7 Great Reasons to Add Payment Processing to Your Legal Practice Management System

Collecting payments from your clients in a timely manner is critical to the health of your law firm, but managing, tracking, and chasing down invoices eats up valuable time. Payment hassles can also create friction at a very important client-lawyer touchpoint.

If your firm only offers limited or outdated payment options, you’re missing the opportunity to make the process faster and easier for everyone. Read on to learn seven key benefits of adding built-in, all-in-one payment processing to your law firm’s practice management system.

1. Your Clients Want Simple, Convenient Payment Options

In our increasingly digitized world, law firm clients not only want, but expect, to be able to pay their legal fees quickly, easily, and online. They also expect to be able to pay by whatever method they’re most comfortable with, whenever is most convenient for them. If you want to improve your clients’ overall experience with your law firm, expanding your payment offerings is a great place to start.

To make the process as simple as possible, Actionstep has introduced Actionstep Payments, a built-in feature that allows your law firm to accept multiple online payment options, including credit cards, debit cards, and ACH (echeck) within your Actionstep system.

2. You Need a Payment Solution Built Specifically for Law Firms

While there are hundreds of options on the market that allow businesses to accept online payments, law firms have specialized needs when it comes to compliance, security, and trust accounting rules. Basic payment processing options like Paypal are not built to sync up with these requirements. With a specific legal payment processing solution like Actionstep Payments, you don’t have to worry about accidentally breaking any rules.

Actionstep Payments is also fully secure and adheres to all Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) requirements to ensure that your data is backed up and protected against unauthorized access.

3. You Can Say Goodbye to Double Entry

If your firm isn’t processing payments through a built-in solution, you’re likely entering payment information in multiple places and switching among multiple platforms and browser windows. Not only is this double entry of data annoying and arduous, it also leaves ample room for human error. With a built-in payment solution like Actionstep Payments, your clients’ payment information automatically populates in your practice management system, QuickBooks, or Xero for seamless reconciliation of accounts. Everything you need is all in one place.

4. You’ll Have Better Visibility into Your Finances

When payments are built into your practice management system, it’s much easier to monitor the financial metrics you need to know. Within Actionstep Payments, you can quickly check outstanding client balances, as well as the issue/payment date, invoice number, client name, matter, payment status, the last four digits of the credit card used, and the payment amount.

5. You’ll Get Paid Faster

Making payments easier for your clients also makes them faster. In fact, businesses that accept online payment options receive funds up to ten times faster than traditional payment methods. With Actionstep Payments, your clients can pay their bills online by credit or debit card as soon as they receive them, all in just a matter of a few quick clicks. They don't have to find time to drop off a check in-person or track down a stamp and envelope to mail it to you.

6. You’ll Spend Less Time Chasing Down Invoices

Tired of chasing down outstanding invoices and payments? An integrated payment solution can eliminate a lot of the time-consuming follow-up and back-and-forth. Once a bill is approved in Actionstep Payments, you can automatically share it with your client, and they will receive an email that allows them to pay through a secure link provided in the invoice.

7. It’s a Win-Win

This final reason is the simplest of all: With built-in payments, you are able to offer your clients the best possible payment experience, while your team saves time, headaches, and hassles. It's a true win-win that benefits your clients, your team, and ultimately your firm's bottom line.

Still have questions about the details of Actionstep Payments? We’ve got you covered. Check out our Payments FAQs here.

Level Up Your Payments Solution

Actionstep is one of the only legal practice management systems that has full back- and front-office functionality, and with Actionstep Payments, you can streamline and integrate a critical client touchpoint. Talk to our team today to learn more.