Written by Paul Sharpe
Every small business owner knows the feeling of an invoice that just sits there unpaid. The work is done, the invoice is sent, and then you wait. What often gets overlooked is how much the payment options offered to the customer affect that wait. The easier you make it for a customer to pay, the sooner they usually do.
Give customers a way to pay that suits them
Think about how you pay for things in your own life. A tap of a card, a few clicks online, done in seconds.
Think about the last time you had to log in to online banking, copy across a BSB and account number, double-check the reference and hit send. It is not hard, but it is a job, and jobs get put off.
Your customers are no different. When the only way to pay you is a manual bank transfer, you are asking them to stop what they are doing and complete a small task. When they can pay by card straight from the invoice, there is nothing to put off, and they pay while it is open in front of them.
There is another side to it too. Paying by card also gives your customer some control over their own cashflow. They might use credit to spread the cost or line it up with their own incoming payments, and some will earn points on the spend. Give them a way to pay that suits them, and paying you becomes the easy choice.
Our own data at Easy Business App backs this up. We recently analysed $1 billion of Australian small business invoices and found that two thirds of card-paid invoices are paid early, vs less than half for non-card payments. And for those that are paid late? Invoices paid by card are paid twice as quickly. The takeaway is simple: giving your customers choice in how they pay you is one of the most reliable ways to get paid sooner.
Make paying by card the easy option
If you want customers to pay by card, the option has to be right in front of them. That means a clear “Pay Now” button on the invoice itself, not a line at the bottom asking them to call you with card details. The moment a customer has to take an extra step, you have reintroduced the friction you were trying to remove.
A few practical things that help:
- Put a “Pay by Card” option directly on every invoice you send
- Send the invoice as soon as the work is done, while the value is fresh in the customer’s mind
- Keep your payment terms short and clear, so there is no ambiguity about when payment is due
None of this is about chasing harder. It’s about removing the reasons a customer has to delay.
What about the processing fee?
There is generally a small processing fee when a customer pays by card. In some markets, this can be passed on to the customer, but in others (such as the EU since 2018, and Australia from October 2026) explicit card surcharging is banned, so this fee is one the business absorbs.
It’s worth keeping in perspective. The fee on a card payment is generally fairly small. The cost of an invoice that is paid weeks late, or not at all, can be far greater. Late payments tie up your cash, make it harder to pay your own suppliers and staff, and add a layer of stress you don’t need. Weighed against that, footing the processing fee in order to be paid quickly and reliably is a trade many small business owners are happy to make.
The bigger picture
Getting paid on time is not about being tougher with customers. Most people are not deliberately trying to hold onto your money or screw you over; they are just busy, and a manual payment is one more thing on a long list, or they have cashflow issues themselves. Give them a flexible way to pay that takes seconds, and many of them will take it.
You’ve done the work and you deserve to be paid on time. Making it easy to pay is the simplest place to start.
Author Bio:
Paul Sharpe is CEO at Easy Business App, accounting and payroll software built for Australian micro and small businesses.