Online Payments
Help Make
Back to School
Time Easier
Does your school, childcare or after-school program currently handle all invoices and payments traditionally, i.e., using paper-related processes? If so, you may have an entire team of individuals who work individually on creating accurate invoices, sending payment reminders, processing payments, and catching up on missed payments. That is a lot of time and resources spent on handling a task that can very easily be automated.
The advantages of online payments are too diverse and clear to ignore. However, some schools stick to traditional payment processes because they don’t know the benefits online payments bring. In this article, we give you an overview of some of the most useful features of online payment platforms and the advantages of online payments.
Features of Online Payment Platforms
Online payment refers to a process that allows parents to make their payments securely over the internet using their preferred payment method. Instead of mailing a check to the school or organization, parents can log into their account anywhere and make payments or schedule payments.
There are a lot of registration platforms with integrated online payment features. However, an excellent online payment platform, like Digital Signup, should have the following features:
- The ability to make payments using any credit card or bank accounts.
- Scheduling automated or recurring payments.
- Ability to update or cancel payment details at any time.
- Payment receipt and updates via email.
- Sending automatic payment reminders to parents. Automatic logging of the payment details.
These are some of the primary features of online payment platforms that can benefit both the parents and the school.
Advantages of Online Payments
Now that you understand the primary features of online payments and what it entails let’s discuss some of the advantages.
1. Quick and Easy Payments
Online payment platforms send digital invoices. Most parents are likely to complete the payment with a few clicks instead of delaying it. If they don’t make the payment immediately, the system sends automatic reminders at set intervals. Parents can also schedule automatic payments, so the system collects payments regularly. This ensures that you receive payments on time without the hassle of manually sending invoices to the parents.
2. Clear Record Keeping
Online payment platforms keep and file all invoices digitally. Whenever someone in your organization needs to access past invoices or payments, they can access the information quickly. If you need to go through past payment details, you can do so within a few seconds rather than shuffling through several files and folders.
3. Instant Receipts
As with all other aspects of online payments, sending receipts is also automated. You don’t have to create the receipt yourself. Instead, the online payment platform generates an automatic receipt based on the details of the invoice and payment. Once the payment is made, an invoice is sent to you immediately.
4. Security
Collecting cash and checks can be a nightmare. When handling traditional payments, you have to keep vast quantities of money and checks until they are deposited. Checks can fall through, and those parents have to be contacted again regarding a failed payment. The whole process is clunky and leads to redundancies. With online payments, your school doesn’t need to store any of the money at the location lower security risk.
Conclusion
Online payments are the most convenient means of collecting payments in a hassle-free and straightforward manner. It’s not just better for the parents, but it’s a lot more efficient for the school or program in question as well. You completely automate tasks that are usually handled by teams, can collect quick and timely payments, automatically follow-up on overdue invoices, and maintain accurate records. Parents, on the other hand, can make payments comfortably from anywhere at all and even schedule automatic payments. It’s a win-win situation!
Online registration software can help you drastically enrich your after-school program. It can help you update your registration protocol for a seamless registration experience that maximizes enrollment, set up online schedules that increase transparency, keep the parents in the loop, create important data insight so you can craft reports for parents regarding the positive effects of the program, and you can automate the payment cycle to reduce inefficiencies in the payment process.
If you implement these strategies, you won’t just enrich your after-school program, but you’ll also increase the administrative efficiency..