Many local advertisers have been your customers for decades. They made radio a centerpiece of their advertising strategy and trust your organization. As the landscape evolved, many may now be buying digital advertising from you, too. This new revenue stream has also grown and diversified your book of business.
With all this change, why hasn’t your station modernized invoicing and payments? Believing that your customers want to receive a mailed invoice and pay by check is inaccurate. They likely want the convenience of an emailed invoice that requires a few clicks to pay online.
Paper Invoicing and Checks Cost You
Holding on to misconceptions or outdated customer expectations is literally costing you money. There are costs associated with printing and mailing invoices, as well as processing paper checks. We estimated this to be at least $705 a month. Additionally, it’s inefficient, risky, and burdensome for staff.
There’s no better way to clear up these erroneous beliefs than with data. We’ve found outside sources and used our own information to paint a picture of how local businesses want to pay invoices.
B2B Payment Facts
What does the world of B2B payments look like currently? Let’s take a look at the numbers.
- There was an 6% year-over-year growth of ACH payments made in B2B transactions.
- Businesses that receive at least 40% of payments via card experience a median payment delay of just one day.
- Only 8% of organizations use checks most often to pay their suppliers.
- In 2023, 76% of companies experienced payment fraud, with checks accounting for the largest share of related financial damage.
- The average time to pay in the media industry is 72 days.
From a broad perspective, we can see that ACH payments are favored, and checks are obsolete. These facts also highlight the risks of checks and how they slow down the payment life cycle. Electronic invoicing and the option to pay electronically reduce your days outstanding, improving cash flow.
Still not convinced? We’ve pulled some data from our own system to substantiate these conclusions.
Electronic Payment Trends from Marketron
Marketron customers can send electronic invoices and use our PayNow payments solution. PayNow handles all the logistics of online payments, streamlining workflows and managing everything from invoices to funding to reporting.
Here are some patterns we found.
Over the last 12 months, the percentage of electronic invoices in total invoicing has increased by 13%. The majority (65%) of invoices sent by our customers to advertisers are sent electronically. The number of payments made online by these businesses has increased by 37%.
These numbers demonstrate that adopting and prioritizing electronic invoicing and payments works. It’s what those doing business with you want. Failure to meet this need could have a lasting impact on your customer relationships.
We’ve also been tracking data from the introduction of PayNow in Q1 2022 to Q1 2025. The number of advertisers using the platform has increased by 287% over the past three years. The average days to pay for PayNow customers is 29. Without it, the typical average is 45 to 60 days or longer.
The Data Is Clear: Local Advertisers Want to Pay Electronically
Change can be challenging, even when it’s for the best. It’s essential to keep up with customer preferences, and they overwhelmingly prefer to receive invoices online and make payments. It’s convenient and secure. It also provides so many benefits to AR. The weight of paper processes costs you time and money.
Remove those weights and begin the process of learning about PayNow. Explore how it works and why it’s designed specifically for broadcasters!
