4 Reasons Community Banks Should Offer E-invoicing to Business Customers

When it comes to digital payments, businesses lag behind consumers in electronic solution adoption. In fact, industry research from FreshBooks indicates that 40% of small businesses are still paid by check. 

But as the landscape shifts, so, too, do business expectations. Worldpay’s Merchant Insider Report 2025 reveals that 90% of businesses say access to financial products and services is critical to their operations. This includes embedded financial solutions like e-invoicing and payments. These offerings can be enabled through third parties, including core providers, or built as internal solutions.

But why now? Beyond providing solutions to meet customer needs, offering e-invoicing and payments benefits the bank. From stronger deposits to increased efficiencies, higher revenues, deeper relationships and fraud mitigation, a comprehensive e-invoicing and payment product supports community bank business goals in the following ways.

1. Growth in deposits

Increasingly, business customers seek out solutions that support efficient, rapid payments. For instance, Venmo reports upwards of 2 million business users. When that money moves from the bank account to Venmo, it flows through an intermediary and becomes a source of lost potential. 

“The opportunity for the bank is the full deposit relationship of the business owner,” says Derik Sutton, chief marketing officer for Autobooks, which offers e-invoice and other small business-focused products and services. “We did a pretty exhaustive study of over 250 banks and their data, and what we found was that prior to using our service, for every $1 businesses deposited into their bank accounts, $7 stayed off platform if they were using a third-party tool. 

“When financial institutions started to offer e-invoicing and a payment link to their business customers, it forced the full settlement into the bank account. That led to an increase in deposits held at the financial institution.”

First State Community Bank in Farmington, Missouri, has witnessed this shift in deposits firsthand. The $4 billion-asset bank has been offering digital invoice and online payment acceptance for its business customers for more than five years. 

“By providing these solutions ourselves, it helps prevent deposit and service losses, but it also deepens the relationship,” says Garett Boatright, director of payments. “Fintechs don’t have the capacity to develop relationships with their customers. Most are great at building software, but they miss the mark when it comes to understanding the communities and markets their customers live in. That’s where community banks can help.”

2. Revenue opportunities and efficiencies

Beyond deposit growth, bank-offered e-invoicing and digital receivables also positively affect bank earnings. 

The 2022 Autobooks Small Business Data Report equated $8.45 in estimated monthly transaction revenue per active small business account with an e-invoicing and payment product. Offering e-invoicing and digital receivables also helps support a stronger customer experience, lowering delinquencies and overdrafts. 

“If we can help business customers manage their cash flows by providing services to accept digital payments, we can help with cash flow, and we also benefit from a reduction in past dues and overdrafts,” explains Boatright.

“E-invoicing solutions ... can help small business move away from checks, replacing them with electronic payment mechanisms that are inherently safer.”

—Scott Anchin, ICBA

3. Fraud mitigation

By creating electronic invoicing and payment options, community banks can help take some of the checks, and the corresponding fraud, out of the system. 

The 2025 AFP Payments Fraud and Control Survey Report listed check fraud as a top concern: 63% of businesses reported attempted or actual fraud via checks in 2024. Migrating some of those checks to digital payments will create a more protected payments system. 

“Small businesses often rely on checks when dealing with both customers and other businesses, so they are particularly vulnerable to check fraud,” notes Scott Anchin, senior vice president of strategic initiatives and policy at ICBA. “E-invoicing solutions that are integrated with electronic payment options can help small businesses move away from checks, replacing them with electronic payment mechanisms that are inherently safer.”

4. Deeper customer relationships

E-invoicing and payment products also help drive customer connections. According to Worldpay’s Merchant Insider Report 2025, 48% of businesses are unlikely to switch providers when they are happy with their payments experience, making payments a critical piece of the customer relationship. 

“It’s not just having deposits anymore or lending businesses money; we play a pivotal role in payments, and that is helping our customers compete with large corporations,” says Boatright. “We just need to adapt to not just talk about deposits or loans but also about payments.”

That’s because bank-provided e-invoicing and payment solutions bring with them a lot of potential for a better business experience. 

Overall, these services, when deployed by community banks that are in tune with their customers’ needs, allow them to better support the businesses they serve, enabling a win-win for both the bank and its customer. 

“With e-invoicing and payments,” says Boatright, “that business will be more likely to succeed in today’s environment.”

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