Your ads count consult requests. Clio Payments knows who actually paid the retainer.
Clients pay on a Clio-hosted page: the Pay online now button in a bill email or the client portal, a secure payment link, or a payment request sent from Clio Grow. Google Ads and Meta never see that payment, so they keep optimizing for whoever fills in a form. We send each new client's first completed Clio payment back to the ad click that started the matter, once, at the amount Clio processed.
Free30 minutesNo obligation
Clio Payments · what breaks
What goes wrong with Clio Payments
- 01
"Google says the leads are great. Hardly any of them pay a retainer."
The retainer is collected on Clio's payment page, often days after the inquiry. Your ad accounts only saw the inquiry, so Smart Bidding keeps paying for callers who are shopping around and never send a deposit.
- 02
"We can't put a pixel on the payment page"
Clio documents no Google Analytics, tag manager or Meta Pixel setting for its payment page, payment links or client portal. Your site tags lose the ad click at your own domain.
- 03
Unlinked payments that belong to nobody
A bank account payment link or QR code has no bill behind it, so the money sits unassigned until someone links it to a contact or matter. Until then, that retainer can't be tied to a campaign.
- 04
One client, twelve "conversions"
A payment plan charges the stored card every cycle. Report each charge and one criminal defense or estate planning client looks like a year of new business, inflating your return on ad spend.
Clio Payments · the fix
What changes once Clio payments reach your ads
Bidding learns from people who paid
Google Ads and Meta receive each new client's first completed Clio payment, valued at what was collected, so budget shifts toward the searches that retain you.
Intake payments count from day one
A Grow payment request or a paid Clio Scheduler consult is attributed before the matter is ever converted to Clio Manage.
Reversals stop flattering your numbers
Voided cards, failed or reversed eChecks and refunds are read from the payment's state in Clio, and corrected wherever each ad platform allows it.
Clio Payments · architecture
What Clio Payments actually lets you hook into
Clio Payments has no ad-platform connection. It does document a developer API and webhooks inside Clio Manage, and that's where the tracking is built.
- 1
Clio Payments payment webhook
Clio Manage webhooks cover the Clio Payments payment model, firing on created and updated. A subscription expires after 3 days unless you set a later date, 31 days at most, so we automate the renewal.
- 2
Payments API with state
Filter by contact, bill and state (pending, authorized, completed, voided, failed, completed_requiring_allocation and more). Only completed counts.
- 3
Payment links created by API
Links take a set amount, a prefilled client email and a lifetime of up to 90 days. The response includes a redirect URL field; we confirm whether a thank-you redirect can be set on your account.
- 4
Grow payment requests
Logged on the Grow matter's timeline and checklist; paid transactions appear under Online payments in Clio Manage. Needs Grow, Manage and Clio Payments together.
- 5
No tag on the payment page
Clio documents no way to add Google Analytics, GTM or a Meta Pixel to its payment pages, so the conversion comes from Clio's records, server-side.
Clio Payments · diagnose
Where Clio Payments tracking breaks, in diagnostic order
Most firms have nothing connected to their payments at all, so we start by finding what the ad platforms are counting instead.
- 01
Check what your current conversion actually is
Usually a form or call, which leaves every Clio payment invisible to bidding.
- 02
Confirm the click ID survives intake
Grow's marketing sources and campaigns are picked by hand, so we open a recent paying client's Grow contact and look for the landing URL or click ID.
- 03
Count unassigned payments
Bank account links and QR codes leave retainers waiting for a client.
- 04
Separate first payments from rebills
Payment plans and later-bill charges must never fire the acquisition event.
- 05
Check webhook health and eCheck timing
An expired webhook simply stops sending. And an eCheck can complete and then reverse after deposit, so eCheck conversions wait until the bank confirms the payment.
Clio Payments · prove
How we prove it on your Clio account
Run on a real payment through your live Clio Payments account, not in a sandbox, using a small amount you refund afterward.
Source of truth
Clio Manage Online payments transactions: completed payments by date, contact, matter and amount, with first payments for new clients flagged
- A test lead from an ad-tagged URL, with the click ID confirmed on the Grow record.
