So far in this blog series on using email for accounts receivable we’ve covered why you should be using email to send invoices and payment reminders and how to get your customers to make the switch. Sending emails for B2B collections helps you to reach customers more quickly and, often, gets customers to pay more quickly as well. There are many more benefits, though, to using email for accounts receivable and automating the process.
The process to send out letters to customers with invoices and payment reminders is a long one. Between printing and stuffing envelopes and then waiting for it to finally arrive, it could take a week. Email is instantaneous. If you automate the email process, it will even save you time. Company’s using Lockstep Collect to automate the accounts receivable invoicing process via email have automated 8,000 or more emails in one year saving them around 600 hours of time.

With all the time saved by sending emails and automating the process, you’re able to pay more attention to the accounts who need it the most. When you’re not mailing hundreds of invoices, you can call the accounts who are the latest due or have the most due and ask for payment. You will have more time to follow up when the initial invoices have all been sent out on time.

Some are concerned about emailing because they may forget to attach important documents. When you forget the supporting documents like a purchase order, customers often can’t make a payment. When you automate sending emails to customers, you don’t have to worry about attaching invoices or supporting documents. The system will do it for you.Sending emails for invoices and payment reminders instead of printing letters and stuffing envelopes makes the process much quicker. By spending less time sending out everything by mail, you can focus on what is most important: collecting. You can follow up on accounts that you may have never had the time to call and start creating customer relationships.