The days of using Excel or Word to create an invoice are long gone. Today there are hundreds of cloud-based platforms that allow you to quickly bill your clients electronically – which in turn means that you get paid on-time.
In fact, these platforms come equipped with templates which allow you to:
- Enter essential invoicing details like your and your client’s contact information, invoice number, an itemized breakdown of charges, final amount due, and due date.
- Easily store your invoice on the cloud for tax purposes.
- Appear more professional.
- Save time and money since it eliminates the need for manually filling out invoices, sending them through the mail, and filing them.
Even better? You don’t even need to rely on blank templates anywhere. Invoicing platforms have upped the ante by now permitting users to generate custom invoices. But, just because you can create an invoice from scratch doesn’t always mean that it’s always better.
With that being said, let’s find out which is better, custom invoices or invoice templates?
The Case For Custom Invoices
Today people demand customization. Whether it’s Netflix recommendations or the emails that flood your inbox. Invoicing is the same.
With custom invoices you can create an invoice that matches your brand and industry by being able to insert your logo, change the style, color, and appearance of the header, activity tables, and footer messages. These will help your invoice stand out from all of those other generic invoices and guarantee that your invoice will get results.
Another perk of custom invoices is that they can be used as a marketing tool. You can use a customized footer and you can include a personalized message like thanking the client for the opportunity to work with for the last seven years, congratulating them on an industry award, or suggesting additional products or services that you know that they’re in need of.
The Case For Invoice Templates
The biggest advantage of invoice templates is that their real timesavers. All you have to do is insert the invoicing essentials and send-off the invoice. This is particularly useful if you’re swamped or new to invoicing since templates come equipped with the most important information already has a place on the document, such as contact information and being able to list the services or products that you’re charging the client.
As you’ll notice if you do a simple Google search, there are thousands of templates you can chose from online. So you shouldn’t have a problem finding a template that you’re a fan of.
Here’s another perk, invoice templates can be easily customized as well. Most templates allow you to add your logo and tinker with the color palette so that it fits your brand. Instead of spending the time designing an invoice from scratch you can make a couple of minor changes. Try saving the invoice for future use, and get back to growing your business.
The Verdict: Customer Invoices or Invoice Templates?
In all honesty, invoice templates should work fine for most freelancers and small business owners. They contain all of the necessary fields and do allow you to put your own touch on it so that your clients know that it’s your invoice. Best of all? Using a template will save you a ton of time and frustration if you’re just starting out with invoicing.
But, you shouldn’t completely rule out custom invoices. Invoicing software allows you to create customized invoices in a couple of steps. But, in most cases, you’re just going to be using the same information as a template, who spend the extra time creating an invoice from the ground-up?
At the same time, some freelancers and business owners could greatly benefit from custom invoices. For example, a graphic designer or coder should definitely create their own invoices since it’s a clever way to showcase their skills.
I don’t know about you, but I would be skeptical of a coder who used a bland or run-of-the-mill invoice template.
Which do you prefer? Custom invoices or invoice templates?
