How to Write an Invoice: What Information Should I Include?
If your business is up and running, you probably have sold a fair amount of goods or rendered your services. Depending on your type of business, you might need an invoice to streamline the customer payment process.
In this article, we’ll discuss how to write an invoice that is ideal for your business. But first, let’s start with the basics.
What Is an Invoice?
An invoice is a summary of goods sold or services offered to a particular customer or client, and a sum of the total cost. A good invoice should be simple, exhaustive, clear, and comprehensive. These key features make it easier for both you and your client to transact effectively.
Invoices vary according to the business and services rendered. Few examples include commercial invoices, credit invoices, and interim invoices, to name a few. There are, however, a couple of vital details that apply across the board.
1. Personalize Your Invoice
A good invoice should be reflective of the company in question. For this reason, it is important to incorporate elements of your company into the invoice. You could use the company logo, company colors, or even a nice header. Having a good invoice template will create a professional impression on your business.
Doing so will give your invoice a professional outlook and help customers identify the document quickly. It’s also a sneaky way to market your company.
2. Add the Necessary Contact Information
A simple invoice template will have contact information blanks to fill out. Though including contact info seems pretty obvious, some companies overlook this crucial part. You should include both the buyers and sellers name, address, telephone number, email, and website if necessary.
3. Choose a Reasonable Due Date
An invoice without a due date lacks in direction. It is crucial to include a due date in all your invoices so that you’ll receive your payment on time.
Make sure your due date isn’t too early, to give the company enough time to prepare for payment. Your due date shouldn’t also be too late either. Remember, you need that money to run your company and pay your workers.
4. Fill in the Goods Sold or Services Offered
You should pay keen attention when billing your clients for your trade. Most clients are extremely observant on what they are paying for exactly.
Any unintentional mistake could ruin your clients’ relationships when you overcharge them. On the other hand, you’ll mistakenly compromise your profits when you charge less for your services.
Your service or item description should be clear and concise. The description should include the item/service name, date of sale, quantity, and lastly the price. You could also describe the item in brief but avoid wordiness to make your invoice simple.
5. Add Any Additional Information at the Bottom
This additional info may include any taxes or discounts offered. This information will, of course, vary from company to company. It is therefore optional to include, so you don’t have to force this part into your invoice.
There are also a number of free invoice templates from Adobe Spark that can help you with this part.
That’s How to Write an Invoice
That pretty much sums up the basic parts of an invoice. There are plenty of apps with plenty of information on how to write an invoice.
Explore our website to find out more about incredible software that will help you manage your business.