Collections Management: #4 Before, During & After Payment Processing

"Mark, I think the payment link isn't working. Can you send it again?" Staring at a message, Mark got on his phone. This was the third time the same customer had asked him that week.

A few minutes later, another message came, "Hey, the invoice total seems different this month. Can you check?" Before he could respond, a new email appeared: "Our payment failed. Should we try again or wait?"

Mark leaned back in his chair and laughed, certainly not from humour but with exhaustion. Payments were supposed to be simple. Why so many questions, interruptions, and follow-ups? "Isn't payment just, send invoice ---> customer pays ---> done?" he murmured.

But as his business grew, he realised something important. Getting paid is not a simple action; it's a journey that starts even before the customer begins paying for the service. Yes, it starts long before the customer clicks "Pay Now" and it continues long after the money arrives.

It is crucial to analyse where your business needs control and where it needs to be automated. Having a system with that kind of flexibility will definitely help as you scale.

Zoho Billing brings that kind of comfort to business. It doesn't just help in collecting payments; it also allows companies to manage everything before, during, and after the transaction is created.

Before Payment Process 

Preparing Customers for a Smooth Onboarding 

The payment experience begins with the invoice itself. Zoho Billing generates invoices that promptly reflect usage charges, proration, add-ons, discounts, taxes, and more. The accuracy and clarity eliminate billing disputes and prevent the confusion that delays payments, such as "why is this amount different?"

Predictable Billing 

Whether the business uses milestone billing, recurring cycles, a prepaid model or usage-based pricing, Zoho Billing aligns every billing event seamlessly. Even mid-cycle plan changes are recalculated automatically, keeping charges consistent and predictable. 

No/Less Extra Effort for Collection 

Invoices come with embedded payment options, hosted payment pages, and a customer portal, providing customers with immediate access to make payments. They don't need to search for payment instructions.

Proactive Communication 

Zoho Billing handles all reminders leading up to the due date. From invoice notifications to upcoming due alerts and expiring card notices, customers stay informed and prepared, significantly reducing the risk of overdue payments. You can even configure reminders on trial subscription where it will prompt the customer before trial is about to expire.

Reports based on upcoming payments  (Top 3) 

1. AR Ageing Summary: Displays outstanding receivables categorised by the number of days. This helps identify which customers or invoices are approaching overdue status, allowing payment follow-up to begin even before the due date.
   
   
2. Upcoming Renewals: Helps businesses forecast upcoming subscription renewals, ensuring they know who will be charged soon. This works perfectly for pre-payment communication and customer readiness.
   
   
3. Card Expiry: Payment failures mostly happen due to issues with the card or an expired card. This report helps you with the list of customer cards with expiring payment methods. This is crucial in preventing future failed transactions and ensuring smoother upcoming payments.

During Payment Process 

Multiple Payment Methods 

Zoho Billing integrates with multiple payment methods/gateways, including Stripe, Razorpay, PayPal, PayTabs, and GoCardless. This gives customers the freedom to pay using cards, UPI, ACH, direct debit or whichever works best for them. The best part is that businesses can now configure a backup payment method in addition to the primary payment method in use. This helps increase the likelihood of receiving payment successfully and without requiring manual or retry attempts.

Effortless Auto-pay 

Once a customer approves a payment mandate, Zoho Billing automatically handles renewals. Payments are charged on schedule without customer intervention, ensuring predictable cash flow.

Intelligent Failure Handling 

If a payment fails, Zoho Billing instantly captures the failure reason, notifies the customer, and triggers the configured dunning process. Customer can update their payment method directly from the notification. Retries occur automatically based on predefined rules, converting failures into recoveries.

Instant Updates 

Successful payments update invoices, issue receipts, trigger provisioning workflows in real time, making everything in sync without any manual effort or follow-up needed.

Reports based on Processing Payment  (Top 3)

1. Payment Received: Displays all recent payments collected, facilitating monitoring of the inflow as payments are processed.
   
   
2. Payment Failures: Essential during the payment phase to identify failed attempts in real-time, enabling quicker resolution or automated dunning actions.
   
   
3. Under Risk:  Displays invoices currently in dunning and at risk of churn. This acts as a key report for understanding which customers are in the middle of the recovery process.

