Streamlining payment collection for PPC Providers

How digital advertising agencies can simplify their payment workflows with client-specific accounts and debit cards.

Managing a high volume of payments for many different clients at the same time, makes sorting and reconciling payments particularly challenging for PPC agencies.

The pain of getting paid in PPC

PPC payment collection workflows differ depending on the provider’s pricing model – which can range from hourly rates, to percentage of ad spend, to performance-based pricing. However, in any PPC pricing framework, a line of credit may need to be extended to clients up to a month in advance. As the costs involved in PPC advertising can be significant – up to £/€20K per month per corporate client, depending on the industry – the risk absorbed by the provider can be considerable.

Another common payment problem arises when campaigns owned by different clients draw funds from the same business account, using the same debit card. Reconciliation – which is often manual – becomes a highly resource-intensive process. In instances where there is a payment issue, such as with a late payment, it can take time to identify the root cause of the problem. This is particularly the case when there are many clients paying into the same account.

Segregate and Simplify with a Fire Business Account

With Fire, PPC agencies can now open separate business accounts for each of their clients with no further administration. New accounts are opened via the parent account at the account-holder’s request. Each account comes with its own IBAN or Sort Code and Account Number, depending on if it is a Euro or Sterling Account, while debit cards can be ordered in any number, with transaction limits to suit your needs. As you can change which account the debit cards link to from within your account, you can easily charge campaigns to the correct account using any Fire debit card.

Fuad Aliyev, Director of AfeaGroup, a leading advert digital advert agency and ad budget analyser said of the service: “We use Fire for our clients’ digital ad campaigns and are very happy with the service. Incoming and outgoing transfers are smooth and their debit cards have generous daily transaction limits. This is a useful service for digital ad agencies that need to use a different payment profile for each of their clients – especially for larger clients.”

Using segregated accounts, reconciliation is made easier for PPC agencies and identification of a late payment, or other payment issue, is often faster. The client is given their unique details, so they can pay in instalments over the course of the campaign or along an agreed timeline. As the service provider, you absorb less risk and the value of the credit needed to be extended to the client is reduced.

A Fire Business Account is quick to open and there are no set-up costs. It can be used by PPC agencies to segregate and simplify their payment workflows, with no development needed. For those requiring integration with existing systems or an automated system, we have a number of API Services.

You can register your interest for a Fire account here. To speak to one of our team about how the account could work for your business, get in touch.