Paid faster with QR codes on invoices

The QR code squeezed its way (back) into our lives due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Usage of the blocky code quadrupled in 2022’s first quarter alone. In today’s world, they’re omnipresent and used for various purposes like menu scanning in restaurants, advertising purposes on billboards or, in our case, making payments.

Making payments is the number one use case of QR codes. It’s expected that globally, QR code transactions will reach $2.4 trillion in 2022. Most banks in the Benelux have adopted a way to pay invoices via a QR code scanner.

Earlier this year we already mentioned that you can get invoices paid 14 days faster and 37% more on time via our InvoiceCloud platform. Today, we’re offering a way to get paid even faster.

From now on, you can include a QR code on your Teamleader Focus invoices as well. The code contains all payment information stated on your invoice. Your customers can easily scan these codes with their mobile banking app and make the payment.

Because the info from the invoice is automatically filled in, there’s also much less room for error when making payments. No need for customers to type all those bank account numbers. And since the (structured) reference is also copied, it will be easier for you to match payments with your bank statements.

Even though payment QR codes are based on a 2012 standard of the European Payments Council, the QR technology is currently only being truly adopted by a few states: Austria, Belgium, Germany, Finland and The Netherlands. So it still depends on your customer’s bank if they can scan the code.

Adding a QR code to your invoice is a simple process. We created two new shortcodes that can be used on your invoice templates:

• $SEPA_QR_CODE$: this will add just the QR code to your invoice
• $SEPA_QR_CODE_WITH_INSTRUCTIONS$: this will add the QR code to your invoice, including a short explanation of which banks do or do not support QR payments.

You can place one of these shortcodes anywhere you want on your invoice. The generated PDF will contain a unique QR code that contains your payment details. The only prerequisite is having your IBAN filled out in your company settings.

The usage of QR codes is entirely free; there aren’t any additional transaction costs.

Wondering how it works? Try it out yourself: scan the code below with your banking app. You’ll see a payment request to Bednet for € 1. Up to you if you actually make the payment, of course!