15 Surprising Benefits of Mobile Invoicing Making payment easy for customers increases sales, encourages people to pay bills sooner and lowers your costs.
By John Rampton Edited by Dan Bova
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
As a small business owner, you're all-too-familiar with both the joy and pain of invoicing.
On one hand, it conveys a sense of pride and accomplishment for all of your hard work. It also ensures that you get compensated for that hard work. On the other hand, creating, sending and tracking invoices is tedious and frustrating.
That's why many forward-thinking businesses are switching to mobile invoicing. Are you still undecided about whether or not mobile invoicing is right for you?
Here are 15 benefits of mobile invoicing that may surprise you.
1. Payments are made lightning fast.
Invoicing delays that lead to delays in payments received are never good for cash flow. Thankfully, mobile invoicing has made sending and receiving your invoices almost instantaneous.
With a solid mobile invoicing platform, you send out an invoice automatically. As soon as a customer receives the the service or product that they've purchased, you click, "send." In turn, this "quick send" pattern influences your client to pay their bill more quickly. Research shows that mobile invoicing persuades customers to pay invoices up to three times faster.
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2. Central location for client information.
Are you tired of losing a client's address, phone number, or any other pertinent information? Having that information is now a concern of the past. You can enter your client's data directly into the invoicing software and then access it via your mobile phone or tablet.
Some platforms will store this information in the cloud. Mobile devices which store locally will store directly onto your mobile device. When stored directly to your mobile device it can be accessed whenever you need. This includes even if you don't have an internet connection.
Regardless of how this data is stored, mobile invoicing software creates a central location for all of your client's information. You don't have to scramble around searching for information. When it's time to invoice or contact your client -- it's in your hand.
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3. Saves you a ton of money.
Mobile invoicing is also a big money saver. You're eliminating the cost of paper, ink, postage and the personnel responsible for receivables.
Previously an employee had to be responsible for manually filling out invoices. Invoicing also required tasks like filing, scanning, and organizing accounting paperwork. It's been found that there's a savings of five to eight working hours per week per 1000 customers in a database from mobile invoicing automation. Specifically, in the U.S. alone savings are between $4 to $8 per paper invoice when converted to electronic alternative.
There is obvious money saving benefits of mobile invoicing. It also helps you eliminate duplicate invoicing since all of your invoices are tracked and matched. One study found that preventing duplicate invoices can save a SMB around $12,000 per month.
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4. Standardizes your billing process.
One of the most beneficial features of mobile invoicing apps is they're designed with a strong focus on interoperability. In other words, they can integrate with almost any other cloud-based system you have in place.
This integration includes your accounting programs. This means that you can now standardize your entire billing processes at every level. All operations can be uniform which is much more professional looking. This includes uniformity in your estimates, accounts payable, your receivables and even expense tracking.
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5. It's better for the environment.
On average, it's been found that digital invoicing is four times more environmentally friendly than paper invoicing. You're essentially eliminating a huge carbon footprint. As said before, you don't use paper and even emissions from vehicles to deliver invoices and receive payments are gone.
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6. Visualization.
Humans are visualize creatures. In fact, the brain processes images 60,000 times faster than it does text.
Mobile invoicing not only lets you ditch that dull statement table, it allows you to upload your logo or gif animation. That may not sound all that important.
Consider allowing clients to actually see an image of what they need to pay for. You wouldn't do this all the time, but even something funny is going to speed-up the payment process.
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7. You can take your office with you.
Make no mistake about it, the mobile revolution is about convenience.
If your business involves on-site visits and or lots of traveling it will make an even bigger difference. That's because you can send and manage your invoices from the palm of your hand. Work is done whenever and wherever you are.
Additionally, with a mobile invoice printer, you can even even print out a hard copy of the invoice for your customers who request this. You can can print even when you're both in the same room.
Mobile invoicing apps also integrate with all of your other technology systems. You can access every business tool you need by phone. If you're across town not sitting at your desk, no worries you have the information in your hand.
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8. It's more convenient for your customers to pay.
Previously, you could only accept cash, a check or credit card. Then came PayPal, if you and the client both had accounts. With mobile invoicing, you can now accept a wide range of payments. You can accept credit and debit cards, ACH, and even Bitcoin by simply clicking a link.
Remember, when your customers have more easy-to-use options to pay an invoice, the faster you'll be paid.
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9. Let your trusted customers pay later.
This isn't the case for all mobile invoicing apps. Trusting a customer to pay later isn't suggested for all business owners.
If you have reliable and trustworthy customers you can give them the option to pay their bill later. This is recommended more for in-person purchases. This situation is for when the customer doesn't have their card with them.
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10. Increases trust, confidence and satisfaction.
Mobile invoicing provides easy-to-access account information in real-time. You'll have the option to use more flexibility, if you wish.
When it comes to matters like payment options, this creates greater customer satisfaction. Guaranteed security is there if you are PCI compliment. Both of these suggestion help you build better long-term relationships with your clients and customers.
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11. Erase your accounting department's workload.
Complicated invoicing procedures don't just slow down the payment process, they also mean complicated work for your accountant.
Mobile invoicing provides a standardized regularity when it comes to billing. For one thing, your accountant will no longer have to decipher your handwriting.
There will be no chasing you down for a signature. No badgering the team for necessary paperwork. No more combing through stacks of papers. No more trying to determine which payments are paid, pending, or overdue.
All that information is one conveniently accessible location.
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12. No fees for your customers.
Mobile invoicing apps don't charge your customers any additional fees. Companies like Due, for example, even offer your business a favorable transaction fee of 2.8 percent for all card types.
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13. Centralized storage.
Invoicing systems of the past were scattered and eating-up your local memory. Mobile invoices, estimates, and any relevant accounting documents are automatically stored and backed-up on the cloud.
This means you never have to worry about losing this information again. You can access every piece of data from any of your authorized devices.
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14. Automation.
Remember those days of forgetting to send out invoices as you're leaving for a business trip? If you were lucky, you might be able to get online at the airport.
Finding Wifi at the airport can be shoddy and unsecured. With mobile invoicing, you can send out "Pay Now" reminders while waiting for your Lyft ride to pick you up.
Better yet, you can set-up automated payment reminders to remind clients when invoice due date is approaching. You can arrange to keep "pinging" the client until the past due payment is paid.
If you run a membership-based business or have long-term clients, then you definitely need to set-up recurring payments. You won't have to keep creating and sending the same invoice each month.
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15. Instantly gather signatures and issue receipts.
It's common for mobile invoicing software to let you capture signatures on mobile devices. You can use this for yourself or clients, by just using a finger or stylus.
This can be a real lifesaver when you need approval for an estimate or authorizing a payment. You can even print a hard copy or email a receipt for the client or customer with just the click of a button.
Want to learn more. Here is an Invoicing Guide to help you learn everything there is to know about invoicing.
