How Valuable are Invoice Templates?

Invoice templates represent just one category of the invoicing tools that are available to small business owners. Other options include invoice generators, invoice apps, and full invoice software systems. Of these options, invoice templates are the simplest and the least technical—which begs the question: What good are they? Is there any merit to using invoice templates over these other, more complex and sophisticated tools?

When it comes to the invoicing process, entrepreneurs and freelancers face a number of questions. What invoice tools should be utilized, for example? Is it best to start with invoice templates, or start with invoice generators? Are invoice apps all you need, or is it worthwhile to take the plunge and make the investment on robust, enterprise-grade invoice software?

For all of these questions, there is one point that is clear: Invoicing itself is non-negotiable. Business owners have to invoice if they wish to get paid. And because invoicing is simultaneously essential and time-consuming, it is common sense that business owners should pursue some support structures—some tools to make this task a bit less time-consuming, a bit more effective.

Seeing the Value in Invoice Templates

So which of the invoice tools available to you is really the best option for you to pursue? We’ll start with invoice templates, which have a few things going for them:

• Invoice templates are extremely easy to find and to acquire. They are generally available for free, and can be obtained with just a quick download. In other words, you can be invoicing in seconds, and without any kind of financial commitment.
• Invoice templates are simple. They are non-technical. You may have to learn how to use a robust invoicing software suite, and sometimes the learning curve is pretty steep. With invoice templates, though, it’s all about plugging information into the specific information fields.
• Finally, invoice templates are adaptable. You can download them in different formats—PDF, Word, Excel, what have you—and you can easily customize them with your company logo or business-specific information.

Learning How to Create an Invoice

There are further values in using invoice templates, too, such as the fact that an invoice template provides you with a basic structure—the layout that your invoice needs to use. This is no small thing. Invoice effectiveness is largely contingent on proper invoice design—on having all the right elements on a page, laid out in the appropriate order. When you use an invoice template, you can rest assured that your design is always solid.

Thus, when you work with a sample invoice or an invoice template, you can effectively get schooled in invoice design. You can develop your own knowledge of how the invoicing process works—and even if you later switch from invoice templates to invoice apps, that’s knowledge you will carry with you.

And it matters. A well-designed invoice is a simple invoice, but also a thorough one. It clearly and concisely communicates everything your customers need to know in order to pay you promptly, and in full. Proper invoice design ensures a positive customer experience and it minimizes tardy and delinquent payments. All to say, it’s worth mastering!

Using an Invoice Generator

But the question remains: How do invoice templates compare to some of the other available tools—like invoice generators, invoice apps, and invoice software?

We’ll start with the invoice generator. Invoice generators work like this: You start up your Web browser and go to the invoice generator page. When you get there, you will see, essentially, an online version of an invoice template. You can then click on any particular element of that template to customize it, inputting values that are unique to your company and/or customer. Once you have a finished invoice, you can push a button to either download and print it, or else e-mail it directly to a customer.

As you can probably tell already, invoice generators share many of the same perks as invoice templates:

• They are typically available for free and extremely easy to find.
• They are easy to use.
• They provide a consistent structure for invoice design, so, again, you can school yourself on what it means to create a thorough yet simple invoice.

There are a couple of significant ways in which invoice generators are actually better than invoice templates, though. For one, they offer greater efficiency. You can quickly create an invoice from a single website and then save or e-mail at your leisure. Additionally, they often offer easier ways to customize, such as quick and convenient options for uploading a company logo.

Using Invoice Apps and Invoice Software

Using an invoice generator can be tremendously advantageous, in other words, and is likely a superior option to invoicing with a template; it is, after all, basically an interactive invoice template. But what about invoice apps and invoice software?

Frankly, there are too many different invoice apps and invoice software options out there to discuss any one of them in particular detail. What we can say in general is that invoicing apps can provide many of the perks listed above—i.e., quick invoicing, mastery of invoice design—and then some. In particular, they offer invoice automation and invoice management, two things that invoice templates and generators cannot give you.

In other words, you can actually save your customized invoice templates, keep records, note customer or product trends, and even receive notifications about payments as they are made or as they become overdue. Naturally, these features make apps and software programs a little more complex and perhaps a little bit more time-consuming to master, but in the end they offer greater time savings than invoice templates alone ever could.

Apps vs. Software

This raises still another question—namely, should you opt for apps or spring for enterprise-level software? Though some companies may need enterprise-level tools, the vast majority of small business owners and freelancers will be satisfied with apps, which offer nearly-as-robust features without the hefty price tag. And if software is the route you want to go, there are some free invoice software packages that compare favorably with their paid counterparts.

Of course, what we recommend most vigorously is BizXpert. The BizXpert app provides total mastery of invoice design and automated features for invoice processing and invoice management, to say nothing of such “extras” as appointment setting and inventory management. And the price is right: BizXpert can be obtained as a free download in the Windows Store!

Does all of this mean that invoice templates are lacking in merit? Not necessarily: If you prefer to take a manual approach or really want to study up on invoice design, they have their place. But for most business owners, invoice templates will prove a gateway to more robust features—such as the BizXpert app.