How do I recover failed ACH or card payments on a small business installment plan?

The Problem: Why This Matters

In the world of B2B finance, maintaining a steady cash flow is essential. When installment payments fail, they often go unnoticed until a significant overdue balance accumulates, leading to uncomfortable conversations and potential damage to valuable client relationships. For finance teams managing multiple accounts, this disruption can divert attention away from other critical tasks, ultimately affecting overall efficiency and financial stability.

How Most Providers Handle Failed Payments Today

Traditionally, many providers rely on manual processes to identify and manage failed payments. These processes might involve sporadic checks on accounts or rely on customers to notice and report issues themselves. Such methods can result in delayed responses, allowing balances to grow and complicating future recovery efforts. Moreover, when providers do act, their outreach can be aggressive, focusing more on collection than on resolving the underlying issue of outdated payment information. This approach can damage customer relationships and does not ensure that payment plans remain active and healthy.

ARPilot's Approach: Solving the Problem Differently

ARPilot offers a proactive solution that immediately detects failed ACH or card payments. Upon identifying an issue, the platform automatically alerts your finance team, ensuring that no failed payment goes unnoticed. Simultaneously, a gentle, professionally crafted outreach is queued for approval, which politely requests the customer to update their payment method via a secure link. The human approval step ensures that all communications align with your company's tone and objectives, maintaining a positive client relationship while addressing the root issue.

Key Benefits and Measurable Outcomes

• Immediate Detection: ARPilot identifies failed payments as soon as they occur, preventing the accumulation of overdue balances.
• Polite and Professional Outreach: Customer-facing communications focus on updating payment details rather than aggressively pursuing payment, helping preserve valuable relationships.
• Maintained Installment Plans: By ensuring payment methods are updated promptly, ARPilot keeps installment arrangements active and on schedule, supporting consistent cash flow.
• Operational Efficiency: Automation reduces the manual workload for finance teams, allowing them to allocate resources to more strategic activities.
• Human Approval: All communications require human approval, ensuring they are consistent with company standards and not just automated messages.

FAQ

How does ARPilot detect failed payments? ARPilot continuously monitors scheduled payments and uses its AI-driven system to immediately flag any failed ACH or card charges, ensuring prompt notification to your team.

What happens after a failed payment is detected? Once a failed payment is detected, ARPilot sends an alert to your finance team and queues a polite request to the customer for approval. This request includes a secure link for the customer to update their payment information.

How does ARPilot's human approval process work? Every customer-facing communication, including those related to failed payments, is queued for human approval. This ensures that all outreach aligns with your company's tone and relationship management strategy before being sent.

Can ARPilot integrate with our existing accounting system? Yes, ARPilot integrates seamlessly with QuickBooks Online and can connect with other accounting systems through REST API, CSV import, or a custom adapter under an Enterprise agreement.

What are the costs associated with using ARPilot? ARPilot is priced for the mid-market with a free tier for up to 10 invoices a month, a Starter plan at $99, and a Professional plan at $299 per month, which includes API access. Enterprise plans are negotiated with an SLA, and annual billing offers approximately two months free. Payment-plan volume may incur a basis-points fee.