An express invoice is a one-off bill you raise in under two minutes, straight from the contact record, without building a template first. It answers a narrow question: how do you charge a client for something that came up today, while the conversation is still open, rather than adding it to a list for month end? On the levelpartner.ai platform you raise it from the contact, send it by email or text, and the client pays by card from a hosted page.
Why speed matters more than format
Ad-hoc work leaks revenue. A consultant agrees an extra workshop on a call, an agency adds a rush landing page, a broker charges an admin fee for a late document pack. Each one is small. Each one gets written on a sticky note and forgotten until the client has moved on and the charge feels awkward to raise.
An express invoice closes that gap. You bill while the client still remembers agreeing to it. The faster the invoice follows the agreement, the fewer queries you get and the quicker it is paid.
Before you start
- A payment processor connected in Payments, so the invoice carries a pay button.
- Your business name, address, logo and tax details saved in the business profile.
- Tax rates set up if you charge VAT or sales tax.
- The client saved as a contact with a working email address or mobile number.
- A decision on your default payment terms, for example due on receipt or within 14 days.
How to raise an express invoice
- Go to Contacts and open the client's Contact Details.
- Click the Payments tab, click Actions and select Create Invoice.
- Check the customer details already filled in, then the invoice number, issue date and due date.
- Click Add an item, pick the product and edit the price and quantity on the line.
- Click Add Tax below the discount area if tax applies.
- Under Additional Options, add a one-line note in the terms that names the agreement, such as the date of the call.
- Click Save and wait for the confirmation.
- Open the three dots next to Save and choose Preview to see what the client will see.
- Click Send and choose Email, SMS or both.
The whole thing should take less time than writing the sticky note. If it takes longer, your business profile or tax settings are incomplete, and fixing those once saves you every time after.
Where it fits in a 10 to 250 person firm
In a 60-person firm with flat revenue, small unbilled extras add up across a year. Most of them are lost because billing belongs to finance, and finance hears about the extra work days later, second hand. Express invoices move the first draft to the person who agreed the work.
That does not mean everyone should send invoices unchecked. A practical split is that account managers raise and send express invoices up to an agreed limit, and anything above it goes to finance for review. You set that rule in your team policy and use user permissions in Settings to control who can send.
Say the agency agrees about 12 small scope changes a month, each worth an illustrative £150 to £900. If they wait until month end, perhaps a third, four a month, never get billed because nobody remembers the detail. Raised as express invoices on the day by the account manager, all 12 would go out within 24 hours, while the client still remembers asking for the work. At an average of £500, four recovered changes would be worth £2,000 a month.
What it replaces and the time it takes
An express invoice replaces three things: the note-to-self, the email to finance asking them to bill something, and the spreadsheet of unbilled extras. Once your profile and taxes are set, each one takes one or two minutes. Expect a sales or account lead to spend perhaps half an hour a week on them.
If the same extra keeps coming up, save it as a product in Payments so the description and price are consistent. If the same client is billed the same amount every month, it is no longer an express invoice; set up a recurring invoice instead, covered in the guide to simple invoicing for a growing firm.
The mistake most people make
Vague line items. "Additional work" invites a query, and a query pauses payment. Write the line the way the client described the request on the call: "Second round of homepage revisions requested 4 March". The client recognises it, agrees, and pays.
The second mistake is sending without a pay button. If no processor is connected, the invoice arrives as a document asking for a bank transfer, and you are back to chasing. Connect the processor first, then send. The guide to taking card payments as a small business covers that connection.
When not to use an express invoice
Do not use one for the main engagement fee. Large invoices deserve a proper estimate or contract first, then an invoice built from it. Do not use one where the client has a purchase order process either. Their accounts team will reject anything without a PO number, so collect the number before you send.
And do not use express invoices to bill time in bulk. If you are adding up hours, follow the method in time tracking and invoicing, which keeps the record behind every line.
Sending by text
For clients who live on their phones, send the invoice as a text. The client taps the link, sees the invoice and pays with a card or a wallet. It works well for owner-managed clients who never open finance email. The text to pay guide explains when a text beats an email and how to word it.
Troubleshooting
The invoice shows no pay button. No processor is connected, or the connection has expired. Reconnect it in Payments and resend.
The tax line is wrong. The tax rate on the line item does not match the client's location. Correct the rate on the invoice and set the right default for that product.
The client says they never received it. Check the email address on the contact and the delivery status on the invoice. Resend by text as a backup.
Two people billed the same extra. Agree that the person who took the request raises the invoice, and add a note on the contact when they do.
Frequently asked questions
Is an express invoice different from a normal invoice?
Legally, no. It is the same invoice with the same fields. The difference is how it is used: raised on the day, by the person who agreed the work, for a single item or a short list.
Can I edit an express invoice after sending it?
You can void it and send a corrected one. That keeps a clean record of what the client received, which matters more than saving a minute.
Who in the team should be allowed to send them?
Anyone who agrees work with clients, up to a value limit you set. Above that limit, route it to finance first.
Does the client need an account to pay?
No. The client opens the link, sees the invoice and pays. There is nothing to sign up for.