After Payment Process 

Consistent Post Payment Communication 

Zoho Billing automates thank-you messages, renewal confirmations, usage summaries, and future billing reminders. These touchpoints maintain transparency and build customer trust.

Handling Adjustments 

Whether a customer needs a partial refund, a correction or a credit note, Zoho Billing applies all changes while maintaining accurate records across billing and accounting modules.

Visibility on Unpaid Invoices 

Zoho Billing highlights accounts that need attention, allowing businesses to intervene before revenue loss occurs. Invoices that remain unpaid enter an automated dunning flow and appear as overdue, clearly indicating the outstanding receivables.

Reposts based on processed payment  (Top 3)

1. Recognised Revenue: Shows the actual revenue recognised from payments over time. This is a crucial report that provides financial accuracy after payments are complete.
   
   
2. Refund History: Tracks refunds issued to customers. Essential for understanding post-payment adjustments and their impact on customer satisfaction.
   
   
3. Renewal Summary: Shows which subscriptions have been successfully renewed after payment. Critical for recurring revenue tracking and retention analysis.

Zoho Billing Ensuring Seamless Payment Journey 

Zoho Billing brings structure to the entire payment workflow by guiding customers even before a payment attempt is made. It delivers clear invoices, predictable billing cycles and timely reminders that reduce confusion and delays. During the payment process, Zoho Billing eliminates friction with various payment options and provides intelligent handling of failed payment attempts, ensuring the process remains smooth and dependable.

After payment, it maintains accuracy through automated receipts and proper insights on the payments collected. With Zoho billin,g payment collection becomes predictable, automated and friendly with all possibilities to scale in the future.

Up Next: Self-checkout: Next level convenience

 

 

 

• Topic Participants

• Hari Hara Sudhan. S

  

• Sticky Posts

• Zoho Billing will discontinue support for older browser versions soon

  Hello users, Starting from May 15, 2024, Zoho Billing will no longer support the following browser versions: Browsers Version Restrictions Firefox Browser Versions older than 100 Google Chrome Versions older than 100 Microsoft Edge Versions older than

• Introducing Developer Space in Zoho Subscriptions

  Hello devs! At Zoho Subscriptions, we're constantly looking for ways to empower the developer community. Our goal is to provide you with the tools you need to integrate Zoho Subscriptions with your other platforms, and we also want to make it easy to

• Recent Topics

• Booking outside of scheduled availability

  Is there a way for staff (such as the secretary) to book appointments outside of the scheduled availability? Right now to do this special hours must be set each time. There should be a quicker way. Am I missing something?

• IMAP error message in Zoho mail

  I cannot send emails today. Everything fine for years until today. Get a message: "You are yet to enable IMAP for your account. Please contact your administrator". Does anyone know how to correct this?

• unable to send email but able to receive email

  my email address is info@securityforceservices.ca

• Zoho Desk Android and iOS app update: Access multilingual templates on the IM module

  Hello everyone! We have introduced multilingual templates on the IM module of the Zoho Desk mobile app allowing you to send IM template messages in translated versions. iOS: Android: Please update the app to the latest version directly from the App Store/

• Login to server failing

  When trying to retrieve my mail, I am getting this error message -- Login to server pop.zoho.com with username (my email address) failed. It gives me the option to retry, enter password, or cancel. Then I get this message -- Sending of username did not

• Does Zoho offer a full WhatsApp Marketing Platform (like WATI / GallaBox)?

  lm exploring WhatsApp marketing and I’d like to understand what options are available within the Zoho ecosystem. Currently, I see: Zoho SalesIQ has a broadcast option, but it seems very limited — for example, it doesn’t support uploading contacts via

• IMAP stopped working today

  Hello! I've been a paid customer for more than 10 years, IMAP was always working fine. But today this is the error I've got on my iPhone: I've tried toggling the IMAP for my account (Mail -> Settings -> Mail accounts) off and on again, but that did not

• Custom buttons

  Getting Error "You can only create 10 custom buttons per module" ! I already have more than 10 for 1 module before trying to create another. Is this a new restriction brought about by the all knowing what's best for businesses Zoho guru ? It would be

