Every year businesses deal with the same problem: late invoice payment. It is widely reported that over 60% of invoices are paid late, that the average invoice is settled around six days overdue, and that more than a fifth are more than two weeks late.
Billing software has improved the situation significantly, but small business owners often hesitate to trust software with their invoicing — particularly the smaller operations that depend on day-to-day cash flow and can least afford a payment to slip.
This post covers both sides: the problem with late payment, and how an online invoicing system helps you deal with it.
“It must be the post”
Businesses regularly hear that the payment has been sent and must have been delayed in the post. There is no way for you to verify that, so you are left taking the client’s word for it.
With online invoicing you have clarity instead: what is outstanding, when it was sent, and whether anything has been received against it — see payment registration and bank statements, which match payments to the invoices they settle.
“We never got the bill”
Clients often say the bill never arrived, or that it has been mislaid.
Sending it online removes both possibilities. The document is delivered and stored, available indefinitely, and can be re-shared in seconds rather than reissued. You can also see whether the email was delivered and opened — see the viewer status icons, which answers the question directly instead of leaving it a matter of trust.
Sending to the right recipient matters here too — see mailing to several addresses.
“Our system is down”
You have probably met this one: the client blames technology, saying their system is unavailable so they cannot check the details or make payment.
An online record removes the dependency. The invoice, the amounts and the payment details sit somewhere both parties can reach, at any time, so the client can see what is outstanding and when the next bill is due.
Adding a payment link makes it even harder to postpone — paying takes a click rather than access to a finance system.
Invest in credible invoicing software
To avoid these problems, it is worth investing in invoicing software you can rely on. Plenty of companies build it, and not all of it is credible. Some things to check:
- Company background and reputation. Read reviews, and find out how long they have been operating.
- Compare the prices. Some free options are as credible as their paid counterparts — see pricing.
- Check how it integrates. Choose something easy to use and straightforward to connect to the systems you already have — see integrating accounting software with other business systems.
Get those right and you will generate accurate bills, keep a record you can point at, and give yourself far fewer conversations about invoices that supposedly never arrived.