The design of your invoice is every bit as important as the rest of your business branding. For freelancers and solo-entrepreneurs, developing brand consistency throughout every stage of client interaction is a powerful way to further strengthen trust and familiarity in what you do.
Strong brand continuity has an impact on brand recognition, and whether you’re a one-person business, freelancer, or a medium-sized agency, this is a vital marketing aspect to get right. This consistency cultivates credibility with both new and existing clients, even when they’re at the stage of paying your invoice.
A good experience and brand familiarity will result in loyal clients returning again and again to do business with you. The invoice payment stage, usually seen as the final act, is therefore a great opportunity to leave a client with a positive lasting impression.
To achieve a strong brand continuity, it’s important to make sure all the design elements that form your brand are used in all areas of your business. From your website and social media accounts to printed marketing materials, downloadable documents, signage, business cards, and invoices, each need to feature the same brand design style.
By doing this, you manage the perceptions clients have of your business and portray professionalism, dependability, and focus. Consistent branding shows that a freelancer or business owner is serious about what they do and are in it for the long run. They care about their reputation and are focusing on developing brand equity.
Designing an Invoice to Match Your Brand
Invoices? They’re just boring looking documents aren’t they?
These days, there’s no excuse for an invoice to look dull. They are an important part of your marketing and must be treated as such. Whether it’s deposit invoices or final invoices, their appearance is every bit a reflection of your quality as a business.
At Invoice Ninja, we provide a range of invoice template designs that can be fully customized to suit individual brand styles. They give you a great starting point from which to be extra creative with your invoice designs, and adapt them to suit any look you need.
So what are some of the ways to modify an invoice to better match your brand?
Ways to Improve the Design of an Invoice Template
Improving the design of your invoice is best achieved with templates that are already advanced when it comes to functional elements and aesthetic features. At Invoice Ninja we have a variety of templates to choose from, which in themselves are better than the majority of templates you’ll find online, and can be used almost immediately.
A good template allows you to improve on what’s already there by adjusting various features to match your brand’s appearance. Here are just 5 ways to achieve a more personalised look for your invoices:
1. Header
The header is where your business logo is placed. You can decide whether you want the logo to appear centered, or positioned to the left or right. It can also be resized. The header section can include various details including the contact information of both you and the client, together with a small overview of the invoice details. You can even add a photo that depicts the type of services you provide.
2. Footer
At the very bottom of each invoice page you can include a matching design to complement the header and your business brand appearance. This can be a simple line in a particular color or you can incorporate a specially designed graphic, perhaps with a smaller version of your logo, business name, and even a message of some kind.
3. Colors
Your brand colors are one of the most recognisable features of your business. People see the colors you use in your logo, on your website, and in your business materials, and quickly associate them with who you are. Adding your color scheme to an invoice is therefore an important step. Your color scheme can be included in the various header and footer graphics as well as in the tables, text, line breaks, and backgrounds.
4. Fonts
What fonts do you use on your website? Or in your logo? Design consistency doesn’t stop at colors or logo placement. The font you use should ideally be the same, or at least similar, throughout your marketing. If you use a certain font on your web pages and business documents, then this should be carried through to your invoice as well.
5. Layout features
The general layout of an invoice should be conventional so clients quickly recognize the various parts. However, that doesn’t mean you can’t modify a few areas, such as increasing spacing between columns, using dotted borders instead of solid borders, or creating alternating background color tones from one line to the next.
How to do this with Invoice Ninja
With Invoice Ninja you can adjust the colors, fonts, headers, footers, and layout simply by modifying the different invoice sections within our easy-to-use editor. As you make the changes, you’ll see them appear in real-time on an invoice preview.
We have ten templates from which to customize your invoice to match your exact brand style. Your final invoice design will then be ready to use over and over again.
We provide detailed instructions for our customers on how to customize the design and we also a support forum where we quickly answer any questions.
If you want your invoice to reflect the unique look of your brand and provide that all-important continuity, then our customisable Invoice Ninja invoice templates are your best option.
