How does your current document workflow look like? Do you still send PDFs to customers via email, letting them sign the document and fax it back to you? Maybe your customers take one step further, scan the document, and email it back to you. Who still sends faxes, right? If you do, you'll agree that this process is somewhat inefficient, leads to delays and, often, you don't know if a customer actually received the document or opened it.
It may therefore be time for a better solution. Sure, if you only send a document to be signed by a customer once or twice a week, this isn't a big problem. But as an immigration firm, you generate a lot of documents that need to be signed by customers. And here, PandaDoc is the key to unlocking your productivity and efficiency.
Likewise, you're probably receiving payments from customers often. Now, this could be credit card payments or direct wire transfers to your account. Either way, receiving and keeping track of all these payments can become a hassle, so a more efficient solution will work here too. And this is what Stripe was designed to do.
But what exactly is PandaDoc and Stripe? Here, we’ll look at these two products in more detail, and show you how they can improve your productivity and document and payment management significantly. The end result is a far more efficient process and the opportunity to increase your revenue.
PandaDoc is a cloud-based document management solution that helps you to create proposals, quotes, contracts, and other documents. With it, you’ll be able to choose from a variety of document templates that you can download and customize to your liking.
This means you can create beautiful documents with PandaDoc’s editor like how you would create a PowerPoint presentation. You also have the option to upload your own existing documents where you can just add the fields for signature.
Once your documents are prepared you can send them to your customers for signature. A big benefit of using PandaDoc is that you'll also be able to track when your customer opens the document and how much time they spend on every page. This means you’ll always be on top of which documents needs to be signed by who and who has already signed. In addition, you’re also able to store your documents securely in the cloud, so they’re always available, no matter where you are.
Some of the other benefits of using PandaDoc include:
1. A faster process. Because the system incorporates eSignatures it speeds up your document workflow significantly. This not only saves you time, but your customers get feedback faster too.
2. Collaboration features. With all your documents in one place, you and your team will work better together. This means there’s no more searching for a client’s file when the client needs advice or feedback.
3. Increased productivity. Because it speeds up your process and it allows better collaboration, you'll enjoy for more productivity in your process.
4. One unified platform. It features integrations with a variety of other software platforms including CRM, storage, administration, and productivity solutions. For example, it integrates fully with HubSpot CRM, so you’ll be able to see all your customer activity and communications in one place. HubSpot even allows you to send documents through PandaDoc directly from their platform.
If you need to collect payments from customers, PandaDoc also allows you to add a credit card payment option to your documents. This is an excellent feature when you must send documents like proposals or quotes to clients, and they have to make payments to you. Here, apart from other payment providers, it allows you to integrate with Stripe which makes it easier to accept online payments. Which brings us to the next section.
When you don't need to prepare a document every time you want to collect a payment, Stripe is a perfect solution here. It's a cloud-based payment solution that offers a variety of tools that enable you to manage and accept payments online.
It handles key payment functions like subscriptions, storing card details, and the ability to make direct payouts to customers’ bank accounts and enables you to accept international debit cards, credit cards and currencies.
You'll typically use it by simply creating an invoice which has a link to the Stripe payment portal. When your customer receives the invoice, they can simply click on the link to go to the payment portal and make the payment to you.
Apart from this method and the integration with PandaDoc, Stripe can also be used in a variety of other ways. You could for instance use it with the HubSpot Quote tool if you want to collect specific amounts from your customers. Here, you’ll create a quote or invoice, add in the details, and Stripe will automatically create the button that will direct your customers to the payment portal where they can make payment in the amount as set out on the invoice or quote.
You could also, for example, add Stripe payment buttons to certain pages on your website. Although this option is usually used for eCommerce websites, you can also use it on your website if you have specific prices for specific solutions.
You can, for instance, create a page which provides the fixed prices for your services and add a Stripe payment button to each that will lead your customers directly to the payment page. Once a customer wants to engage or pay for your services, they can simply go to your website, click on the button, and be taken to the payment portal where they can make a payment.
Immigration can be a stressful time for your customers, so it's understandable that you’ll want to provide them with the most efficient and satisfying experience when dealing with their cases.
By using PandaDoc and Stripe, either in combination or separately, you’ll greatly increase the efficiency in your document workflow and your payment processes. This, ultimately, ensures a better customer journey and happy customers refer you to other potential customers or come back when they need your services again.