April 9, 2010

• Customized email invoices. Even if your business is using a third-party system, you want to ensure that the invoices are recognizable as yours. You should be able to personalize your invoices by adding your corporate logo, adjusting payment terms based on individual customers or even including personal thank-you notes or other updates.
• Recurring invoicing. If you have customers with recurring invoices or a dues-based business, you should be able to set up invoices to go out automatically.
• Scheduled reminders. Your online payment system should let you establish a schedule to automatically send payment reminders via email. Look for a flexible system that allows you to set up rules that send reminders on a more frequent basis to problem accounts.
• Multiple payment options. An online solution should allow you to offer a choice of payment options. In addition to major credit cards, you may want to provide customers the option of paying via an electronic check or a direct-debit transaction. This allows you to offer the convenience of a range of payment alternatives to your customers and helps you to get paid faster.
• Integration with existing data and software. No matter what format you currently use to store your customer data — either a spreadsheet or an accounting software system like QuickBooks® — you should be able to upload it easily into your online system. This way you won’t have to manually input customer data, except when adding new customers to the system. Some systems also enable you to download invoice and payment information from an online system back into your application or spreadsheet without too much effort.
• Track invoices and payments easily. Another important feature to look for in an online invoicing and payment acceptance solution is a robust reporting feature to help manage your billing process. You should have the ability to track invoices and payments by individual customer, for instance. It’s also beneficial to be able to create your own reports, so you don’t have to rely solely on ready-made reports.

Related Topics

• Money

Related keywords

American Express OPEN, Article, invoicing, online invoicing, AcceptPay, American Express OPEN

Join the conversation ( 5 )

• Adrian Mazurek 2 months ago

  

  I have looked for a perfect online invoicing tool for a long time.I tryied almost all of the mid price well known systems, but wat I have found not long time ago changed my view of what this software works and how it can make my life easier.The Bilomat online invoicing tool has every feature that You described in Your post and few things more that really helps a lot. Spacially when Your not an expert in those things.Its a german made service so it works really good.The prices starts from €4 and end at €49, so as You can see its a cheep service.Here is the link to the english page : http://www.billomat.com/en/Cheers,Archie Kirby

• Sandor ( Sandy ) Lenner,CPA 2 years 1 months and 20 days ago

  

  QuickBooks also allows you to electronically send an estimate to a customer and then by checking the box you can easily convert the estimate to a final invoice. Also, QuickBooks Online Plus allows small business owners to send an invoice from their iphone or Blackberry Sandor Lennerwww.SL-cpa.net

• FABIAN GEYRHALTER 2 years 1 months and 21 days ago

  

  I just wrote an article on how I run my company via a browser, which includes invoicing - might be of interest to you: http://blog.geyrhalter.com/2010/03/19/how-i-run-my-company-via-a-browser/

• Stu Green 2 years 1 months and 21 days ago

  

  I would really appreciate your feedback on my new invoicing app. It's aimed at freelancers so is very affordable, but mainly the unique selling point is the fact it's so simple to use and quick. I am integrating physical mailing as a feature soon thanks to links with a third party who send PDFs through the mail.https://invoicebubble.comThanks

• Marc Spangenberg 2 years 1 months and 21 days ago

  

  Getting paid is what it's all about, getting paid faster makes it even better. Acceptpay makes it easy on both the seller and the buyer in a transaction. Retailers have learned that outsourcing the credit process through the credit card companies enables their businesses to grow and gets them paid almost immediately. B2B organizations rely on invoicing and wait for payment according to the terms of the invoice. AcceptPay can shorten the cycle, but a buyer will delay making payment as long as possible to keep cash on hand. To improve on this situation, the seller should consider monetizing the Accounts Receivable and generating cash quicker. This can be done while still providing the favorable terms buyers have come to expect, both parties to the transaction benefit. Businesses (just like people) would prefer to buy now and pay later. Given the choice between vendors, a buyer will always choose the one with the most liberal trade terms. To remain competitive sellers are forced to extend terms to buyers, the trick is avoiding the negative impact to cash flow.