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?

2 comments

2 Comments

miles_grant3516d 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.

angela_coleman16d 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.