Are your invoices as pretty as your website? At one time, you likely thought so. But as the job site demands more and more information — especially about the project — you end up with a less-than-professional invoice that requires a magnifying glass to read and understand. That’s why it makes sense to take a few minutes and make your invoices stand out from the crowd (and get paid faster) and look and feel like they were created by a pro.

Get a better invoice template

A proper invoice is a crucial document for your business. It can be used as a legally binding piece of evidence and as a business record, and it will help you do your tax returns at the end of the year.

The professional-looking invoice is an essential part of your company branding and marketing. To help you achieve that, these 3 basic rules must be followed:

The design must be clear and easy to read. The text should be easy to understand, and the layout should not be too crowded or distract from the information. The design must be adjusted according to the type of information it contains;

it must contain all necessary information: product name, quantity, price per unit and total amount payable. Also included should be any special terms and conditions for payment or return.

The design must be well-structured and consistent throughout all invoices in your company. This means maintaining a certain colour scheme, including logos and headers on every page, etc. It should also include your address details so that it can be used as supporting documentation if necessary.

Example of a professional invoice created automatically in Squeegee on completing a job.

Send your invoices with a cover letter

When you're sending an invoice, take the time to write a cover letter. A cover letter should be addressed to the person who will be paying the bill, rather than just the accounting department. It should briefly describe what was shipped and when it will be delivered, and confirm that the invoice is accurate. People tend to pay more attention when they know someone took the time to write them a note personally. Want to know a trick? Some intelligent software providers do the personalisation for you, without you having to spend any time on this at all, with the use of simple tokens in template messages you just need to ensure that these are set up properly and you have all the necessary details on the customer and job saved in the system.

Example of a personalised invoice message sent with the invoice from Squeegee and how it looks to the customer once sent.

Be quick to send the invoice after the job

Once you finish a job, send out an invoice by email, SMS or through your website. It might seem like you're asking for payment too soon, but in fact, you are giving your client time to review the work and make prompt payment while it's still fresh in their memory. It's also the perfect time to remind your client that the invoice is now due.

Your time is valuable, do it right from the start and get paid faster.

Consider using software for invoices, especially if your business is still in its infant stages. Not only will it help you produce professional invoices in a matter of minutes, but it can also greatly speed up the payment process. With the right software, it’s easy to create an invoice that will reduce the amount of conflict around your payments and most importantly, save you time and money!