It can be really painful waiting for your customers to pay you via bank transfer, but GoCardless and Xero have announced an easier and quicker way using Instant BankPay!
At Xerocon 2022, Xero shared worrying statistics that UK small businesses are in negative cashflow for around 4 months each year. So it’s our duty to help you to get paid quicker.
Sharon was asked to host a breakout session at Xerocon grilling Michael Green Xero GM Partnerships, and Duncan Brannigan Chief Product & Growth Officer of GoCardless on their new feature GoCardless Instant Bank Pay. Here’s a summary of the main questions:
So who are GoCardless and what do they do?
At Kinder Pocock we’ve been using GoCardless since 2016, not only to help us to collect recurring payments from our clients, but we also recommend GoCardless for our clients’ own needs, and help them get set up.
GoCardless has always been a great app that integrates with Xero to collect one-off and recurring payments via the Direct Debit process. But don’t be put off by your perception of direct debits. With the Xero integration, GoCardless looks at Xero daily, and only collects payment from an existing invoice, with a due date of that day.
Here’s our blog on the how GoCardless direct debits work with Xero and another useful blog on how to explain GoCardless to your customers, if they’re put off by the direct debit idea.
For the 2022 financial year, GoCardless collected £1.9 billion payments, on average £160million per month. They have 15,000 active merchants as at the end of June 2022.
And what is different about the new Instant BankPay feature?
With Open Banking, it’s now becoming easier and faster than ever to collect one-off payments from customers.
These new bank to bank payments are confirmed instantly, meaning clarity and confidence for your customers, and smoother and quicker payments for you.
Your customer approves payment by connecting directly with their online banking, so no need to enter card details.
Your customer is provided with confirmation that payment has been made.
You receive payment instantly.
Instant BankPay saves you time, and creates a smoother customer experience!
And how does the GoCardless Instant BankPay integration work with Xero?
In Xero Payment Services you’ll now be able to choose between GoCardless Direct Debit, and Instant BankPay before sending your invoices.
Your customer clicks the link, and initiates the Instant Bank Payment.
You both receive confirmation, and GoCardless marks the invoice as paid in Xero, and creates the payment in your GoCardless bank account in Xero.
When funds are transferred to you in real life, GoCardless also transfers the funds within Xero, to your chosen bank account.
It’s that easy!
Of course there are already ways to get customers to pay you, so what’s the benefit of Instant BankPay?:
Bank transfer / BACS:
You’re at the mercy of your customer to remember to pay you, and this can create friction if they’ve got to go to their online banking and set up a new payment. Even worse if they’ve got to find their card reader to set up a new payee on their online banking. It’s possible that they won’t have the time, and then forget to pay you.
There’s also the risk of phishing if your bank details are on your invoice, or an email, as this can be replaced by a fake email, with fraudulent bank details.
Card payments:
These are a great solution, and mean customers only have to enter their card details, often saved in Apple Pay or Google Wallet, but there are charges associated with collecting card payments.
It may also take a few days for the card payment to get to your bank account, from the card processing provider.
What are the benefits of having more than one payment service set up?
You may think you’re already covered because you already offer a payment service to your customers, and you don’t need to do anything.
Xero research has found that you’ll get paid twice as fast if you have more than one payment service to offer customers.
So there is no harm in having GoCardless Instant BankPay set up for your Xero invoices, and also another, perhaps Stripe, or IWOCAPay. The more the merrier!
What do you need to do next?
If you want to try GoCardless Instant BankPay, you can try it out today, using this link to make a one off donation to The Trussell Trust.
The Trussell Trust is a charity supporting over 1,200 food banks with the mission of ending hunger and food insecurity in the UK. One-hundred percent of your donation will go to charity.
You can also watch a demo of InstantBankPay here
Check out our previous blog on how to get customers to pay you faster.
We’re all about supporting small businesses like yours, and making sure you get paid quicker.
We really have a duty as accountants and bookkeepers, now more than ever, to help small business owners get paid quicker, and it’s so valuable to have Xero and GoCardless creating the right tools to allow us to do this.
Book a Discovery Call today, so we can find out more about your needs, and how we can help you.