• The Social Wall: October 2025

  Hello everyone, As we head toward the end of the year, we’re bringing you a few updates to help give your social media efforts a strong finish. This month, we’re rolling out new enhancements across both the web and mobile app. Post Preview Have you ever

• Client Script | Update - Support for List Page (Canvas) and Notes

  Hello everyone! We are glad to announce two exciting updates in Client Script. Client Script support for List Page (Canvas) Client Script support for Notes These open the door to more dynamic and interactive customizations! 1. Client Script support for

• Trouble Connecting Zoho Mail via IMAP in n8n – Need Help

  Hi everyone 👋, I'm trying to connect my Zoho Mail account to n8n using the IMAP Email Trigger node, but I'm facing issues getting it to work fully. ✅ Here's what I’ve done so far: ✅ IMAP access is enabled in my Zoho Mail settings ✅ I’m using the correct

• Pincode Based Pricing

  We want to give extra discount to customers within city limits because our shipping and packing costs are less. My proposal is assign list of pincodes to price list and assign the price list to customers whenever they sign up with pincodes. Also show

• feature question: lookup field in Projects task layout

  Hello, Below we have interface to configure a custom task layout, however, we need a lookup field to let pickup data from other apps, such as Zoho CRM Products module, is that possible or already in your roadmap? or a workaround to achieve it? Thanks in advance.

• Can we do Image swatches for color variants?

  We want to do something like the attached screenshot on our new zoho store. We need image swatches instead of normal text selection. We want to user to select an image as color option. Is this doable? I don't see any option on zoho backend. Please h

• What's New in Zoho Analytics - October 2025

  Hello Users! We're are back with a fresh set of updates and enhancements to make data analysis faster and more insightful. Take a quick look at what’s new and see how these updates can power up your reports and dashboards. Explore What's New! Extreme

• Zoho Analytics & SQL Server - Live connect

  Below are the steps I did Created a fresh database and table in my own virtual server Created a new data source connection with live connect I was able to select the tables and created the data source successfully I am getting the error when I try to

• Explore the Redesigned Quotes Module in Zoho Billing

  Dear users, We’re excited to introduce a refreshed look for the Quotes details page in Zoho Billing! This update brings you a more efficient user interface experience without changing your existing workflow. We've enhanced layouts with organized tabs,

• Latest updates in Zoho Meeting | Create departments, Share PDF files

  Hello all,   You can now create departments to group team members within your organization. This will make it easier for you to organize department-level meetings and invite members. In webinars, use the Share material feature to share PDF files directly

• Unify All Zoho Video Meeting Experiences into One Standardized Platform

  Hi Zoho Team, We would like to share an important user experience concern regarding the current state of video meeting functionality across the Zoho ecosystem. The Problem Within Zoho, there are multiple ways to initiate or schedule a video meeting: Zoho

• [Free Webinar] Product Updates: Quick Catch-Up Session - Part I - Creator Tech Connect

  Hello Everyone! We welcome you all to the upcoming free webinar on the Creator Tech Connect Series. The Creator Tech Connect series is a free monthly webinar featuring deep-dive technical sessions designed for developers, administrators, and app builders.

• Project expenses in Zoho Books

  Just the way timesheet is used to calculate labour cost for a particular project, how do i record other expenses against a project such as materials and consumables used for the project? So that under report, I can view the total amount expended on each

• Blueprint status change

  I want to change the Blueprint status of a workflow. The status is completed automatically when I added the record through API call. But I want to make it active, I don't see any options for this. Even if I draw transition from any stage , it is not visible

• What is going on with GMail extension.

  Suddenly, it is popping up and saying "Please wait while we work our magic... 10%" and it sits there. Yesterday I waited for an entire hour call and it never got further. Today, it's not resolved. Is there a fix I can do? I've tried all the typical

• Marketing Tip #6: Cross-sell with related products

  Don’t let customers stop at just one product. Suggesting related or complementary items improves the shopping experience and increases order value. Try this today: Use the Item Recommendations feature in Zoho Commerce and add two to three suggested items

• i cannot use <b></b> to bold the message in Creator C6!!!!???What?

