill from six months ago, last year, or the year before that.  Each invoice can be viewed in the browser or downloaded in a PDF format.  Historical invoices can be helpful to new team members in the customer’s organization who want to understand how the relationship has evolved over time.

6) Historical Payment Transactions

Customers can view the latest payment applied to their account.  Having visibility to recent payment activity is helpful for accounts that paid via a check sent through postal mail or bank transfers that can take 2-3 days to clear.  Customers can also look through historical payment information to see the dates, amounts, and methods used to pay prior invoices.  This is useful for customers who are trying to reconcile expenses on a corporate credit card with the associated vendor payments.

7) AutoPay Enrollment

Customers who are not already enrolled in auto-pay can opt into the program via the billing portal.   The customer will need to ensure there is a payment method on file for auto-pay.  Credit cards are the most popular option for auto-pay, but electronic funds transfers (e.g., US ACH, Canadian PAD) from bank accounts are an increasingly popular option as well.  For bank transfers, additional security verifications may be required by the customer’s bank to authorize the recurring payments.

8) Update Payment Method

One of the most common causes of late payments is failed card transactions.  If the employee with the card on file leaves the organization, the customer must put a new payment method on file.  Billing portals empower customers to add a new card without having to contact the finance department. 

9) Backup Payment Method

Credit card transactions can fail even if the payment method on file is up-to-date.  For example, a charge may be rejected if the card is suspended temporarily due to suspicion of fraud or if the account balance is above its limit.   To avoid late payments from card transaction failures, the billing portal can offer customers the option to have multiple payment methods on file.  One of the cards can be selected as the preferred/default payment method; the others will be a backup if the primary fails.

10) Billing Contact

As team members in a customer’s organization change, relationship owners update the associated contacts on file in the billing system.  In the billing portal, the customer can assign a primary point of contact for commercial activities such as contract upgrades and renewals, as well as a billing contact.  The portal might also enable customers to manage the other authorized contacts on the account, including deleting employees who have left the company or updating job titles, email addresses, and phone numbers for other users.

11) Company Details

The billing portal can also enable customers to keep their company details accurate and up-to-date.  Changes to company details are far less common than changes to billing contacts.  However, they are equally important.  Tax rates are often tied to the customer’s physical address.  If a customer changes its headquarters location, you will want to ensure you have the correct street address, city, and postal code in the billing system.  If the customer is acquired or re-brands, you will want to ensure you have the new name in your billing and CRM system.

Billing Inquiries

What is the best way to submit billing inquiries?

Customers often have questions about their invoices.  Sometimes, the customer may not understand the line items on the bill and why they are being charged.  In other cases, the customer may disagree with the amounts being charged if they believe the price, quantity, or calculation used to compute the charges differed from their expectations.  Another common scenario is customer satisfaction complaints.  In some cases, the customer may demand a partial or full refund.  These negotiations are typically led by the customer service department, but require work from the accounting team to credit the account.

12) Disputes and Inquiries

Some self-service billing portals enable customers to submit inquiries and disputes online. The issues are routed to the accounts receivable team in an automated workflow visible to customers on the portal. The customer can see if the issue was reviewed, a response was issued, or the inquiry was closed. Billing portals are a more systematic way of managing inquiries and disputes.  Accounts receivable teams usually field these inquiries and disputes via emails and phone calls.  It is easy to lose track of these communications if there is a high volume of them.  

13) Credits and Refunds

Customers anticipating credits to their account may be interested in monitoring the status of these transactions as the funds are applied to their balance.  There are many different reasons why a refund or credit is issued to an account.  Some might be refunds resulting from customer satisfaction issues.  Others might be credits generated from contract violations such as missing a service level agreement.  In other cases, the credit might be initiated to reverse charges from a billing error.

14) Self-Service Upgrades

Depending upon the nature of the products and services, you may want to offer the customer the ability to purchase additional products and services on the portal as well.  The use cases are typically limited to simple upgrades such as increasing the number of registered users, feature tier upgrades from the “good” plan to the “better” plan, or replenishing credit balances for usage-based services.  Self-service upgrades reduce the friction required to purchase more services by eliminating the back-and-forth with a customer success manager.  They can also eliminate the need to pay commissions on low-effort, transactional sales.

15) Self-Service Renewals

Depending on how your business manages customer relationships, you may want to offer the customer the ability to renew their subscriptions online as well.  More complex renewal negotiations with additional products, professional services engagements, and pricing changes will have to be managed offline.  However, simple renewals with limited changes can be conducted more efficiently through a portal.  Examples of features include the ability to review price quotes and accept updated contract terms.