We’re super excited to announce the arrival of several new features and improvements to Invoicebus:

• Recurring Invoicing + Subscription Billing
• New Customer Management Panel
• New Payment Management Panel
• Improvements in Invoices Dashboard
• New Invoicebus Test App
• Other Improvements

You can read more about each of these updates below.

Recurring Invoicing and Subscription Billing

Subscription Billing is a brand new feature in Invoicebus that allows you to create recurring subscription plans, automatically charge your customers for those plans, and send recurring invoices.

Subscription plans can be created on a daily, weekly, monthly, or yearly basis. You can create plans for any custom interval such as every 2 weeks, every 6 months, every 2 years, etc. You can also get professional and reliable bookkeeping services Hong Kong here.

In order to create a subscription for a particular plan, you need to:

• create a plan in Invoicebus;
• create a subscription for that plan
• [Invoicebus automatically generates a recurring invoice for this subscription]
• send the generated invoice to your customer by email.

Once the customer pays the invoice, Invoicebus automatically stores their billing details in your Stripe account and lets you receive future payments without bothering the customer to enter their card info ever again. Once the customer billing details are stored in Stripe, you can create as many subscriptions as you need and let Invoicebus initiate recurring charges for them.

For each billing cycle, Invoicebus generates an appropriate invoice and sends it by email to your customer (you can disable this under Automation Settings if you like).

Invoicebus also handles failed charges automatically, so when a customer card is declined, it notifies you both (you and the customer) by email and attempts to charge the card again in a few days. You can set up to 3 retries for each failed payment, plus you can fully customize the intervals between payments attempts as well as the email notification that is sent to the customer.

If Invoicebus reaches the maximum number of payment attempts for a particular invoice, it will apply the default rule which can be one of the following:

• Cancel subscription
• Mark subscription as overdue, or
• Do nothing

For each unpaid invoice, your customer will be given the option to pay the invoice manually by clicking a “Pay” button. By paying the invoice, Invoicebus automatically updates their billing details and all future invoices continue to be charged normally (this doesn’t apply if the subscription is cancelled).

Another great thing in Invociebus’ recurring subscriptions is that they offer full support for prorated charges. So when you want to change the customer’s plan in the middle of a billing cycle (upgrade or downgrade), Invoicebus automatically calculates any used/unused credits and applies the prorated amount on the next invoice at the end of the current billing cycle.

Currently, the recurring billing feature works only with Stripe. However, if you don’t plan to receive online payments, you can still use the recurring invoicing even without Stripe. In this case, Invoicebus will generate recurring invoices for your subscriptions and deliver them to your customers on a regular basis. Nonetheless, you need to collect payments via other means and record them manually in Invoicebus.

We also added an Export option for Subscriptions and Plans, so can easily export your data to XML, CSV, or XLS format.

Plans can be managed from the “Plans” tab, while Subscriptions can be managed from the “Subscription” tab at the top of the screen.

New Customer Panel

The new customer panel gives you a better overview of your customers and lets you manage them in a more simple and intuitive way. You can easily add, remove, or edit customers straight from this tab instead of the invoice editor.

From here you can also quickly preview all generated invoices per customer along with their email and payment statuses.

Another thing you may find useful here is the new Export/Import feature that allows you to Export the current list of customers in XML, CSV, or XLS format. Moreover, the Import feature gives you the ability to import customers in bulk from a CSV file instead of entering them manually one by one.

New Payment Panel

The new payment panel is a centralized place where you can track, record, or refund payments. You can access it by clicking the Payment tab at the top of the screen.

Depending on the payment gateway you are using, every payment record shows various details related to each corresponding charge. One of the most useful things here is the “failed charge” record which shows you details about every unsuccessful payment attempt and the failure reason.

We also added a similar record in the invoice activity history so that the customer can easily check why their payment failed.

