Running a small business is already enough of a juggling act. Chasing down late payments or losing track of invoices shouldn’t be what trips you up. If you’re using Keap for your CRM and marketing, you might not realize it can handle your invoicing, too—and save you a bunch of headaches. This guide is for small business owners who want to keep their invoicing simple, organized, and (ideally) automated, without getting lost in the weeds.
Let’s get straight to it.
Step 1: Get Your Keap Account Set Up for Invoicing
If you’re already using Keap, good news: the invoicing tools are built in. But there are a few things to check before you go sending your first invoice.
- Make sure you’re on a plan that includes invoicing. Keap Pro and Keap Max include invoicing features. If you’re on Keap Lite, you’ll hit some limits.
- Connect your payment processor. Stripe, PayPal, and WePay are all supported. Without this, your customers can’t pay you online.
- Set up your business info. Double-check your company name, address, logo, and contact details—these show up on every invoice.
Pro Tip: Take five minutes to walk through the Payments and Invoicing setup wizard in Keap’s settings. It’ll save you headaches later.
Step 2: Create and Customize Your First Invoice
Here’s how to actually build and send an invoice in Keap:
- Go to the “Invoices & Payments” section in your Keap dashboard.
- Hit ‘Create Invoice’ or ‘New Invoice’.
- Add your customer. You can search existing contacts or add a new one on the fly.
- Enter the line items. Product, service, description, price, quantity—it’s all pretty standard.
- Set terms and due date. By default, Keap gives you Net 30 (payment due in 30 days), but you can set whatever you like.
- Customize the look. Add your logo, tweak colors, edit the default message if you want. Don’t spend hours on this—your clients care more about clarity than fancy formatting.
What works:
- The interface is straightforward. Most people can get through their first invoice without a manual.
- You can save products/services for reuse, which is great if you invoice for the same things regularly.
What to skip:
- Don’t get bogged down with custom fields or automations right away. Start simple, send a few invoices, and only tweak if you need to.
Step 3: Send Invoices (and Let Keap Do the Reminding)
When your invoice is ready, you’ve got options:
- Send via email directly from Keap. This includes a link for customers to pay online.
- Download as PDF. Handy if your client needs an attachment or you want to send it outside Keap.
What’s actually useful is that Keap automatically tracks when a customer views the invoice and whether they’ve paid. If they don’t pay, Keap can send reminders for you.
Pro Tip:
Set up automatic reminders for overdue invoices. You can tweak the timing (e.g., nudge them at 7 and 14 days late). This saves you the awkward “just following up” emails.
What works:
- The built-in reminders. They’re not pushy, just a nudge.
- You’ll get notified when payments come in.
What doesn’t:
- The email templates are a bit generic. If your clients respond better to a certain tone, edit the message before sending.
Step 4: Track Payments and Overdue Invoices
Here’s where Keap actually shines compared to DIY spreadsheets:
- Dashboard view: See what’s outstanding, overdue, or paid at a glance.
- Filter by client, invoice status, or date. Saves a ton of time at tax season or when you need to chase specific clients.
- Exports: You can export your invoice data as CSV if your accountant needs it or you want to run your own reports.
Don’t waste time:
- Don’t micromanage every status change. Focus on what’s overdue or unpaid—those are the ones that can hurt your cash flow.
If you’re dealing with lots of late payers:
- Keap lets you add late fees manually (though you have to remember to do it—there’s no true automation here).
- If non-payment is a chronic problem, consider tweaking your invoice terms or requiring deposits up front.
Step 5: Automate What You Can (But Don’t Go Overboard)
Keap is big on automation. You can set up automations to send invoices after a lead signs a contract, or trigger reminders if an invoice isn’t paid. But unless you’re sending dozens of invoices a week, automation can be overkill.
What’s worth automating: - Payment reminders for overdue invoices. - Follow-up emails after payment (e.g., a thank you or receipt). - Recurring invoices for regular clients.
What to skip (at least at first): - Complicated automations tying invoices to long marketing sequences. - Over-customizing every workflow. If you’re spending more time building automations than you would just sending invoices, it’s not worth it.
Pro Tip:
Start with one automation—overdue reminders. Once that’s working, consider adding more if you see the need.
Step 6: Keep Your Records Clean
Even with a tool like Keap, you need to keep your house in order:
- Reconcile your payments. Make sure payments showing in Keap match your bank account.
- Archive old invoices. Don’t delete them—just archive so your dashboard stays uncluttered.
- Regularly export your data. Once a month, download your invoices and payments in case you ever need a backup or want to switch systems.
Honest take:
Keap isn’t a full-blown accounting system (like QuickBooks or Xero). If your business is growing or you have complex needs (inventory, payroll, etc.), use Keap for invoicing and hand off the rest to your accountant or bookkeeper.
Step 7: Common Pitfalls and How to Dodge Them
- Forgetting to connect your payment processor—no one can pay you if you miss this.
- Over-customizing invoices. Clients want clear info and an easy way to pay. Don’t waste time tinkering with design.
- Failing to follow up on overdue invoices. Even with automation, keep an eye out for clients who need a personal nudge.
- Trying to automate everything. Some things are faster to do manually, especially when you’re just starting out.
Wrapping Up: Keep It Simple, Stay Paid
You don’t need a fancy system or a bunch of complicated rules to stay on top of your invoicing. Keap can handle the basics—sending, tracking, reminding—without much fuss. Start simple, fix what actually causes you trouble, and don’t let invoicing eat up your week. If you’re not sure whether to automate a step, ask yourself if it will actually save you time. When in doubt, focus on getting paid and keeping your records clean. The rest is just noise.