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Organizing and invoicing your clients can be difficult, especially if you’re new to the process. As a business owner, you have to keep track of invoices while ensuring it reflects the quality of your business and its offerings. Finding the right template can be difficult, but it doesn’t have to be.
How to Find the Right Template for Invoicing
A professional-looking invoice can do everything from reducing fraud to ensuring you’re getting paid on time.
Here’s how to find a template for invoicing clients consistently and professionally.
Find a Template with a Professional Layout
If you want to “wow” your customers and clients with your professionalism, you need to start with a template that has a professional layout. A professional-looking invoice should place your business name and logo at the top of the page, as it increases your chances of getting paid.
Your template should include your business address, phone number, email, and the recipient’s name and full address. It should give you a place to add the invoice number, totals, product information, and your payment terms and options. These will help you get paid quickly.
Search for Industry-Specific Invoice Templates
Most of the invoices you’ll find are generic, but some industries require a document that’s more specific. If you’re a pharmacy that needs to write up accurate medication info, you’ll need to follow HIPAA standards on the invoice and share only what’s required for security reasons.
Can’t find an industry-specific template online? No Problem. You can use Wepik’s free online template editor to make your own. Keep in mind that other invoice inclusions may be country specific. For example, you may need a VAT number if you live in the European Union.
Make Sure it’s Easy to Edit and Change
Regardless of where you live or what industry you’re a part of, it’s essential to use an invoice that’s easy to edit and change. This could mean settling for a Word or Excel document, but they won’t always look the most professional. It’s better to use a PDF file to retain the file formatting.
If you don’t have a PDF editor, you can find a template that includes fillable text boxes. That means you can add text to a PDF file, even on the free version of Adobe. If you don’t want the client to edit your file, you can simply remove these text boxes or save the file in another format. Additionally, you can try Wave’s free online invoice generator which simplifies creating and sending invoices while also providing customizable templates to suit any business need.
Get a Template That Automatically Adds Totals
Whether you’re a math savant or a newbie, finding a template that automatically adds up your totals can save you the headache of manually doing it yourself. This feature is especially helpful if you have a lot of clients that purchase different products or services week after week.
Not only that but if you fill out an invoice incorrectly, you could lose money. At the very least, it doesn’t look professional to hand over an invoice that doesn’t include the correct totals. But even if your template does automatically add up your totals, you should always double-check.
See if There’s Space for Comments
An invoice shouldn’t just include contact information and totals; it should also have plenty of space for you to leave comments. In the section that outlines your products and services, make sure there’s a place to add a description. This can help the recipient review their weekly orders.
You should have space to add your payment terms, payment options, and notes at the bottom of the template near the subtotal. Here, you can communicate the payment due date, your late payment fees, any money-back guarantee, accepted payment methods, and personal notes.
Download the Template From a Trusted Source
If you plan on using another creator’s template, you should make sure that you’re getting your document from a trusted source. If you aren’t careful, you could download a virus straight onto your computer, and that could compromise your customer’s data or your entire computer.
As a rule, you should scan all files with an anti-virus software before you download them. If the program detects threats, move on to another website. Don’t want to take the risk? You can create your own template or ask a business owner you know if you can use their template.
Use a Template With eSignature Capabilities
Not all invoices need to be signed, but those that do should include eSignature capabilities. An electronically signed document is admissible in court in several countries, including the United States. Once the recipient leaves their signature, they legally agree to pay the amount owed.
This can come in handy if this is the first time you’ve issued an invoice to the recipient or they have a track record of paying late. It can also serve as a deterrent. If the recipient isn’t willing to sign the invoice or finds the practice unnecessary, they probably weren’t going to pay you.