Additionally, we implemented a more flexible refund feature which helps you issue full or partial refunds for each payment. We have to note here that the refund is per payment, not per invoice. That means, if you’ve received a couple of partial invoice payments, you can be flexible and issue a refund for a particular payment and not for the entire invoice amount.

For each refund, you can add internal notes for your own convenience.

Improvements in the Invoices Dashboard

By introducing Recurring and earlier Automatic Invoicing, Invoicebus now generates 3 different types of invoices: manual, recurring, and auto.

Manual invoices are all invoices that are created with Invoicebus by using the “New Invoice” command. Recurring invoices are all invoices that are generated automatically by Invoicebus for each recurring subscription. Auto invoices are all invoices generated automatically by Invoicebus from your Stripe charges (these do not include Stripe charges initiated from Invoicebus for recurring or manual invoices).

For each invoice type, you can now see a small icon in the dashboard which helps you easily distinguish every invoice in the list:

• M for manual
• A for auto, and
• R for recurring.

We also added a refresh button in the upper part of the dashboard, so you can easily retrieve the newest invoices without reloading the entire page.

Other improvements

• Option to disable auto-generated invoices for Stripe test charges (applies to auto invoices only). Because Stripe sends live events and test events to Invoicebus simultaneously, we added an option in Automation Settings that will help you disable generating invoices for your Stripe test charges. Even though this option could work fine for quick tests, for better results, we recommend using the Invoicebus Test App (read more below).
  If you still prefer to use this option, please note that some data from your test charges might be missing on your invoices (such as client or item details) because Invoicebus cannot retrieve all Stripe test data from its live mode. Remember, it is best to use Invoicebus Live + Stripe Live or Invoicebus Test + Stripe Test.
• Less restrictive email validation. We used an email validation like the Zerobounce email validation and improved it anywhere throughout the system. For new users, this means less rejected sign ups, while for existing users it means better email validation for their outgoing emails.

New Invoicebus Test App

Many times we were asked if there’s an option to try Invoicebus under a test environment and simulate test charges. Now there is! We just launched a fully functional test version of Invoicebus and you can give it a go at https://test.invoicebus.com. The Test App is almost identical to its production counterpart and allows you do everything just as you do with your live account. Be aware that if you plan to connect your Stripe account, you can only use it with Stripe test data here.

What’s on tap?

As we speak, we’re also working on a few other new features: ACH payments, metered billing, API, and a few great integrations. While we cannot provide ETA for any of these, we work hard to complete them all by the end of the year.

Now it’s your turn!

What do you think of our latest updates? Is there anything we can do to make Invoicebus better for you? If there is (I’m sure it is so), we would like to hear from you in the comments below.

Author information

Stefan Chachovski

Co-founder of Invoicebus. Huge lover of nature, science, and chocolate cherry cordials. He occasionally writes on this blog about Invoicebus' stuff. Hello him on Twitter or subscribe to his updates on Facebook.

| Twitter | Facebook |

The post Introducing Recurring Invoicing, Subscription Billing, and More appeared first on Garage.

You’ve spilled blood, sweat and tears to deliver that project on time. Now it’s time to send an invoice and get your hard-earned money. It shouldn’t be a problem, right?

Unfortunately, we all experience situations with late payments, forgetful clients, and tons of awkward moments all the time. The business that seemed to be pleasant can easily turn into a dreaded task.

We worked couple of months to address some of these issues and I believe we have great news. Here’s what’s new:

• Invoice / quote scheduler (existing, improved feature) – helps you schedule your invoices / quotes for later sending;
• Automatic payment reminders – help you follow up on your unpaid invoices at regular intervals and get paid faster;
• Automatic thank-you note – lets you set personalized thank-you email that is sent automatically when full payment is received / recorded.

Beside the autopilot features, we’re rolling out few other improvements:

• Improved dashboard – shows better overview of your outgoing emails with one glance.
• Export functionality – lets you download your invoice/quote list to xml, csv, or excel file so you can make custom reports.
• Functionality that allows you to enter custom date when you record a payment.

