If you have customers who you invoice for your products or services on a frequent basis, setting up recurring invoices may be something for you. With recurring invoices, you can benefit from improved cash flow, better customer relationships, and simplified payment procedures.
What is a recurring invoice?
Simply put, a recurring invoice is an invoice that you send to the same customer at regular intervals, which has the same information on it every time. If you set your invoices to automatically recurring, there’s no need to schedule reminders for yourself or spend time copying an invoice again and again. Your invoicing software will take care of it all for you.
If you have customers that you have ongoing contracts with or that you frequently invoice with the same order each time, recurring invoices could be useful for you. The types of businesses that often work with recurring invoices include:
- Rental companies
- Online software businesses
- Security companies
- Property maintenance businesses
- Suppliers
- Subscription-based services.
You can make recurring invoices for both services and products you provide for customers.
What do I stand to gain from setting up recurring invoices?
You stand to gain a lot of benefits from setting up recurring invoices with Debitoor invoicing software. Here are just a few ways recurring invoices will help you and your business:
Time saved
The first benefit is of course obvious: recurring invoices save you time. It may only be one minute to create an invoice from scratch, but over time this all adds up. And time can cost you money. Every invoice you have to write, track, and follow up, on is time that you could spend on another aspect of your business.
By setting up recurring invoices, you’ll be able to streamline your invoicing and have more time to focus on other areas of your business such as marketing and sales.
Fewer invoicing mistakes
Sometimes, invoicing can be complicated. There may be times when you provide a lot of different products and services to a customer on a monthly basis. If you provide office supplies for example, your invoice may contain a lot of different products, each with their own price and amounts. Every item you enter needs to be carefully checked
If you invoice for the same things every month, you’ll only have to carefully check the invoice the first time you create it. Once you know it’s correct, it’s good to go until the customer’s order changes.
Improved cash flow
You can generate a steadier stream of monthly income by using automated invoicing. Sending recurring invoices will improve your cash flow and guarantee a basic monthly income.
It’s also easier to make projections about your cash flow. If you know that your customers each receive a monthly invoice of £200 for your services, it’s easier to work out how much you expect to earn in the coming months. You can then use these projections to inform your business decisions.
Improved customer relationships
Setting up recurring invoices can improve your credibility and make you come across as more professional. If your invoices are set to recurring, you’ll never find that you send your invoice late or miss a payment. When working with a customer for a long time, always invoicing on time will help to demonstrate you’re operating an organised and professional business.
Moreover, periodically invoicing for your products or services will help your client to think of you as a part of their extended team. If you invoice on the first of every month for your security services for example, your client will naturally consider you when they calculate their yearly budget. If you invoice inconsistently, they may move on to a competitor who seems more reliable and who’s costs can be easily predicted.
Faster customer payments
If you set a recurring invoice to be sent on the first of every month, this will become the norm for your customer. If the invoice is always going to be received on the same day, your customer will get used to making a payment at the same time too.
Essentially, recurring invoices are all about making a routine. And once a routine is in place, it’s less likely to be broken. With recurring invoices, you should therefore find that you have fewer missed payments, saving you both time and awkward conversations
How do I set up recurring invoices in Debitoor?
It’s very easy to set up recurring invoices in Debitoor. All you need to do is expand the ‘Invoices’ tab and select ‘Recurring’. Then tap ‘New Recurring Invoice’ and fill in the invoice details.
As well as filling in the invoice’s item lines, you can also schedule the frequency of the invoice, the starting date, the duration. You can also schedule the starting date, the invoice frequency, the number of occurrences, and the sending options.
Wait, I need to make changes to a recurring invoice!
Of course, it’s possible that your client’s needs change over time. It’s therefore likely that you’ll need to make some changes to your invoices as well. Once you’ve scheduled a recurring invoice, you always have the option to edit, pause, or cancel it at a later date.