- One Clio link payment, arriving once in Google Ads and once in Meta with a shared event ID.
- A second charge on the same stored card confirmed absent from both.
- The test payment refunded and recorded as a correction.
- A month of first payments matched record by record, repeated 30 days later along with a webhook renewal check.
Clio Payments · free audit
What we check in the free audit
- Check what your current conversion actually is
- Confirm the click ID survives intake
- Count unassigned payments
- Separate first payments from rebills
- Check webhook health and eCheck timing
Checked against
Clio Manage Online payments transactions: completed payments by date, contact, matter and amount, with first payments for new clients flagged
Free30 minutesNo obligation
Clio Payments · when not to buy
When you don't need this on Clio Payments
Payment tracking only helps when the payment says something your ads don't already know.
- If you work on contingency, as many medical malpractice and consumer protection firms do, no retainer changes hands at signing. Track the signed matter instead.
- If nearly every new client comes from referrals, there isn't enough paid-ad volume for a payment conversion to teach bidding anything.
- If you take retainers by check or through another processor, the money isn't in Clio Payments, and that's where we'd connect instead.
- If your firm hasn't activated Clio Payments yet (Clio reviews an application before payouts are connected), start by tracking qualified consults, and add the payment signal once it's live.
Clio Payments · what we deliver
The event map on Clio Payments
Lead captured with the click
Your website form passes the GCLID, fbclid and UTMs into a Clio Grow contact custom field we set up, so a later payment has a click to match.
Paid consultation
A Clio Scheduler booking paid at checkout, valued at the appointment fee.
Intake payment request paid
A Grow payment request link paid before matter conversion.
First retainer completed
The primary conversion: a new contact's first Clio payment to reach completed, into operating or trust, at the processed amount.
Reversal or refund
Voided, failed, reversed or refunded payments send a correction, never a new event.
Excluded on purpose
Payment plan installments, stored-card charges on later bills, evergreen retainer top-ups and existing clients' new matters.
Written guarantee
95%+ tracking accuracy
Measured against Clio Manage Online payments transactions: completed payments by date, contact, matter and amount, with first payments for new clients flagged. Miss it and we keep working at no cost.
From $400 · See packages
FAQ
Clio Payments questions, answered
Not that Clio documents. The payment page, payment links and client portal are hosted by Clio, so the conversion is sent from Clio's payment records through a server container instead.
The click ID is captured on the lead when the prospect first fills in your form, then linked to the paying contact. Without a click ID, the payer's email is hashed and sent so Google and Meta can match it.
No. Only a new client's first completed payment is the acquisition signal. Payment plan installments and later invoices are reported for revenue, but kept away from bidding.
Clio says Affirm pays your firm in full upfront while the client pays monthly, so the conversion carries the full amount collected. If that payment is later refunded, we send a correction where the platform allows it.
Yes, as long as your website form stores the click somewhere it can be linked to the paying Clio contact. With Grow, the intake payment request and paid Scheduler consults are tracked too.
More on Clio Payments
- Clio GrowClio Grow conversion tracking that counts signed clients, not form fills
- QuickBooks PaymentsYour ads count form fills while the money lands in QuickBooks Payments
- Clio → Google AdsConnecting Clio to Google Ads
RELATED GUIDES
Booking tools beside Clio Payments, and what their bookings feed
- LawPayGoogle Ads counts consultation calls. LawPay knows which callers paid a retainer.
- Prosper Healthcare LendingPatients finance surgery through Prosper. Your ads only see the consult form.
- Climb CreditClimb Credit funds the student, but your ads only saw an Apply click
- HearthHearth says the loan funded. Your ads still think it was a bounce.
- PaySimplePaySimple conversion tracking: your ads see form fills, PaySimple sees the deposits
- KoalafiShoppers lease with Koalafi. Your ads count the approval, not the sale.
- GoodLeapGoodLeap funds the job at the kitchen table. Your ads only ever saw the form fill.
- WisetackYour ads sold the financed job. Wisetack never tells them.
Free · 30 min
Find out which ads actually bring in paying clients
WhatsAppFree30 minutesNo obligation
