8 Benefits of Hosted Payment Pages for Architects and Designers

In today’s market, modern architecture and design professionals must rely on a multitude of digital technologies and solutions to stay competitive and satisfy clients. However, there is a delicate balance between keeping up with the latest trends and ensuring that your loyal clients don’t feel alienated or overwhelmed by new technology.

Hosted payment pages are a great way to create a smooth and easy payment experience for both you and your clients while saving time and boosting your cash flow. Below are just a few of the many benefits of using hosted payment pages for your professional services needs.

What Is a Hosted Payment Page?

A hosted payment page is a web page located outside your business website which allows clients to pay for your services. When a client wants to make a purchase or payment, they are redirected to a secure website payment page where they can input their data and complete their transaction. None of the client’s data passes through your site directly.

4 Ways Hosted Payment Pages Put More Time Back in Your Day

There are numerous advantages of using hosted website payment pages, particularly for building and design professionals. One of the most attractive benefits is the amount of time you’ll save on a daily basis.

You’re less likely to receive late payments and cease work

By using hosted payment pages, you can expand the number of payment methods clients can use. They can choose to pay you using debit or credit card, eCheck payments, or bank-to-bank transfers.

Statistically, when you offer your clients more ways to pay they are more likely to pay quickly and on time. Not to mention, accepting a wider variety of payment options also modernizes your business as a whole, keeping you a step ahead of the competition.

Accepting credit cards also gives your clients more access to high-demand resources in times where their cash reserve may be low but they still need to make payments. Having options like credit cards keeps clients on track to pay which keeps your project from falling behind or your business from having to cease work.

You can increase accounts receivable accessibility for your clients

When you integrate website payment pages into your current billing process, you won’t be limited by the constraints that often come with more traditional payment methods like paper checks—e.g., office hours, mail carriers, and even your client’s own schedules. You can include payment pages on your website for easy access, or share a secure link directly with your clients in emails, texts, or any other place a link can be shared.

If you have a limited amount of time to devote to accounts receivable or want to spend less time dealing with that aspect of your business, hosted payment pages are the perfect solution. Once they’re set up they can act as your automated bookkeeper.

You can streamline billing and payments as well as financial reporting

A dedicated website payment page for your business simplifies the payment process for your clients by providing them with one place to pay their bills. Better yet, you no longer have to spend valuable time requesting payment or trying to reconcile and prepare your books.

Using payment technology not only comes with powerful features that benefit your business like a hosted payment page but it saves you time in reporting and bookkeeping. No more managing your billing through excel spreadsheets or by sifting through paper checks and receipts. You simply run a report or two and all of your accounts receivable are organized and reconciled for your business.

You can easily set up automatic recurring payments

For businesses that rely on recurring payments for their services like architecture and design professionals, website payment pages can save you and your clients a significant amount of time and money. Plus, being able to schedule out your auto-billing reduces the chance of missed or late payments, ultimately boosting your cash flow and client satisfaction.

Speaking of client satisfaction, along with removing the burden of remembering to pay from your clients, allowing them to pay using credit cards gives them the opportunity to accumulate points and earn rewards from the card issuer.

4 Ways Hosted Payment Pages Save You Money

In addition to saving time, website payment pages are proven to increase revenue for building and design professionals like you.

You can reduce your nonbillable hours and grow your billable hours

According to the American Institute of Architects’ Firm Survey Report, on average, 18 percent of a firm’s 2019 gross billings were billed by the hourly rate (with or without agreed maximums) across all firm specializations.

It’s not uncommon for architects or designers to feel overwhelmed by the pull between billable and nonbillable hours. Often, time that could be billed is spent on nonbillable tasks like general administrative duties and accounts receivable.

Spending too much time on business management could cost you. In the course of conversation with a prospective customer, we learned just how much. As a seasoned architect with over 30 years of experience, the customer was able to detail exactly how an online payment solution like ClientPay could be of value to the architecture industry.

He explained that because a principal architect can bill $150-$250/hour, using an online payment solution to save just four hours a month totals $1,000. Over a calendar year, that can add up quickly. You could save upwards of $12,000 a year just by automating your billing and spending more time on billable hours for your projects.

By freeing up hours in your day, you can increase your bandwidth and make more money.

You can minimize your risks of late and non-payments

Every time a building and design professional takes on a project, they inevitably take on risks and liabilities. If a client doesn’t pay their bill on time, it can have a ripple effect, causing the firm to foot the bill when there are other contractors involved.

Small and large firms alike should treat billing as a fundamental part of their business practices, rather than an afterthought. By establishing clear timetables and client expectations from the beginning, you’re less likely to be stuck paying subcontractors out of pocket. In addition, you will protect your employees' livelihood by paying them on time without borrowing funds.

The bottom line is the more your clients do their part in paying their bills, the less lending you have to do. Hosted payment pages make it easy and convenient for your clients to pay you on time.

You can make your payment process frictionless with integrations

With the right payment solution, integrating a hosted payment page into your current process is easy and extremely beneficial. A seamless integration means a frictionless payment experience for your clients.

For example, ClientPay is integrated with tools building and design industry professionals already use. By using an integrated partner like Deltek or BQE CORE (just a few of ClientPay’s technology partners), you can save money on adopting a website payment page into your process. The more integrated your solution is with a payments provider, the more affordable it becomes to have features like hosted payment pages.

You can take advantage of the solution provider’s resources

Managing customer data is a risky business, regardless of which industry you’re in. With cybersecurity incidents and data breaches on the rise, it’s important that your clients feel safe sharing their financial information with you so you can get paid for your hard work.

Accepting payments online through a hosted payment page not only offers enhanced security and data protection, it also gives your business access to support and an increased likelihood of winning chargebacks or disputes if they occur.

When accepting payments through ClientPay, you’re provided with authorization forms that give you written consent from clients to run their transactions and pay your business. This doesn’t restrict the client from disputing their transactions, but it does give you the proof needed to win the dispute.

In fact, professionals who use AffiniPay solutions have an 85 percent chance of winning chargebacks, thanks to our internal chargeback team. Unlike other payment solutions, ClientPay offers unbeatable customer support that’s available to you whenever you need it.

As a whole, hosted payment pages provide your business with many advantages that save time and money. Once you’ve decided to move forward with this tool, choosing the right provider is the next step.

ClientPay’s simple, secure payment solution empowers building and design professionals like you to accept credit, debit, and eCheck payments anytime, from anywhere. Specialized features, including our payment pages, can be customized with your firm’s branding and overall feel so your clients have a convenient payment experience that feels familiar and safe.

Learn more about ClientPay’s hosted payment pages here