It’s that time of the month again. After religiously meeting every deadline and delivering high-quality work for your client, it’s time to submit your invoice and get paid for your team’s honest work.

You’ve already planned what to do with the money — new laptops for the team, cabin renovations, and maybe even that much-needed family vacation. You send the invoice and wait. Hours later, an email pops up:

“We’ve reviewed your recent invoice, but we’re unable to process the payment due to the following issues…”

Your heart sinks as you read this message. You quickly correct your invoice and resubmit it, only to realize it’s Friday. Now, you’ll have to wait until Monday to get paid.

Though simple, invoicing can be a lengthy process, especially when working with multiple clients. Doing it wrongly can delay your payments and even hurt your professional reputation. 

In this article, we’ll show you key invoice best practices to streamline your invoicing, reduce errors, and get timely payments. Let’s dive in!

6 Invoice Best Practices For Small Business Owners

Here are some invoice best practices that’ll make your invoicing efficient:

1. Establish Crystal Clear Communication

When you onboard a client, be upfront about these key details:

• Your rates
• Additional fees for extra services
• Invoice frequency (monthly, after project completion, etc.)
• Preferred payment method
• Basic company details to include in your invoice

If your clients process payments at a fixed time, such as the end of the month, they may be busy handling payments for other freelancers/agencies too.

Discussing these terms early on prevents last-minute questions that can delay payments. 

Plus, clients appreciate professionalism, and it’ll be easier for them to pay you with minimal back-and-forth.

2. Format Your Invoice Simply

When it comes to invoices, your clients care most about these few things:

• The total amount you’re charging
• Breakdown of individual services
• Your banking information
• Invoice date

Your invoice should highlight these things so that the person reading it doesn’t spend too much effort finding them.

The invoice should be formatted simply for maximum readability. Here are some quick tips for that:

• Use only one font throughout your invoice. We recommend using any variations of sans-serif fonts as they’re proven to improve readability in business documents

• Make – pricing, the invoice date, and banking details stand out in bold or italics.

• If there’s a table in your invoice, ensure it has enough space for people to read things clearly. Don’t stack too many things in a column.

• People normally read from left to right. Add key information such as your charges on the right side of the invoice.

• Use easy words that are simple to read and understand. A good way to check if your words are simple is to read them out loud. If you find a word difficult to spell, replace that with something simpler. If you don’t like to spell it out loud, use a free text to speech site to listen instead.

• Finally, don’t overload your invoice with extra information like – company history or promotional messages.

As a reference, here’s an invoice you template from InvoiceBerry with formatting that follows all the said guidelines:

3. Send Invoices On Time

Money is a sensitive subject for any company. Sending accurate invoices on the promised time helps your clients manage things better.

For instance, if your client processes all invoices mid-week, it’s easier for them to handle everything at once. However, if you fail to submit your invoice as promised, it creates extra work for them to manage your payment separately.

While this might seem like a minor issue, failing to meet invoice deadlines might affect the trust a client has in you. To get consistent future work, it’s important to let a client know you’re keeping your word.

If you have a team, ensure they prepare their invoices ahead of time.

4. Consider an Invoice Automation Software

Managing invoices can quickly become unbearable as your business grows and you get more clients.

Imagine having 25+ clients and filling out their invoices every single time. Each client’s changing payment deadlines and time zones will force you to manually track and create invoices on different days, consuming your valuable time and resources.

Also, because of obvious human errors, your clients may end up with incorrect or misplaced invoices.

To solve this issue, consider investing in the right invoice automation softwares.

Invoice automation softwares such as InvoiceBerry let you automate most of the invoice creation process. You can also schedule invoices based on different client deadlines and track unpaid invoices on your dashboard.

Along with this, invoice automation softwares let you:

• Send recurring invoices for your regular clients
• Create multilingual invoices for international clients
• Convert your quotes to invoices
• Customize client company logos in your invoices
• Access multiple invoicing templates

If you manage a handful of clients, manual invoicing might be manageable. But as your business grows, invoice automation will save your time indefinitely.

5. Information Every Invoice Must Have

Regardless of your industry, certain key elements are essential for every invoice.

For example, the keyword “Invoice” is mentioned prominently at the top of every invoice. That’s because companies often file and organize their financial documents. Having “Invoice” on top makes it easier for them to categorize and find these documents later.

