How to Move B2B Customers From Paper Checks to ACH

Paper checks are fading from business payments, but slowly. The AFP 2025 Digital Payments Survey found that checks made up 26% of B2B payments in 2025, down from 81% in 2004, and 25% of incoming B2B payments, according to Nacha's summary of the AFP study. Electronic payments keep growing: B2B payments on the ACH Network grew almost 10% in 2025, to close to 8.1 billion payments, Nacha reported.

For an AR team, that last 25% is where a lot of time goes. Every check means mail time, a deposit, a remittance stub to match, and a customer who can say "it's in the mail" with no way for you to confirm it. And payers are not switching on their own: in the 2025 AFP Payments Fraud and Control Survey, 75% of respondents said they have no plans to eliminate check usage over the next two years, even though 63% experienced attempted or actual check fraud in 2024.

So if you want more customers paying by ACH, your team has to ask. This playbook is written for the controller or AR manager running a 3 to 5 person collections team. It covers which customers to move first, what to send, how to handle a no, and how to show the change worked.

How Do You Get B2B Customers to Pay by ACH Instead of Check?

You get customers to switch to ACH by asking their accounts payable team directly, making the switch easy for them, and starting with the customers who send you the most checks. Pull a list of every customer who paid by check in the last six months, rank it by number of payments and balance, and work the top of the list first.

Send AP a short request with your bank details on letterhead, a remittance email address, and a named person to call to verify the details. Follow up until you get a yes, a no with a reason, or a date. Then track the share of payments you receive electronically every month.

Why Do Paper Checks Slow Down Collections?

A check payment is slower than an ACH payment at almost every step, and most of the delay sits outside your view. That is what makes checks hard to manage on a small team.

Mail and deposit time

A check has to be printed, signed, mailed, received, and deposited before it shows in your bank account. Each step adds days. An ACH payment moves from the customer's bank to yours without the mail, and the customer can tell you the exact date it will settle.

Cash application work

Checks often arrive with a stub that lists some invoices and leaves others out, or with no stub at all. Someone on your team has to match the payment to the right invoices by hand. When the match is unclear, the cash sits as unapplied, which makes the aging look worse than it is. Our guide to clearing unapplied cash covers that cleanup in detail.

Promises you cannot check

"The check is in the mail" is one of the hardest replies to work with, because neither side can see where the check is. Our breakdown of the top excuses for late payments shows how to respond to it. With ACH, the customer can give you a settlement date and a trace number, and your collector can confirm it the same day.

Fraud exposure on both sides

Checks pass through many hands and carry bank account details on their face. The AFP survey above found check fraud was the most common form of payment fraud attempt in 2024. Moving to ACH reduces the number of paper items moving between you and your customers, which helps both sides.

Which Customers Should You Move to ACH First?

Start with the customers who send you the most checks, not the largest balances. A customer who mails twelve small checks a year creates twelve rounds of deposit and matching work. A customer who sends one large check a year creates one.

Build the target list from your payment history

Export cash receipts for the last six to twelve months from your ERP and filter by payment method. In NetSuite, QuickBooks, Sage Intacct, or Business Central this is usually a payment or deposit report with a method column. Count check payments per customer, add the open balance, and note whether the customer has paid late in the period.

Sort customers into segments

Leave room for the accounts that need a person

Your largest customers may route vendor bank changes through a formal approval process. Plan for a longer timeline there and give the request to whoever owns the relationship. Our guide on structuring a 3 to 5 person collections team covers how to split books so key accounts get a consistent owner.

How Do You Ask a Customer to Switch to ACH?

The ask goes to accounts payable, not to the buyer or the person who signed the contract. AP decides how vendors get paid, and AP is the team that does the work of cutting checks today.

Make it about their workload

AP teams print, sign, and mail every check they send. A switch to ACH removes that work for your invoices. Lead with that benefit, keep the request short, and make every piece of information they need available in one email.

Example request email

Subject: Paying [Your Company] by ACH

Hi [Name], we are moving our customers from paper checks to ACH to speed up payment matching on both sides. Our bank details are in the attached letter on company letterhead. To verify them, please call [Name] at [the main number on our website] rather than any number in an email. Please send remittance details to [remittance email] when you pay. If your team uses a vendor form for bank changes, send it over and we will complete it this week. Thank you, [Name].

Follow up like any other open item

Log the request against the account, set a follow-up date, and ask again on the next collections call. Treat a "we'll look into it" the same way you treat a payment promise: get a date and track it. Our guide to promise-to-pay tracking explains how to log and follow up on those dates.

What Should Your ACH Payment Instructions Include?

Clear, verifiable payment instructions are what turn a yes into a first ACH payment. Incomplete instructions lead to calls, delays, and payments that arrive without the details your team needs to apply them.

• Bank letter on letterhead: account name, bank name, routing number, and account number, signed by someone in finance.

• Verification contact: a named person and the main company phone number listed on your website, so the customer can confirm the details by phone.

• Remittance email: one shared address that your whole team can see, so remittance details do not land in one person's inbox.

