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The Benefits of Accepting Electronic Payments on Your Law Firm Website

by Dec 18, 2023

The way we all pay for things has changed. From apps that split our lunch bills to touchless payments using our cell phones, every modern consumer has experienced the luxury of choice when it comes to payments. Solo attorneys and small law firms can capitalize on this trend by offering online modern payment options, too. In turn, you may just boost your revenue and save some time.

Read on for a look into how your law firm website can be more than just a website, an argument for why your law firm website should have an online payment system, and some things to consider when implementing an online payment solution.

Your website is more than just a website

To maximize the impact of your firm’s digital presence, you first need to think of your website as more than just a website. While your law firm website can operate as a powerful marketing tool, its value can far exceed marketing when it is used strategically. 

For example, your website can help you:

  • Run your practice more efficiently. With extra resources such as electronic payments, scheduling tools, forms, and more, you can effectively save time on administrative tasks that take you away from your clients. 
  • Eliminate overhead costs of a physical office. If your practice is already virtual, or looking to become virtual, your website is likely a major hub for your business. With tools like cloud-based document management and electronic payments, your website can help make it possible for your firm to operate virtually. 
  • Manage client expectations. Client expectations can be effectively managed by providing useful information and resources and being transparent about your law practice, your approach to law, your fees, how fees can be paid, and more. 

Why your law firm website should have an online payment system

Why should your law firm accept electronic payments from clients via your website? The short answer is this: (1) Your clients prefer it; and (2) your law firm will benefit from it. 

Below are the top four benefits your firm will receive when you accept electronic payments for your services.

#1 Get paid faster and increase your firm’s revenue

While many of you practice law because you have a passion for it, the reality of running your law firm is that profit is a necessity. One of the main advantages of accepting electronic payments is the rate at which clients pay invoices. With online electronic payments, you receive payments faster. 

In addition, you have also saved yourself some valuable time in the collections process. For the legal industry, research has reported faster collection times for online payments with 57% of electronic payments being completed within the same day as billing and 85% being completed within a week, according to Clio’s 2019 Legal Trends Report.

As previously mentioned, getting paid faster means building revenue faster for your practice. Other benefits of electronic payments that contribute to a boost in your revenue include the convenience for clients, faster payment processing, and the flexibility of choice. Convenient and flexible payment options help your firm get paid faster and more efficiently while quicker payment processing helps you collect revenue faster than traditional methods.

#2 Improve client experience

It’s common for modern law firms to cater to their clients, and so you make decisions that will improve client satisfaction. Providing the convenience of electronic payments directly on your law firm website can positively impact client satisfaction with your services. 

By offering the option of electronic payments, you deliver a better client experience by:

  1. Allowing clients to pay within the status quo. Many if not most modern consumers are already accustomed to paying for everyday items and services electronically. By offering an electronic payment method on your website, clients can pay for legal services according to their preference.
  2. Providing clients with payment flexibility. Legal services tend to be pretty pricey for the average person. Offering an online payment option in addition to traditional payment methods such as cash or check gives clients the flexibility to choose the method that works best for them. In addition, several electronic payment technologies allow you to offer further payment flexibility such as payment plans.

#3 Save time

The desire to reduce the volume of non-billable hours in an average workday is a universal want for attorneys – especially solos and small law firm owners. While you may not be able to reduce non-billable hours for every task type, electronic payments offer the opportunity to streamline payment collections and save a significant amount of time.

There are a few different ways you can save time on billing using an online electronic payment system, including:

  1. Generating electronic invoices. Using an online payment solution to track your time, create invoices, and send invoices all help to save you time.
  2. Accepting payments instantly. Spend less time following up with clients after sending invoices by allowing them to pay instantly. Plus, your payments can process automatically and will eliminate the need for manual processing.
  3. Offering automated payment plans. If you make it easier for clients to pay you when they can, you save time chasing payments.
  4. Managing payments online. Many legal payment technologies help keep payments organized by synching with accounting software and legal practice management software.

#4 Make data-driven business decisions

Choosing an electronic payment solution that integrates with your legal practice management software can make tracking and organization of payments, transactions, and your financial performance much easier. As a result, you can make informed and data-driven business decisions for your practice without the need for tracking down vital payment data. 

Implementing a legal payments solution: Things to consider

Before you jump into implementing an electronic payments solution for your clients on your law firm website, it’s important to be aware of all of the facts. Below, we discuss some of the main points to consider when thinking about integrating online payments into your firm’s processes. 

#1 Finding and selecting a trusted legal payments technology 

One of the most important aspects of integrating an online payment system for your firm is conducting adequate research on a solution that fits your business needs and your law firm website. The right online payment solution should help you save time, increase your revenue, and stay compliant with your ethical and trust accounting responsibilities.

LawLytics offers seamless integrations with over 40 legal technologies including several trusted legal payments solutions for your law firm website. The following legal payment solutions are supported by LawLytics:

#2 Security concerns

Security is a top concern for both you and your clients when it comes to accepting payments through your website. 

When selecting your payments solution, you need to be aware of: 

  • Any security measures the tech has in place to protect the personal information of your clients and your firm 
  • Whether they use encryption protection for transactions
  • The tech’s compliance with your jurisdiction’s regulations
  • Whether they meet PCI compliance requirements (this is the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard and is a global set of security standards for handling credit card data)

#3 Ethics and electronic payment solutions

Not all online payment technologies are created equally, and for lawyers, it’s best to stick to a solution that is legal-specific to help you to stay compliant with your ethical and legal obligations. These obligations vary slightly by jurisdiction, but as a general rule of thumb, your electronic payment solution should ensure compliance with the Interest on Lawyers’ Trust Accounts (IOLTA) rules. 

#4 Setting your team up for success with online payments

Accepting online payments makes life easier for everyone, but in order for your payment solution to work best for you, there are a few recommended measures to take to yield the best results. For one, it’s important to thoroughly train your support staff and any vendors hired to perform work on your website on the payment technology. This will help ensure the security of your firm and your clients and protect your revenue stream.

Second, you will need to devise and implement a standard practice for any client communication surrounding payments, including disclaimers, declination letters, and termination letters. While legal payment solutions can take care of a lot of the finer details in billing and invoicing, there are still some processes that require administrative oversight. 

LawLytics makes it easy to market and run your practice.

A good website doesn’t just market your law firm – it plays well with the other tools you use to run your practice. LawLytics websites provide everything you need to have a high-functioning, professional website that integrates with many of the tools you’re already using at your firm. Plus, we can help you integrate with legal software solutions that you may not yet enjoy, such as electronic payments technology. To explore a full list of our integrations, see our partnerships and integrations page.

If you’re currently a LawLytics member and would like help with your legal payments solution for your website, please reach out to support. If you’re not a LawLytics member and you want to get the most out of your law firm’s website, schedule a 20-minute interactive demo with us to see how it works.

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