Payment Links
Payment Links provides a simple and flexible way to request payments from your customers. With Payment Links, you can generate a unique link that can be sent to customers via email, text, or other communication channels. When the customer clicks the link and completes the payment, an invoice is automatically generated for the transaction.
This feature is ideal for scenarios where customers do not owe a balance until they complete their purchase. By using Payment Links, you can streamline payment collection for on-demand transactions, reducing administrative overhead while delivering a seamless customer experience.
Invoiced’s Payment Links feature offers two types of links to accommodate different payment collection needs: reusable and single-use. Understanding the differences can help you choose the best option for your workflow.
Reusable payment links can be used multiple times, allowing multiple customers to make payments through the same link. These links are ideal for scenarios like:
- Recurring or open-ended payments: Customers can repeatedly use the same link for ongoing transactions.
- General-purpose payments: Perfect for collecting payments without specifying a single customer or invoice in advance.
- Template links: Dynamically add customer and invoice details in the query parameters. This is helpful for use in email templates sent by your ERP or CRM.
When using reusable links, the system automatically generates a unique invoice for each payment made, ensuring proper tracking and recordkeeping.
Single-use payment links are designed to expire after a single payment is completed. These links are best suited for:
- One-off purchases: Ensure that the link is used exclusively for a single transaction.
- Secure payment requests: Add an extra layer of control by limiting the link’s usage.
Once a customer completes the payment through a single-use link, it becomes inactive and cannot be reused. This is particularly useful for workflows where payments need to be closely monitored or tied to specific customers.
Creating Payment Links in Invoiced is quick and easy. Follow these steps to generate a link tailored to your payment collection needs:
- Go to the Payment Links page in the Invoiced app.
- Click the New button.
- Choose whether you want the link to be Reusable or Single-Use based on your needs:
- Reusable Link: Allows multiple customers to make payments using the same link.
- Single-Use Link: Expires after a single payment is made.
- Add Line Items
- Assign a meaningful description to identify the purpose of the payment.
- Enter in the amount the customer will pay.
- Advanced Settings (Optional): Change optional behavior, such as the URL to redirect the payer to after completion.
- Click Create to generate the link.
- Copy the generated link and share it with your customer via email, SMS, or any communication platform.
Invoiced’s Payment Link Templates allow you to prefill fields on the payment page using query parameters. This feature makes it easier to customize the payment experience for your customers by automatically populating key details. Here’s how to use query parameters with Payment Links.
You can append the following query parameters to a Payment Link URL to prefill the corresponding fields:
Parameter | Description |
|---|---|
clientId | Unique customer identifier. |
amount | Payment amount. |
invoice_number | Unique invoice identifier. |
firstName | Customer's first name. |
lastName | Customer's last name. |
Customer's email address. | |
address | Customer's street address. |
city | Customer's city. |
state | Customer's state. |
zip | Zip or postal code. |
country | Country code (ISO-2 format). |
phone | Customer's phone number. |
To create a prefilled payment link, append the desired query parameters to your Payment Link URL. For example:
When the customer clicks this link:
- The payment amount will be prefilled with $100.00.
- The customer’s first name, last name, email, address, and other details will appear on the payment form, reducing the need for manual input.
If a customer attempts to make a payment using a link where the query parameters (e.g., clientId, amount, invoice_number) match a payment that has already been completed with the same payment link, the system will display a message indicating that the payment request has already been fulfilled.
Duplicate payment prevention will only be applied if the clientId query parameter is provided. To take full advantage of this feature, ensure that you use consistent and unique identifiers, such as clientId and invoice_number, in your payment link query parameters.