FreshBooks is business management software purpose-built for service-based solopreneurs and small teams. Since 2003, more than 30 million small businesses across 160 countries have used FreshBooks to manage their finances, from invoicing and payments to expenses and accounting.
For many of those businesses, paying bills has lived outside FreshBooks—until now. Most business owners are already tracking income, expenses, and client payments in FreshBooks, but when it comes time to pay a vendor, they switch over to a bank portal or write a check outside the system. That disconnect adds friction and leaves a gap right in the middle of their financial workflow.
FreshBooks Bill Pay* closes this gap by allowing small businesses to pay vendors directly from the same software they use to manage their books. Powered by Unit's managed Bill Pay solution, the product is now available to eligible US businesses across FreshBooks' customer base. Customers can pay vendors by standard ACH, same-day ACH, or mailed check, then categorize and reconcile each payment within FreshBooks.
Driving value beyond payments
Bringing bill pay into FreshBooks doesn't just give customers a more connected way to manage their finances. Early data suggests it can also drive adoption of FreshBooks' core software.
FreshBooks analyzed conversion among trial users and found that users who joined Bill Pay converted to a paid FreshBooks subscription at 3.5x the rate of other trial users: 31.8% compared with 8.9%. The analysis included 134 trial users who joined Bill Pay.
For software companies, that expands the business case for offering financial products. Bill Pay can create value not only through the payment experience itself, but by making the core software more useful and giving customers more reason to adopt it.
Built for scale
With one line of code, FreshBooks could connect Unit’s managed Bill Pay solution to its existing product and begin offering its customers ACH, same-day ACH, and check payments. Unit’s managed solution came fully built, with the core product and payment workflows already in place, and fully managed, with Unit supporting designated operational, compliance, and support workflows under the applicable program structure. FreshBooks could dedicate most of its effort to integrating the solution into the FreshBooks experience and bringing it to market.
Unit was a true partner in bringing FreshBooks Bill Pay to market. Their support allowed us to focus our efforts on the product go-to-market, while helping us launch a minimum lovable product, not just a minimum viable product.
Jeff Imm, GM Financial Services & Payments, FreshBooks
FreshBooks also has room to take on more control as the product grows. Because the managed solution runs on Unit’s financial infrastructure platform, FreshBooks could start fast and validate customer demand before investing more resources and taking on more configuration or operational responsibility. Should they choose, FreshBooks has the option to configure more of its payment experience or own more of the onboarding experience over time, subject to applicable program structure and requirements.
What this means if you’re building financial products
FreshBooks Bill Pay shows that a managed solution can support a deeply integrated financial product at scale. Unit provides the underlying infrastructure, allowing FreshBooks to offer the product across a six-figure customer base without building the financial infrastructure itself. Availability is subject to customer eligibility and approval.
The early conversion results also illustrate the broader opportunity: when a financial product solves a real customer need inside the core software experience, its value can extend beyond the financial product itself.
Explore Unit’s managed Bill Pay solution, or talk to our team about bringing a similar product to market.
*FreshBooks is a financial technology company and is not a bank. Unit Finance Inc. is a financial technology company and is not a bank. Bill Pay services are provided by i3 Bank. Unit provides technology infrastructure and platform services to support financial products and payment workflows, such as FreshBooks Bill Pay. FreshBooks Bill Pay is available only to eligible customers and is subject to applicable terms, approval, program requirements, and availability.
