A client told me my invoices were confusing and it stung, but they were right

I had this regular client for about eight months, and they finally said something last week. They told me, 'Hey, your invoices are a mess, I can't tell what half these line items are for.' I was kind of offended at first, because I just used the basic template from my old bookkeeping software. But when I looked at it, they had a point. I had stuff like 'Project work - 10 hours' and 'Additional revisions' with no notes. No wonder they were confused. I switched to a new system that lets me add a short description for every single charge, like 'Logo concept development - 3 hours' or 'Copy edits for homepage text.' It took me an afternoon to set up, but my last two invoices went through without a single question. Has anyone else had a client call them out on something simple that you just got used to doing wrong?

4 comments

4 Comments

miles_grant353mo ago

Project work - 10 hours" with no notes? I'm honestly shocked that worked for eight months. I'd be lost trying to match that to a specific task. My accountant would have a fit if I tried to file taxes with receipts that vague. Good on you for fixing it, because that's just asking for a payment delay.

eric_ramirez672mo ago

Well, "eight months" is a stretch. His last post said it was closer to five.

james_clark2mo ago

Eric, you're totally right. "Eight months" does sound like a bit of a rounding up job. I had a manager once who would write "Ongoing client work - 3 hours" and my brain would just scream "WHICH client? What was the actual task?" It drove me nuts. Just like your accountant story, I once submitted a timesheet with "Design tweaks - 5 hours" and got a call asking if I was billing for staring at the screen. Adding a few words of context, like "Updated logo in three email templates," saved me so many follow-up questions. So yeah, that vague "Project work" line is basically an invitation for confusion, and I'm glad they fixed it.

angela_coleman3mo ago

Yeah, "Project work - 10 hours" is way too vague, lol. I got a similar comment once about my meeting notes being just a list of bullet points with no context. Adding a one-line summary at the top made a huge difference for everyone.