• What to include with each payment: invoice numbers and amounts, sent the day the payment is released.

• Your vendor form, if they ask: many AP teams have their own form for adding a vendor bank account. Complete it the same day.

Put the same ACH details on every invoice and statement. Our guide to using customer statements to get paid covers what else belongs there. Keep the AP contact for each account current too, since a request sent to someone who left the company goes nowhere. See our guide to AR billing contact data.

How Do You Handle Customers Who Say No?

Some customers will keep paying by check, at least for now. A no is still useful if you learn the reason, because most reasons point to a next step.

"Our system only pays by check"

Ask when their AP process or system is next being reviewed, note the date, and ask again then. In the meantime, make their checks easier to apply by asking them to include invoice numbers on every stub.

"We need approval to add bank details"

Ask who approves it and what they need. Send the vendor form back completed, with the bank letter and verification contact, so the approver has nothing to chase.

"We pay on a fixed schedule"

That is fine. ACH works with any payment run. Ask which day their run happens and plan follow-ups around it. Our guide to customers who keep paying 60 days late explains how to work with a customer's payment calendar.

Ask again at natural moments

A new contract, a terms review, a change in AP contact, or a lost check are all good times to raise ACH again. Note each attempt on the account so the next collector knows where it stands.

How Do You Track Whether the Switch Is Working?

Track the share of customer payments that arrive electronically, by count, every month. Count is a better measure than dollars, because the work your team does scales with the number of payments, not their size.

• Electronic payment share: ACH and wire payments divided by all payments received in the month.

• Days to apply cash: how long it takes from receipt to applying a payment to invoices, split by payment method.

• Unapplied cash balance: should fall as more payments arrive with remittance details by email.

• Conversion pipeline: customers asked, customers who said yes, customers who made a first ACH payment.

Report these next to your usual collections measures. Our list of 9 accounts receivable KPIs worth tracking shows how to put them in one weekly view.

What Does a 30-Day ACH Rollout Look Like for a Small AR Team?

A 3 to 5 person team can run an ACH push in one month alongside normal collections work if the steps are split clearly.

Week 1: prepare

Pull six months of payment history, build the target list, and sort it into the segments above. Get the bank letter signed, set up the shared remittance email, and add ACH details to the invoice and statement templates.

Week 2: first wave

Each collector sends the request email to the top 10 to 20 check payers on their book. The AR manager calls the AP managers at the largest accounts.

Week 3: follow up

Follow up on every open request, complete vendor forms, and raise ACH during regular collections calls. Log every yes, no, and reason on the account.

Week 4: confirm and report

Confirm the first ACH payment from each customer who agreed, check that remittance details came through, and report the electronic payment share. Then plan the next wave.

Where Does Abivo Fit?

An ACH push adds conversations to a team that is already busy with overdue invoices. Abivo gives the routine follow-up to Kate, an AI collections agent that calls, emails, and texts customers about overdue invoices, works from your ERP data, and logs every reply and payment date back to the account.

That frees your collectors to spend more of their week on the work that needs a person: disputes, key accounts, and conversations with AP teams about how they pay. Abivo connects with systems including NetSuite and QuickBooks, and our OFS Group case study shows how one team put it to work. For more on keeping coverage high with the team you have, see how to lower DSO without hiring.

Practical Takeaways for AR Managers Moving Customers to ACH

• Customers rarely switch from checks on their own. Your team has to ask, and the ask goes to accounts payable.

• Rank customers by number of check payments, not balance, because volume drives your team's workload.

• Send one complete email: bank letter on letterhead, a verification contact at a known number, and a shared remittance address.

• Treat "we'll look into it" like a payment promise. Get a date and follow up.

• Learn the reason behind every no and ask again at the next natural moment.

• Track electronic payment share by count every month, next to unapplied cash and days to apply.

For more ways to keep payments on schedule, see how to get B2B customers to pay invoices on time and how to handle delayed payments from customers.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I get customers to pay by ACH instead of check?

Ask their accounts payable team directly with one short email that includes your bank details on letterhead, a verification contact at a known phone number, and a remittance email address. Start with the customers who send you the most checks and follow up until you get a yes, a no with a reason, or a date.

Is ACH faster than a paper check for B2B payments?

In most cases, yes. An ACH payment skips printing, mailing, and depositing, and the customer can give you a settlement date. Remittance details sent by email also make the payment faster to apply to the right invoices.

What share of B2B payments are still made by check?

The AFP 2025 Digital Payments Survey found checks made up 26% of B2B payments in 2025, down from 81% in 2004, as summarized by Nacha.

Which customers should I ask to switch to ACH first?

Start with customers who send the most check payments, since each check creates deposit and matching work. Then move to large-balance accounts, chronic late payers, and every new customer at onboarding.

Can an AI collections agent help with an ACH push?

An AI collections agent like Kate handles routine follow-up on overdue invoices, which frees your collectors to have the ACH conversations with AP teams. Your team keeps the relationship work, and every account still gets followed up.

Want to give your collectors more time for conversations like these? Get Started with Abivo.