PestBossPro Blog — Billing & Payments

Online Payment From the Pest Control Customer App

Not every customer has a card on file, and not every invoice gets charged automatically. One-time customers, inspection buyers, commercial accounts and the occasional customer who just prefers to pay each bill themselves all need a simple way to pay. The simplest way is the one already on their phone.

For the Invoices That Don't Auto-Charge

Real estate inspections, covered in WDI Inspection Billing: Getting Paid for Real Estate Inspections, are a good example of an invoice that often does not charge automatically. There are plenty of others, and they all benefit from online payment.

In the PestBossPro customer app, customers see their invoices and pay online. They do not need to call, mail a check or wait for the tech's next visit. The invoice is there, the amount is there, and paying takes a minute.

Who Uses Online Payment

• One-time customers. A wasp nest removal or an ant treatment for someone who is not on a plan. They may not want to leave a card on file, but they will pay the invoice online.
• Inspection customers. Buyers and agents paying for a WDI inspection at booking.
• Customers with a declined card. They can update the card and pay the open invoice in one visit to the app.
• Commercial accounts. Some restaurant owners and property managers would rather pay their monthly statement by card than cut a check.
• Prepaid programs. Customers paying a mosquito season or annual plan up front.
• Customers who like control. Some people simply prefer to pay each bill themselves. Online payment lets them do that without a mailed check.

More Than a Payment Page

The customer app is not just a place to pay. It is where customers handle their whole relationship with you:

• See invoices and pay.
• Update their card.
• Request service and sign up for additional services with your pricing.
• See today's route when they are on it: “You're stop 12 of 20 — the tech is 5 stops away.”
• Set alert preferences for the night before, when they are next, and when the tech arrives.
• Rate the service and refer a friend.

That matters for billing because customers who use the app for other things already know where to find their invoices. A customer who checked the live route this morning knows exactly where to go when the invoice arrives this afternoon.

Fewer Billing Calls

Most billing calls are some version of “what do I owe?”, “did you get my payment?” or “can I pay over the phone?” The customer app answers all three. The invoices are listed, the payments show, and paying takes a minute without anyone in the office reading a card number back.

That last point matters. Taking card numbers over the phone is slower and riskier than letting the customer pay themselves. When a customer pays online, the card details never pass through your office. The same goes for card updates, covered in Letting Pest Control Customers Update Their Own Card in the Customer App.

Telling Customers It Exists

An online payment option nobody knows about does not get used. Mention it everywhere it is useful:

• On the estimate and sign-up page.
• In the invoice email.
• In the past-due reminder: “You can pay online in our customer app.”
• On the tech's door hanger or leave-behind for one-time jobs.
• When someone calls asking how to pay.

Two-way texting helps here too. A short text with a reminder about an open invoice and a pointer to the customer app often gets paid the same day.

Customers Outside the US

PestBossPro works in the US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the UK, and bills customers in their own currency. A Canadian pest control company sends invoices in Canadian dollars, and its customers pay them online in the customer app the same way a customer in Texas would. The invoice, the amount and the payment all match the currency the customer actually uses, so nobody has to do a conversion in their head before paying.

Card on File Still Comes First

Online payment is not a replacement for a card on file on recurring plans. For a quarterly customer, auto-charging at completion is still the least work for everyone. Online payment is the backup and the alternative: for the customers and invoices that do not fit auto-charge, and for fixing the ones that did not go through.

Give Every Invoice a Way to Get Paid

Between a card on file for recurring plans and online payment in the customer app for everything else, every invoice you send has a quick way to get paid. For the rest of PestBossPro's billing tools, visit the pest control invoicing software page.