You can learn more on these updates below.

Automatic payment reminders

This feature should have been ready couple of months ago, but we reworked it couple of times since we weren’t exactly sure how we would like it to work. Even though this might seem like a simple functionality it turned out to be real pain in the neck. No matter what we tried, the user experience never felt right. We wanted flexibility, on the other hand flexible meant more checkboxes, more prompts, and more distraction.

After tons of trade-offs we came up with something that we believe is quite simple and instantly intuitive.

We added an option to set automatic payment reminders on-the-fly, directly from the invoice editor. This way your workflow and focus will be preserved, and you’ll never forget to set your reminders up (even if you forget, you can still schedule them later from the main menu).

You can set up to 3 different reminders per invoice at a time. This way you can gradually change the tone of your language depending on the situation. You can also save default template for each reminder and re-use it for all future invoices without hassle.

Implementing automatic payment reminders pulled few other changes throughout the system. We had to change the way you schedule your emails, plus we had to add few extra indicators to the dashboard.

Automatic thank you notes

We do forget to say thanks. And we repeat this mistake quite often. Sometimes due to some burden of work, and sometimes due our own negligence. And this could be a real turn-off in building successful relationships.

That’s why we decided to completely automate the “thanks note” task. That means, as soon as you get paid Invoicebus will automatically send personalized thank-you email to your client, signed with your name and email address. As your client will not be aware that this is an automated thank-you, you will always look super professional and grateful.

Even if you don’t accept online payments, you can still set an automatic thanks note which will be sent immediately after you record a payment.

Improved dashboard

Thousands of emails get lost in the cyberspace every day. If this happens, the intended recipient will never get the message and many times you both won’t be aware that the email was lost.

By tracking all outgoing emails, Invoicebus makes sure this never happens.

Now we improved the dashboard by including few extra indicators that will help you track every outgoing email with one glance. This will also give you a better overview of all sent/scheduled reminders as well as thanks notes.

Each email can hold one of the following statuses:

• Scheduled – email will be sent automatically when conditions are met
• Sent – email was sent to the recipient’s email service provider
• Delivered – email was accepted by the recipient’s email service provider and was delivered to the recipient’s mailbox
• Opened – client opened your online invoice / quote by clicking the link
• Not delivered – email was not delivered

Export to XML, CSV, or Excel

Excel is a great tool which we enjoy using for creating custom reports and data charts. Even though Export-to-Excel functionality was planned for later on, we decided to push it into this update and we’re glad we did.

This feature is exciting because it lets you filter your invoice/quote list and download the result set into 3 different file formats: xml, csv, and xls. The output data is beautifully formatted so you don’t need to struggle with extra formatting later on. Then you can directly print it out, or make custom reports according to your needs.

Even if you don’t have Excel, you can open the csv file with any text editor or spreadsheet program.

Now it’s your turn!

Is there anything we can do to make Invoicebus better? Feel free to give me a shout in the comments below.

Author information

Stefan Chachovski

Co-founder of Invoicebus. Huge lover of nature, science, and chocolate cherry cordials. He occasionally writes on this blog about Invoicebus' stuff. Hello him on Twitter or subscribe to his updates on Facebook.

| Twitter | Facebook |

The post Introducing the invoicing autopilot appeared first on Garage.

We’re very excited to announce this super handy feature which helps you get paid faster and easier than ever. By connecting your PayPal account with Invoicebus, a special “Pay with PayPal” button will appear on your online invoices so your clients can pay you directly with just a few clicks.

Connecting your PayPal account is very easy – just go to your account settings (see image below), enter your PayPal email address and… Voila!

The great thing is that Invoicebus will notify you immediately after your client sends you a payment. Plus it will automatically record the payment into your account, so you won’t need to do anything. Actually you may drink a mug of beer instead. Cheers!

