How to Add a Pay Now Link to WooCommerce Invoices

Getting paid after sending invoices doesn’t have to be complicated. Adding a direct payment option can help you collect payments faster and reduce follow-ups.

Want to let customers pay directly from your WooCommerce invoices? You can add a “Pay Now” link, a secure, clickable button, or a link within the invoice, which allows customers to complete their payments instantly after receiving it.

Instead of chasing payments manually or relying on separate checkout steps, this link redirects customers to a secure payment page where they can pay using cards, bank transfers, or other methods, making the process faster, smoother, and more convenient for both you and your customers.

In this article, we will show you how to add a “Pay Now” link to your WooCommerce invoices to accept payments from your customers after sending out invoices. Also, you will learn how to create PDF invoices on your WooCommerce store.

You can add a Pay Now link to WooCommerce invoices using the WooCommerce PDF Invoices, Packing Slips, & Credit Notes plugin. Once enabled, the link appears on invoices for selected order statuses such as On Hold or Pending Payment, letting customers pay directly from the invoice email without returning to the store checkout.

Here’s a quick walkthrough of how to add a pay now link to WooCommerce invoices:

1. Install the WebToffee PDF Invoices & Packing Slips plugin
2. Go to Invoice/Packing > Invoice > Invoice Settings
3. Scroll to the Payment Link section and check Show payment link on invoice
4. Select the order statuses for which the link should appear (e.g., On Hold, Pending Payment)
5. Go to the Customize tab and select a template that supports payment links
6. Click Save. The Pay Now link will now appear on invoices for the selected order statuses

Let’s start and see how you can set this up in your WooCommerce store for a more flexible and efficient billing process.

Step 1: Install and Activate WebToffee PDF Invoices Plugin

You will need to install and activate the free version of the WooCommerce PDF Invoice, Packing Slips, Delivery Notes, and Shipping Labels plugin for the premium version of the plugin to get activated.

Follow the instructions given below to install and activate both plugins.

• On your WordPress admin console, go to Plugins > Add New.
• Search for ‘WooCommerce PDF Invoices, Packing Slips, Delivery Notes, and Shipping Labels’.
• Locate the WebToffee plugin and click on Install Now, and then on Activate.

• Now, click on Upload Plugin and choose the zip file that you received upon purchasing the WooCommerce PDF Invoices, Packing Slips and Credit Notes plugin.
• Once the upload is complete, click on Install Now. Then tap on Activate.

Step 2: Create WooCommerce Invoices with Pay Now Link

Now, to set up the ‘Pay Now’ link in the PDF Invoice email sent out to customers.

• From your WordPress dashboard, navigate to Invoice/Packing > Invoice using the left-hand menu. This will open the invoice settings window.
• Configure any general invoice settings for your store as needed.

• To set up the Pay Now link, scroll down to the Payment link section in the General tab.

• Check the box corresponding to the Show payment link on invoice. This will add a payment link near the payment method in the invoice.

• Now, choose the order status emails to which the payment links will be attached. The available options include: Pending payment, On hold, and Failed. If no option is selected, On hold status will be considered.

• If you want your users to have an additional payment option – that is to pay later, you can do so by enabling the Show pay later on checkout option.

• If ‘pay later’ is enabled, you can change the title, description, and instructions of that payment option.

• Once this is done, click Update Settings to make the changes public.

This is how the Pay Later link will appear at the checkout.

Users can now initiate payments by clicking the ‘Pay Now’ link on the invoice.

To add the ‘Pay Now’ links to the invoice templates,

• Go to Invoice/Packing > Invoice > Customize.

• Click on Change template and select a layout that is suitable for you. You will have to select one among the three Premium templates (Premium Layout 1, Premium Layout 2, or Premium Layout 3) to avail of the ‘payment link’ option.

• Provide a template name.

• On the left-hand side of the screen, there are several options that you can enable, disable, or customize.
• Scroll down to the Payment Link option and make sure it is toggled on.
• Click on the Payment Link drop-down and change the label if required.

• Click on Save template or Save and activate to save the changes made to a template and reflect the changes.

Here is the invoice preview with the Pay Now link shown in the Customize tab.

If you have more than one template, click on the three horizontal lines and then tap on My templates.

You will be able to see all available templates there. You can activate, edit, or delete the templates from there.

When an order is placed using the Pay Later option at checkout, the order status automatically changes to On-hold. This order status will trigger adding the Payment link to the invoice.

When the customer receives the order invoice from the store, the Pay Now link will be added to it. Here is a sample of such an invoice.

When clicking on this link, the customer will be taken to the checkout, where they can use the available payment methods the store offers to complete the payment. When the payment is completed, the order status automatically changes from ‘On hold’ to ‘Completed’.

WooCommerce invoice payment links are useful for many types of stores, especially those that don’t take payment at the time of purchase. Here are a few examples where these links come in handy:

• Custom service providers: Businesses like custom printing shops often can’t provide a final price until the job is complete. Instead of charging upfront, they can send an invoice with a ‘Pay Now’ link once the work is done, making it easy for the customer to pay directly from the invoice email.
  
• B2B companies: Businesses that sell to other businesses commonly use invoice payment links to collect payments after delivery or approval, aligning with standard B2B payment practices.
  
• Small businesses without a POS: Smaller companies that don’t have a point-of-sale system can still accept payments easily by sending invoices with payment links. It’s a professional and straightforward way to get paid, even without an online store checkout or in-person setup.

In short, invoice payment links are a great solution for any WooCommerce store that needs to bill customers after the sale instead of during checkout.

Streamlining your business operations is important to your success. Give your customers a simple payment option with the ‘Pay Now’ Link sent via email to help grow your business. Customer satisfaction is greatly improved when using the ‘Pay Later’ option. Maintaining customer satisfaction will also enable you to run a profitable business.

Hope this article helped you address your queries. Have more questions? Feel free to share them in the comments section below.

Still deciding which invoicing plugin suits your WooCommerce store best? Here’s how WebToffee stacks up against Flexible Invoices and WPOvernight PDF Invoices.