Express Payments

Express payment makes it as easy as possible for your association to receive a payment for anything from anyone.

When constituents have an invoice with an outstanding balance, you can send an email containing a unique URL which directs them to a page where they can view the invoice in full, and use a streamlined payment process.

Guests can also process payments, so constituents can simply forward the email with the unique invoice URL to someone else to apply payment, such as an individual in an accounting department who may not have a Community Hub account. With the unique URL they can access the invoice and pay it as a guest.

Creating an Outstanding Balance

Often, staff create an outstanding balance that needs payment in a few different ways:

Create a single order using the order process without submitting payment.
Create a single cart using the order process without submitting it.
Create multiple orders using a bulk process, like if your association uses accrual billing.
Create multiple carts using a bulk process, like if your association uses cash billing.
Create an order or multiple orders using an automation, like a workflow or process.
Create a cart or multiple carts using an automation, like a workflow or process.

Keep in mind that all products and options must be selected when creating a cart for constituents to pay using express payment. For example:

For a membership join or renewal, add the membership primary product; constituents can add an optional donation when paying.
For an event registration, add all registration products.
For a donation, add the donation product
For a merchandise purchase, add the shipping address as well as the add-on fees for shipping and tax if the selected merchandise products require it.

Sharing a Payment URL

Once an order or cart is created, staff can share the URL in the Payment URL field with constituents to provide an easy way to pay the outstanding balance.

There are several ways to share this URL with constituents:

Copying the URL to a one-off email or SMS
Add a button on the Order or Cart page layout for sending an email template which includes the URL
Distribute the URL with your marketing automation app or URL shortener
Share the URL using a workflow or process builder

When a created order or cart has an outstanding balance, Payment URL contains the URL to pay the outstanding balance. If the order or cart has a $0 balance, the field contains Balance is paid., and the shareable URL is no longer given. This ensures staff can only share the URL when applicable. Keep this in mind when using Payment URL in an automation.

If an order or cart is paid off between the time staff share the URL and constituents use it to pay, a message displays in Community Hub letting them know there is no longer an outstanding balance.

Paying in Community Hub

When staff share the Payment URL, constituents can:

Click the link and pay themselves. They can either log in and pay—which gives them the option of using stored payment methods and bill me—or pay as a guest.
Forward the URL to a trusted individual to pay on their behalf. A great example would be a constituent forwarding the URL to their trusted accounting department for them to process the payment. The individual in the accounting department does not need to log in, they can just pay as a guest.

Enhanced Order Summary with Bill Me (Optional)

If your association uses bill me to let constituents check out without paying right away and express payments, you can can streamline the billing process by giving constituents a payment URL they can easily share with a trusted individual in their company who can pay the invoice. By adding the Payment URL field to the Order Summary page and the order summary email, trusted individuals can pay the balance on the Express Payment or Express Payment Cart pages without even having to log in. Learn more with the recipe.

How Do I Enable It?

To enable Express Payment, refer to the enablement steps mentioned on Enable Express Payment page.

Things to Keep in Mind

For a membership product to be purchasable using express payment, you must enable Self Service Enabled on the product and enable Self Service Enabled on the related membership type product link.