In a recent blog post, cloud accounting firm Xero announced a new partnership with Stripe and Microsoft that is meant to make invoice payments significantly more convenient.
Xero wrote in their post:
“Leveraging our relationships with Microsoft and Stripe, invoice emails sent from Xero to Outlook accounts can be paid with just a few clicks, using credit of debit cards saved to your customer’s Microsoft account.”
This is certainly good news for business owners who have been striving to find ways to encourage their clients to pay their bills on time.
How It Works
Whenever a client receives and clicks on the invoice you sent to their Outlook email, they will be presented with an interactive card containing the relevant invoice details. This will give them the opportunity to quickly review the information and see if everything is accurate.
The interactive card will also contain an option that allows clients to settle the invoice using the payment method they saved on their Microsoft Pay account.
Customers can simply click “Review and pay”, select the card they wish to use, and click “Confirm” to finalise payment. If your customer does not have their card saved on Microsoft Pay yet, they will be able to quickly add one.
Stripe will automatically charge the chosen card and send you a notification once the payment is completed. Since the transaction is done through Stripe, all processing fees will be automatically accounted for and matched against the right payout. This allows for easier and faster reconciliation.
Moreover, Xero reassures users that there will be no additional onboarding necessary for them to offer this new payment feature to their customers. All that they need to do is make sure that the outgoing invoices they send have Stripe attached as a payment service.
When Will It Roll Out
Xero will be rolling out this new feature in to a limited number of Microsoft Outlook users in the US over the next couple of weeks. In addition, they are planning a broader international release of the functionality in the coming months.
For more tips on how to make sure your invoices get paid on time, check out this blog post.