eCommerce Business Solutions for B2B Invoicing

B2B Invoice Payment Software Features

In user dashboards, invoices typically include the step after a sales order has been fulfilled and now needs to be paid for. If an item hasn't been paid for yet, then an invoice can be very helpful to track the status of a particular item in the sales process. But invoices are more than just “please submit your payment now.” There are many more complex questions that can be answered by a robust B2B invoice payment system: 

• Are there any discounts to be applied based on the customer? 
• Has the item and paid for, or has the entire order been paid for?  
• If it’s split between multiple buyers, which buyers have paid?  
• For international orders, what stage is the money exchange and transfer at?  
• Are there additional handling charges? 

Let’s take a look at the aspects of invoicing that can make your customer’s business — and your business — much more efficient. 

It's common for an order to occur outside of the B2B eCommerce platform using CRM or ERP software. This might happen whenever there are external order management channels that are already in place — sales team, convention, point-of-sale — and all of this needs to be brought together so that there’s a centralized set of data for the user regarding their orders in their order history. 

Invoices are incorporated into the user dashboard, and our B2B platform modules include a grid view or a list view so the user can review work at the line-item level. The platform will typically display the first order line item or a thumbnail that shows multiple pictures combined into a single square thumbnail. We can show the title and the description of the order or the combination of the order items. We will typically include the dates, amount of the purchase, and any status, typically with invoices related to payment interactions. More can be added later. 

Depending on the specific business workflow, it may be very helpful to offer a grid view or list view (or other custom view) where the user can pay for an invoice or take care of actions on the invoice at a group level. They may choose to pay for a single invoice or a single sub-invoice, or want to pay for multiple invoices at the same time. In many cases, this process is going to be self-service and automated for the end customer. 

This may also trigger workflows for your own company, and eCommerce option that can automate actions that might currently be manual. Once they pay for the order, the platform can change the status so that actions occur or are canceled. For instance, an invoice may avoid heading to collections once payment is received, or it may send paid-in-full notices to both your sales representative and the customer themselves. It may mark their accounts so that their account no longer has a hold on it, and they can now place other orders. Many times, businesses will try to delay customized B2B payments on invoices until they absolutely have to, and they won’t be able to make more orders until they pay for previous ones.

The B2B invoice software also includes, where applicable, a chronological view of the steps that were completed in the fulfillment process of that particular invoice. This would include details like any custom status related to a specific business workflow, as well as any notification that might make sense to show related to fees or due dates.

Customer Self-Service Actions 

Within the invoice detail and a sales order detail we also include options to take action on the overall invoice or order. In some cases, there might be a subscription, so the user might want to see that their subscription is going to auto-renew and check the subscription view within their user dashboard. Or they may have PHI information associated with an invoice, so they may want to go to the privacy tab of the user dashboard and see related information that ties to that. This can include digital purchases they need to assign, or send access to line items or a seat in a course. In some cases, the invoice detail can be very granular as far as what it can do. This might include having a granular breakout view of an original item.  

Clarity can incorporate all of this invoice detail in the order detail, making the workflow seamless and very powerful. It also gives the customer more control and allows them to take full advantage of the self-service aspects you’ve set up for them. All of these options are excellent differentiators for your business to be able to offer this customization and enterprise-level personalization for the end-user.  

Enabling a seamless ordering process creates a significant amount of loyalty that provides value that goes beyond the classical scenario of fulfilling an order and providing an invoice. Clarity’s invoice modules can make the entire process easy on the user at it matches their desired workflow.