Similarly, you must include information that follows invoice best practices, like:

1. Invoice number
2. Invoice issue and due date
3. Client company’s address details
4. Your business’s address details
5. Your rates  
6. Client company’s business name
7. Your business name
8. Client company’s logo
9. Payment terms 

While basic, you’d be amazed how often people forget to include such information. That’s also one of the reasons templates or invoice automation helps as they automatically create or update this information according to each client.

The last thing you want is to have your invoice sent back just because of silly errors.

6. Keep Track of Late or Unpaid Invoices

According to a 2024 survey, small business owners in Australia lose up to $12,000 to $30,000 annually due to late payments. 

All those little unpaid and late services you let go WILL add up, effectively turning your work into charity.

Let’s get this one thing clear: There’s nothing morally wrong in asking about your unpaid dues. Most of the time, client companies simply misplace your invoice or forget to pay you due to their internal workloads.

Hoping your clients will notice your unpaid dues and reach out to you personally is a fruitless expectation. 

To handle this, track your unpaid dues manually on Excel or use your invoice automation softwares. For example, here’s the invoice dashboard from InvoiceBerry that tracks unpaid payments:

Once done, remind your invoice dues to your clients politely and as soon as possible. 

6 Tips for Streamlining Invoicing in Professional Services

Along with these invoice best practices, here’s some quick tips you can follow when creating an invoice:

1. Notify Your Client After Submitting Your Invoice

This is especially important when working with a first-time client or when your invoice amount is huge.

Clients may not always check their email or be available to view your invoice in their software. 

In such situations, personally contacting your clients through professional channels like – Slack, Discord, or other platforms (that respect their personal space) is a great way to ensure your invoice gets acknowledged.

2. Always Cross-Check Your Banking Details

Getting paid is naturally the single purpose of your invoice. If your payment details are incorrect, clients (obviously) won’t be able to pay you 

As a general rule, always cross-check your banking information right before sending out an invoice.

If you’ve recently changed your bank or payment mode, it’s even more important to cross-check and report your clients about the same.

3. Set Clear Overcharging Expectations 

Client requirements always keep changing. If times are good, you’ll have more work than what was discussed. 

For example, if you provide content writing services, your clients might ask for extra blog sections, social media updates, or content revisions (beyond what was initially agreed upon).

At first, these requests may seem minor, and you may gladly handle them without any extra charge. However, as the workload increases, these “small” tasks eat up your valuable time.

Hence, you must communicate extra charges for your services right from the start. 

A good way to do that is to offer your services in bundles. Bundles show how additional charges will apply if the workload crosses expectations. For example, here’s how you can break down content writing services into bundles:

• Basic Package: 3 blog posts (up to 500 words), 1 revision per post, extra posts at $50 each, revisions at $25.

• Standard Package: 5 blog posts (up to 750 words), 2 revisions per post; extra posts at $45 each, revisions at $20.

• Premium Package: 8 blog posts (up to 1000 words), 3 revisions per post; extra posts at $40 each, revisions at $15.

Finally, clearly mention the extra charges in your invoices, either in a separate row or a marked section. 

This helps clients understand the costs clearly and ensures they don’t end up feeling scammed.

4. Document & Backup Your Invoices

You must create a backup of your invoice before submitting it. This can help you in many ways, including:

• Avoid legal troubles in the future
• Help manage and track your finances
• Calculate your taxes 
• Create a history of client transactions

5. Choose the Correct Invoice Type

If your business offers multiple services such as — content writing, video editing, graphic design, and web development, it’s wise to use different invoice types for each service.

For example, the invoice for content writing may focus on word count and revisions.

Similarly, a video editing invoice may highlight hours worked and specific edits requested.

To find a perfect invoice, you can use existing invoice templates or filter industries from your invoice automation software. For reference, here’s an invoice for the auto repair industry:

6. Add a Thank You Note

Most clients won’t notice a “thank you” note when it’s added, but they’ll most likely notice when it’s not.

Adding a “thank you” note just sounds professional. Plain and simple.

If your goal is to work with your client for a very long time, adding this note shows that you value their business as much and aren’t just focused on getting paid. 

These notes can be simple one-liners. For example: 

“Thank you for your business; We appreciate your trust and collaboration”

Finally, make sure the thank-you doesn’t take up too much unnecessary space in your invoice.

Conclusion

Overall, making your invoicing process easier is important for getting paid on time and keeping good relationships with clients. 

Following these invoice best practices and tips can reduce mistakes and make your invoice look more professional. 

Remember, good invoicing is vital for your business success!