Why Every Small Business Needs Simple Invoice Solutions

Frustrated Businesswoman at a messy office

Your small business really has no choice but to invoice—well, to invoice or to simply not get paid! How you invoice, though, is up to you. You can choose to invoice from scratch, a process that can be tiresome, time-consuming, tedious, and needlessly complicated. Or, you could invest in some simple invoice solutions—not necessarily erasing the burden of invoicing, but lightening the load considerably.

Those simple invoice solutions can come in many forms. You may decide that invoice templates are all you need—and that’s fine. You may decide to kick it up a notch with a free, online invoice generator. You may decide to go all the way, investing in an invoicing app. Note that BizXpert offers all three of these solutions, and all are free.

What you are ultimately looking for, though, is a simple invoice solution—something that makes your entrepreneurial life a bit easier. You want something that minimizes the time it takes you to invoice. You want something that reduces the number of late or delinquent payments you receive, too.

You Want an Online Invoice Solution

In particular, you want to get something that will make it easy for you to invoice online. Some small business owners still prefer snail mail invoicing, and we get it: Snail mail invoices come with a sense of import and urgency, if only because most of us receive so little snail mail!

But listen: Online invoicing comes with some major advantages, too. For one thing, it’s more convenient for you and for the customer. You can click send and e-mail an invoice instantly; you don’t have to wait a few days for the postman to deliver it; and your customer can then click over to PayPal to settle up immediately. The entire process is cleaner, more flexible, and less of a hassle for everyone involved.

Make sure your simple invoice solution provides you with this option—and that you snail mail invoicers remain open-minded about the advantages that online invoicing provides!

You Want Exemplary Invoice Design

You also want to get a simple invoice solution that ensures your mastery of invoice design. You want to ensure that your invoices are aesthetically pleasing; that they are thorough, covering all the information they need to; and that they are simple, lending themselves to quick and easy reading.

This is more important than you might think. Statistically speaking, a well-designed and properly laid out invoice is going to get paid more promptly, with a lesser chance of delinquency. Note that it also enhances the customer experience: Your customers appreciate it when they can easily read the invoice and pay it conveniently, without any hassle or confusion.

Of course, you can spend some time studying up on sample invoices, developing your sense of what proper invoice design looks like—but at the end of the day, there is just no reason to. There are just so many great invoice tools out there that do the invoice layout for you.

Which Simple Invoice Tool is Right for You?

You want to get some kind of tool to help you invoice more effectively, is the bottom line here—but which one?

That’s really up to you. Invoice templates will meet the criteria we’ve laid out there. They will provide you with a solid invoice design structure, and they lend themselves well to online invoicing. The same is true of invoice generators, though both of these options come up short in terms of invoice automation and invoice management.

Invoice apps and invoice software provide more robust functionality—but again: Find a simple invoice solution that you’re comfortable with. That’s what matters most for small business owners looking to invoice the smart way.