  Dear experts and friends, Now Creator 6 blocking us from using <b></b> Anyone facing this issue? I faced it on Creator C6 Previously, it used to work. Now failed to work. Faint~ Seek guidance from everyone on how to bold the message. The super simple

• Zoho Writer - Option to Export as .zdoc format

  I've noticed that it's not possible to export a Zoho Writer Document in the .zdoc format. Isn't zdoc, Zoho Writer's own format? My use case is that I sometimes need to create quite complex documents with floating elements, which sometimes need to become

• [Announcement] Enhanced Merge APIs of Zoho Writer for automating document generation using Zoho Apps data

  Hi users, With the record_id parameter in Zoho Writer's Merge APIs, fields related to the given record id is automatically fetched from the Zoho app. You don't have to spend time manually mapping the records and fields in the Deluge code. Here is a sample

• Pin multiple columns and adjust column widths in CRM subforms

  Hello all, Subforms act as secondary forms or tables in which you can associate multiple line items to a primary record and thereby ensure more structured and comprehensive data organization. We've made some recent enhancements to subforms. Here's what's

• [Webinar] Automate sales and presales workflows with Writer

  Sales involves sharing a wide range of documents with customers across the presales, sales, and post-sales stages: NDAs, quotes, invoices, sales orders, and delivery paperwork. Generating and managing these documents manually slows down the overall sales

• Automate insurance document workflows with Zoho Writer

  Insurance companies have to deal with creating and managing complex documents and forms, such as policy applications, explanation of benefits documents, brochures, renewals, and claim forms. Handling all of this manually is hugely time and effort intensive,

• Latest updates in Zoho Meeting | New End of session notification to remind everyone about the session end time

  Hello everyone, We’re excited to share a new feature for Zoho Meeting ; End of session notification. With this new setting, you can choose to remind all participants or only the host about the scheduled end time of a meeting. You can also choose when

• [Webinar] Zoho Writer for SCM and logistics

  Creating, sharing, and distributing complex documents are constant challenges in the SCM and logistics industry. That's why our next webinar is focused on how to simplify these document workflows. Join us on Jul 10, 2025 for a Zoho Writer webinar designed

• [Webinar] Zoho Writer for the manufacturing industry

  Creating, sharing, and distributing complex documents are constant challenges in the manufacturing services industry. That's why our next webinar is focused on how to simplify these document workflows. Join us on May 8, 2025, for a Zoho Writer webinar

• Add Comprehensive Accessibility Features to Zoho Writer

  Hello Zoho Writer Team, We hope you are doing well. We would like to submit a feature request to enhance Zoho Writer with a full set of accessibility tools, similar to the accessibility options already available in the Zoho Desk agent interface. 🚧 Current

• [Webinar] Simplifying document workflows in financial services with Zoho Writer

  Creating, sharing, and distributing complex documents are constant challenges in the financial services industry. That's why our next webinar is focused on how to simplify these document workflows. Join us on April 10, 2025, for a Zoho Writer webinar

• [Zoho Writer Webinar] Learn how to simplify your HR operations: Part 2

  Hi Zoho Writer users, We're excited to announce the Zoho Writer webinar for July 2024: Learn how Zoho Writer can simplify your HR operations: Part 2. This webinar will focus on how Zoho Writer can help HR teams streamline and automate their entire hiring

• [Zoho Writer Webinar] Learn how to simplify your day-to-day HR operations

  Hi Zoho Writer users, We're excited to announce the Zoho Writer webinar for June 2024: Learn how Zoho Writer can simplify your day-to-day HR operations. This webinar will focus on how to automate your entire hiring process and generate various types of

• Branding of native system emails

  Make system emails adjustable in terms of branding. We want our system to be completely white label, because it is not a CRM anymore, it's way more than that. We are following the strategy of "CRM for everyone" to use the CRM in all departments, not only

• Support “Never End” Option for Recurring Meetings in Zoho Meeting

  Hello Zoho Meeting Team, Hope you are doing well. We would like to request support for creating recurring meetings with no end date in Zoho Meeting. Currently, when scheduling a recurring meeting, Zoho Meeting requires us to select a specific end date.

• Add Custom Field Inside Parts Section

  How to Add Custom Field Inside Parts Section in Workorder like Category and Sub- Category

• Next Page