COMING SOON

Another exciting feature that is coming soon is the Stripe integration – it helps you accept credit cards instantly with a single click. You may think of it like you have a credit card processor integrated on your invoices. Yes, it’s that awesome.

We hope you’ll find this features useful since we really want you to get paid faster. We’ll give our best to help you accomplish that.

Have some suggestions for us? Shoot them in the comments below, would definitely love to hear some.

Photo credit: FuFu Wolf

Author information

Stefan Chachovski

Co-founder of Invoicebus. Huge lover of nature, science, and chocolate cherry cordials. He occasionally writes on this blog about Invoicebus' stuff. Hello him on Twitter or subscribe to his updates on Facebook.

| Twitter | Facebook |

The post New Feature – Get Your Invoices Paid Directly with PayPal appeared first on Garage.

1. Responsive Email Windows

The old email windows were nice, but they felt a bit narrow when you were writing longer messages, so we decided to redesign them. Now when you open a window to send email, the whole area is bigger and cleaner with more space for writing and nothing squeezed-in.

The most awesome thing is their resizable and responsive nature. For example, you can change the size of the window to any dimension and all underlying elements will adjust accordingly. Also, at the top right corner there’s a little “Maximize” button that puts the window in full screen and lets you focus only on your writing. The white space is plenty enough so you can read easier with more enjoyment.


BONUS
We redesigned the window for entering payments as well. Now, it looks more appealing with beautifully organized data. Here it is.

2. Email Templates

Previously, you had the option to save default messages for your invoices, quotes, reminders and thanks notes, but the option to save the subject lines was missing. Now, we’re introducing the amazing Template feature that allows you to create complete templates including the subject, the message and the attachment.

There’re 4 different templates you can create, one for each email type:

• Invoice
• Quote
• Reminder
• Thanks Note

To edit the template, click the “Edit Default Template” link from the bottom left corner of the respective window.

3. Custom Placeholders

Placeholders are used when you create default template, such as email template, where Invoicebus should replace the variables with actual data from the document. You can also use them when you send non-template (unique) messages and need to include invoice data within the message context.

There’re many different placeholders you can choose from: client name, document number, total price, due date, outstanding balance etc. To insert a placeholder, just type “{“ (Left Curly Bracket) and the list with available placeholders will show. Ta-da! You don’t even need to scroll the whole list – we implemented search-as-you-type. Yay laziness.

4. Email Preview

We thought it would be awesome if you could preview the emails before sending, so we created the amazing real-time preview. You can even use it in the middle of your writing, preview the message and continue writing again, without losing a bit of your focus. To toggle the preview, just hit the “Show/Hide Preview” link and the panel will slide in/out (see image below).

5. Multiple Recipients

Also, we re-considered the option for sending document to multiple recipients. Now you can specify up to 5 comma separated recipients and send the document to all of them at once, just like you do with conventional emails. For example, into the “To” field you enter: fred@flintstone.bed, barney@rubble.bed, dino@dinostore.bed (see previous images).

We hope these features will improve your invoicing experience and make it more pleasant and enjoyable. And if you think there’s something else we are missing, don’t hesitate to give us a shout – we’re all ears!

Thank you so much for using Invoicebus.

Author information

Stefan Chachovski

Co-founder of Invoicebus. Huge lover of nature, science, and chocolate cherry cordials. He occasionally writes on this blog about Invoicebus' stuff. Hello him on Twitter or subscribe to his updates on Facebook.

| Twitter | Facebook |

The post More Awesomeness – 5 New Features appeared first on Garage.

During the development, we wrote a short log of changes, so I’ll share that with you and thoroughly introduce you with all changes.

Changelog

The link is automatically generated and included in the email right after your custom message. In order to open the link, the client will be prompted to enter access code (unique for every document, contained within the email as well).

