Unlocking Financial Success
Solving Cash Flow Failure Caused by Missing Payment Data
Notch Financial had automation in place, but suppliers were still getting paid late. The issue was not usability or feature coverage. It was a product decision that allowed customers to avoid providing payment information.
The Real Constraint
Notch Financial is an AP and AR automation platform used by suppliers to invoice and collect payments from their customers.
On paper, the system worked. Invoices were sent on time. Reminders were automated. Payments could be processed digitally.
In reality, cash flow was unpredictable.
Most suppliers did not have credit card or banking information on file for their customers. That meant payments depended on follow ups, checks, and manual workarounds. Automation existed, but it could not be enforced.
Late payments were not caused by broken flows or missing features. They were caused by a decision the product allowed. Customers could access invoices without committing a payment method.
As long as that remained true, suppliers would continue to chase payments instead of collecting them.
This was not an execution problem.
It was a decision problem.
Ownership
I owned the product decision behind Notch Financial’s customer portal.
My responsibility was to identify why cash flow remained broken despite existing automation and design a solution that changed customer behavior at scale. This included defining the access model, enforcing payment method capture, and aligning the portal experience with supplier outcomes.
I worked across product, engineering, and go to market to ensure the decision was implemented consistently and rolled out without introducing additional operational burden for suppliers.
The goal was not to ship a portal.
The goal was to make getting paid predictable.
Success metrics
+30%
Increase in Payment Method Collection
+25%
Boost in Cash Flow Efficiency for Suppliers
-20%
Reduction in Transaction Costs
The Research Phase:
Where Curiosity Meets Innovation!
Based on our deep dive into customer minds and our relentless pursuit of industry wisdom, here’s what we’ve unearthed:
Customers were struggling with late payments due to lack of payment information, causing significant cash flow challenges for businesses.
Many customers still preferred paying by check, further complicating timely payment collection.
Suppliers lacked credit card or banking information for most customers, making it difficult to charge them promptly.
The absence of necessary payment details led to delays in payments, causing cash flow issues for suppliers.
Industry trends showed that businesses offering multiple payment options, including automated payments, see a 21% reduction in late payments on average.
A study by PYMNTS.com found that 74% of businesses reported faster payments after implementing a customer portal.
The Aha Moment
We realized something crucial: If we could create a system that convinced customers to give up their payment details in exchange for access to their invoices, we’d solve this problem overnight. And that’s exactly what we did.
Revolutionizing Payment Collection:
The Game-Changing Customer Portal
Discover how our innovative white-labeled customer portal transformed Notch Financial’s payment landscape, boosting efficiency and cash flow for suppliers. This groundbreaking solution incentivizes customers to register payment details, enabling automated payments and significantly reducing late payments.
Portal Invite Button: We added a portal invite button within the software, enabling suppliers to send a branded welcome email to customers on their behalf.
Branded Welcome Email: The email directed customers to a registration/landing page that outlined the benefits of registering for the portal.
Registration/Landing Page: Upon registration, customers were prompted to add their payment method via a popup before gaining access to their invoices.
Payment Method Capture Modal: We implemented a trigger modal that required customers to input a payment method before accessing their bills, ensuring we had the necessary information for future transactions.
Wallet Section: Recognizing that customers might have multiple suppliers, we created a dedicated wallet section within the platform. This allowed customers to efficiently manage and organize their various payment methods for different suppliers.
Autopay Feature: When a payment method is captured on the customer portal, suppliers can now set all payments to autopay, with the client’s permission. This feature streamlines the payment process, reducing late payments and improving cash flow for suppliers.
From Chaos to Cash Flow
The customer portal didn’t just knock it out of the park— it sent the ball into orbit! With a +30% conversion rate, payment collection turned into a well-oiled machine, cutting down late payments like a hot knife through butter. And as if that wasn’t enough, we gave Stripe the boot and said, “Hello, Adyen!” The result? A 10-20% slash in transaction costs, which means more money in the bank and less in the hands of those pesky processing fees. Talk about making it rain in the profitability department! exactly what we did.
+30%
Increase in Payment Method Collection
+25%
Boost in Cash Flow Efficiency
-20%
Reduction in Transaction Costs
The Takeaway
The biggest lesson we learned? When you give customers a reason to act—and make it easy for them to do so—they will. By creating a sense of urgency and making the process straightforward, we transformed a frustrating, time-consuming process into a seamless, profitable one.