The term “branded invoicing” generally refers to the way in which an invoice is styled or designed, in line with a company, product, or service’s ‘look’ or ‘aesthetic’. Branded invoices elevate the traditional ‘bare bones’ design of administrative documents, and may include brand colours, logos, fonts, imagery, or any other distinctive features in line with the sender’s image.

Branded or customised invoicing is an excellent tool for brand messaging and communication, delivering a strong message of professionalism to potential customers at a key point in the sales funnel. In its building of a strong brand through design, branded invoicing helps build an ongoing connection with leads, improve the customer, experience, and perhaps most importantly, drives conversion.

Invoices can be customised to meet the precise needs of the sender, but typically need to include a unique ID number, company name, address and contact details, customer address and details (e.g. name), a clear (sometimes itemised) list of the service or goods you’re invoicing for, the date, the amount charged, and VAT.

Though the information above is generally required to ensure an invoice functions as intended, many opt for customised or branded invoices with additional elements in line with the company image. The customised Xero and Quickbooks invoices provided by GLO typically include all of the above, in addition to images and graphics, brand colours, logos, tables, and watermarks.

An invoice format is generally thought of as the layout of an invoice, in addition to the data fields and features included. Creating and delivering an effective invoice format is hugely important to the experience of the recipient, meaning it must typically be logical and functional.

An invoice format is not, however, the same as an invoice template. A template is a pre-formatted invoice, with fields including dummy data that can be replaced with your own information.

Commonly used accounting software including Xero and Quickbooks allow their users to generate invoices with pre-made templates whilst granting the ability to edit and amend their format to best suit your needs. General edits can be made to the invoice in this manner, however, if you’re looking for full creative freedom over the look and layout of your invoice and documents, GLO’s custom DOCX branding service is the best path to take.

Invoice branding is an innovative way to optimise an often overlooked tool, allowing companies and individuals to ensure their brand voice is heard at some of the most important points of the sales funnel - proposal, quoting, and invoicing. In submitting a professionally created, on-brand document, you’ll create or add to a perception of quality, trustworthiness, and professionalism, increasing your chances of conversion and fast payment. In addition to this, it is thought that well-made branded invoices are more likely to drive referrals.

As mentioned above, our branding and customisation options are not solely limited to invoice documents. In line with modern accounting software such as Xero, we’re able to create stunning multi-page proposal templates, with the option of adding personal touches for each client, without having to convert your files to PDF every time. To further this, these quotes and proposals are simply converted into a quote with the click of a button, saving you valuable time, and improving the customer experience significantly.

When designing a custom template for use in Xero, GLO manages as many of the more complex steps as possible for you, meaning all you have to do is upload the file. After approving and receiving your final DOCX file from us, you can import it by:

1. Open Xero.
2. Click your business name, open settings, and go into invoice settings.
3. Select the new branding theme arrow then choose Custom.docx.
4. Enter a name for your custom theme, and click OK.
5. Click upload and select the option to browse for invoice. This will open your documents.
6. Select and use your custom DOCX file.

When designing a custom template for use in Quickbooks, GLO manages as many of the more complex steps as possible for you, meaning all you have to do is upload the file. After approving and receiving your final DOCX file from us, you can import it by:

1. Save the finished DOCX file to your computer.
2. Open Quickbooks.
3. Go to the settings icon on your dashboard, and select Quickbooks labs.
4. Switch on the option to import styles, click done, and save changes.
5. Click on the settings icon and select custom form styles.
6. Select new style.
7. Select import style. This will bring you to the first page of the ‘import your own form style’ process.
8. Click the correct document in the dropdown menu under from type.
9. Click browse, and select the final DOCX file, then click next.
10. Ensure all document fields match those in Quickbooks. The number associated with each element of the uploaded document should correspond to those present in the table generated by Quickbooks. If these numbers don’t match, edits can be made by selecting the correct field name from the dropdown list in the correct row. Once everything matches, click next.
11. Save your file and give it a name.

A DOCX file is a versatile Microsoft Word document, introduced as an upgrade to the commonly used doc file, able to contain text and other media, including images. Both file types are typically opened using Microsoft Word, but can also be read using a number of alternative programmes.

DOCX files have gained popularity in recent years, primarily as a result of their versatility and advantages over doc files, which include:
- Small file format
- Available in XML for sharing
- Can be read by many word processors, including Word, Google Docs, and Pages

Whilst both the doc and DOCX file types were developed by Microsoft, DOCX, introduced in 2003, and made the default save file for Word in 2017, is generally seen as the superior successor of doc.

The primary difference between the two file types in the ‘openness’ of the DOX file type. Whilst doc files are saved in a binary file only accessible by Microsoft programmes, DOCX files are actually a zip file including all XML files related to the document. DOCX’s upgraded format allows the file to be opened with any zip compression software if you were to exchange the DOCX extension of the file with ZIP. In addition, DOCX’s upgraded setup makes files smaller in size, allowing for easy sharing (particularly through email), allows for the use of additional features not present in doc files.

One of the many advantages of modern accounting software such as Xero and Quickbooks is the level of customisation they allow. Each provides a select number of initial templates, which can be further customised by the user, in addition to the option to upload your own template. These templates are referred to as ‘branding themes’ by Xero, and ‘form styles’ by Quickbooks.

The list of documents available for customisation in Xero and Quickbooks are very similar. Whilst Xero allows for the customisation of invoices, statements, credit notes, quotes, purchase orders, receipts, remittance advice, and proposals, Quickbooks allows for much of the same, allowing further the customisation of estimates.

DOCX files are incredibly versatile, and can generally be opened using any full reader application, with both free and paid options available for download. The main software on which they can be opened and edited is Microsoft Work (2007 and above), but DOCX files may also be accessed using the free programme ‘Word Viewer’, and non-Microsoft programs such as WPS, OpenOffice Writer, ONLYOFFICE, Google Docs, and Apple’s Pages application. The extent to which DOCX files can be edited using these programmes varies, however, GLO’s custom invoice DOCX files are sent in a perfected template format, meaning all our recipients need to do is upload the final DOCX file to their accounting software.