A research-based study found that 27% of small and midsized businesses have problems in creating and sending bills.

However, having an online billing system can help get rid of this headache by generating and sending invoices in 3 minutes, saving a lot of time and effort, and last but not least, cost. Amidst multiple online options, still wondering which is the best online invoice software?

Taking your confusion into account, we have prepared a list of the things to remember before choosing an online billing system for small businesses to make you familiar with valuable information about factors, leading you to one of the wisest decisions for your small business growth.

Things to consider before choosing an online billing system for small business:

1. What value is an Online Billing Software adding

Apart from generating invoices at lightning speed, many custom online invoice software comes with helpful features that help a businessman run their business more conveniently.

To understand this, Invoicera, a custom billing system, is the finest example for you as it comes with many useful features. Some of them are given below:

Multi-language feature: This system is capable of generating invoices in many languages, which in turn, allows you to send bills to your clients in their native language. This way, you transcend the language barrier adding to the convenience of your customer who will be happy to pay you.

Expense management: Managing your business expenses must be a burden to you, but this billing software comes with the expense management feature, allowing you to manage your expenses easily by having a simplified dashboard to keep tabs on all your accounts payable and reports.

Better business expense management means better cash flow management, thus making your business financially stable.

Project management: project management feature allows you to create a new project from anywhere. You can easily log in to know the project status and updates.

Moreover, you can also provide your team with your valuable feedback and motivate them to perform better using this customized billing software.

Apart from these helpful features, Invoicera has other features like Staff Management, Time Tracker, Client Management, AR & AP Management and much more.

So, it’s wise to consider what additional help the online billing system will provide for your better business management.

2. Your own Financial Condition

If you are just starting your business and don’t have much to spend, then free online invoicing software solution can help you to some extent.

However, if you are a fully-blown businessman, then you can purchase efficient online billing software, available from $10 to $50 per month.

The features you need and your business size are two important factors to remember when opting for an online invoicing system, however, don’t compromise on quality.

3. User-Friendliness

Don’t neglect this important factor. Investing in online billing software for small business means that you will bank on the system for some next years, therefore, it must have a comfortable and good interface.

Complicated software selection can lead to inefficient training of your employees to use the software. It’s better to have a free trial before making a final decision.

User-friendliness and its capability of fulfilling your expectations must be taken into account, before opting for it.

4. Secured Hosting

Modern customized invoicing software comes with unquestionable security systems like 3-layered security systems to save your priceless data from hackers. The 3 powerful layers of added security are:

2 Factor Authentication: this system asks the user to provide their unique details to log in. They have to submit a verification code from their mobile.

Security Questions Login: it’s a set of 8 questions, and the user has to answer at least 5 to log in. it can be done only after disabling 2 Factor Authentication, not with it.

Save IP Address: it allows you to save the IP addresses of your employees who can access the system, which means no one else can access without having their IP address saved.

So, expect such advanced technology-powered security systems from the invoicing software you choose.

5. Scalability

Fleeting opportunities could knock at your door anytime, but are you prepared for them?

Sometimes, businesses fail because their system is not scalable according to their business growth that can happen overnight only by taking advantage of a golden opportunity.

So, take this aspect seriously and go for the ones that are easily scalable as per your business growth. It is advised that going for a custom invoicing system is wise to deal with such situations, as it can be customized according to different needs and purposes.

6. Technical Support and Customer Service

It doesn’t matter how easily you can use an online invoice solution right now, you will definitely need to contact technical support or customer service sooner or later to ward off issues like troubleshooting or billing concerns.

The situation can worsen if you are unable to send invoices or access your account data, as this may lead your cash flow into chaos. So, look for the software with unquestionable technical support and customer service, allowing you to put your technical problems before specialists and troubleshoot them easily.

Buy the invoicing software coming with excellent customer support so that you can contact them using emails or phone anytime.

7. Reviews Matter

Make a list of those who have used a particular online invoicing system and who are using it at this moment. After that, meet both of them one by one to know their experiences, convenience, growth, and the like while using this system.

Their own experiences and reviews can tell you a lot about the product efficiency and quality.

Apart from that, you should also make a list of common problems related to invoicing software and keep looking for their answers by contacting experts and others’ users for a better understanding and preparation.

8. Ease of Integration

One more thing you must think before choosing online billing for small businesses is whether it can be integrated with your current systems like CRM and ERP or not.

Choosing custom invoicing solutions can be very beneficial here, as they can be easily incorporated with your existing CRM and ERP systems.

Integration means that the users of all the systems in your offices like accounting, payroll, and the like can communicate with each other easily and have all relevant and necessary information on their own dashboard.

They don’t need to bother themselves by going to one system to another to find information. Moreover, this method can also save too much time consumed on data entry work and coping with errors.

9. Your Business-Specific Needs

The one-size-fits-all rule doesn’t apply to every business, as every business has its own problems and specific needs. Let’s discuss this point briefly by taking an example of a transport business:

Sometimes, a transport business owner doesn’t receive the payment for a particular route, which costs them more, as their drivers have to stay for 2 to 3 nights there, the owner pays additional toll taxes, they spend more on fuel, and the like. Such expenses are not added to the bill, which leads to less payment from clients, thus having poor cash flow.

On the other hand, custom invoice software, if fed with such additional expense details, can automatically add costs to the bills it makes related to such routes.

This way, the owner will get every single penny spent, thus having healthy cash flow.

Your business could be different, but custom invoicing software can be customized as per your specific business needs, so look for this facility in the online billing solution you are looking for.

In A Nutshell

The better understanding you have of the things to consider before choosing an online billing software for small business, the more our purpose of writing this is fulfilled.

Here we told you points like your business-specific needs, reviews, scalability, technical support, and customer service, and the like are the things to remember when you choose an online billing system for your business.

One more thing that you must take into account is that custom invoicing systems like Invoicera comes with helpful features like client management, project management, and the like for your easy business management. So, think of getting something more than just purchasing a custom online invoice solution.