best practices for sending invoices/bills via email

Question

Our B2B mobile app for food delivery to businesses sends an email to the recipient as soon as the recipient accepts the delivery on the delivery driver's mobile app. The email contains the signed invoice (bill) for the delivery that was just made. (the signature happens on the mobile device)

Are there best practices I should be aware of for sending invoices/bills via email? What makes a "bad" invoice email vs. a "good" invoice email?

One obvious question is whether I should attach a PDF of the invoice or use HTML content instead, but that seems to be answered well by Sending a formatted email vs. sending a PDF as attachment.

What other questions should I be asking?

Note that this is not a mass-market app but has a focused niche audience with our enterprise support team standing ready to help them, so making sure customers are happiest is more important than reducing chance of any support calls.

Answer 1

The two things your email needs to do is present the list of goods that need to be paid for and encourage them to then pay, right? That's what I'd focus on.

An important consideration may be the length of the item list. If a customer picks up 350 items, it's probably best to list the first 20 and then give them a link to your site to see the complete itemized list.

Be sure it's clear what is owed, when it's due, and easy ways to contact your company and pay for it all. Support contacts are also a good idea.

One last thing... this is a potential opportunity to mix in some marketing. Be sure the message is polite and appreciative so your customer feels valued, and if you have new products or promotions (more targeted = more better) they would like, this is a great time to tell your customer. They are much more likely to read an invoice than they ever will be to read a pure marketing message.

A good resource is your own inbox. Look at invoices you have received electronically. What do they do well, and what do you dislike? Did they present information clearly? Can you tell what to do if you have a question? Is it clear what you ordered, when you got it, and what to do next?