Additional functionalities of the online document are:

• Print option (with printer friendly formatting);
• Download to PDF option;
• Accept Option (only for quotes);
• Decline Option (only for quotes);
• Document Status;
• Activity History;
• Custom comments;
• Email notifications (optional):
  – Document is viewed by client;
  – Quote is Accepted/Declined by client;
  – New comment is left (if you left the comment, client is notified and vice versa).

Other benefits of the online document are:

• Improved overall experience;
• Improved security;
• Invoices/Quotes can be easily accessed from anywhere;
• Invoice/Quote can be easily forwarded;
• Resolved problem with email clients that don’t support HTML content;
• Resolved problem with email clients that block images;
• Resolved problem for ‘Document Viewed’ notification accuracy.

2. Plain text version of all email messages

• Improved readability for email clients that don’t support HTML content.

3. Invoice Menu renamed to Invoice Actions

4. Quote Menu renamed to Quote Actions

5. Document View/Edit update

• Direct link with unique access code is included at the bottom of the document, right above Activity History section (only for logged-in users)

6. Activity History update

• Refresh button included
• Comment notification checkbox (weather to notify the client about newly entered comment or not. Only for logged-in users).

Author information

Stefan Chachovski

Co-founder of Invoicebus. Huge lover of nature, science, and chocolate cherry cordials. He occasionally writes on this blog about Invoicebus' stuff. Hello him on Twitter or subscribe to his updates on Facebook.

| Twitter | Facebook |

The post Fresh New Features & Updates appeared first on Garage.

Currency Symbol Position

In different countries the currency symbol placement can differ, so can be placed either from the left side or from the right side of the number. That’s why we implemented global option so you can set how the symbol appears on your documents.

The option can be managed from System Settings which are global for the whole system.

Subject Lines of the emails

Instead of the predefined subjects that your clients usually see (“Incoming Invoice”, “Incoming Quote”, “Payment Reminder”, “Thank You Note”), from now on you can enter your custom subject line, so your message can be more descriptive, and of course in a language of your choice.

If you have any suggestion for future update, please let us know. We’re eager to hear your thoughts.

Author information

Stefan Chachovski

Co-founder of Invoicebus. Huge lover of nature, science, and chocolate cherry cordials. He occasionally writes on this blog about Invoicebus' stuff. Hello him on Twitter or subscribe to his updates on Facebook.

| Twitter | Facebook |

The post New features: Currency Symbol Position & Subject Lines of your Emails appeared first on Garage.

We love Mondays, we really do, especially those when we launch new feature. The last one was one of those. We’ve introduced another great option as an answer to many requests from our users about localization of the invoices and customization of the field labels.

The localization of the invoices has been planned from the very beginning, but was not ready for the initial release, so we postponed a bit. The implementation was planned to be with combo box, so the user can switch among multiple languages. In the meanwhile, we’ve received numerous requests from our users about invoice label customization, so we came up with another idea. Instead to translate the invoice in various languages, we decided to make the labels fully customizable so the user can enter any text he likes in any language. And yes, Invoicebus automatically save it for future re-use.

This solution gives more flexibility in a more intuitive way. Therefore, you can:

• Localize the invoices in any language, in any country;
• Customize the field labels with your text (e.g., change the field ‘Quantity’ to ‘Hours’);
• Omit some fields/labels (e.g., if you don’t want the field ‘Terms & Notes’ to be shown, simply hit space inside the label and the final invoice won’t show anything. Booya!)

Here’s an example with custom labels.

If you have any suggestion or feature request, don’t hesitate to give us a shout. We’d love to hear from you and consider it as a future update.

Author information

Stefan Chachovski

Co-founder of Invoicebus. Huge lover of nature, science, and chocolate cherry cordials. He occasionally writes on this blog about Invoicebus' stuff. Hello him on Twitter or subscribe to his updates on Facebook.

| Twitter | Facebook |

The post Great New Feature – Customizable Field Labels appeared first on Garage.