Managing customers

A customer is the company or person an invoice or estimate is addressed to. Sliptree keeps the customer's details, tax numbers and document defaults in one record, so each new document for that customer starts filled in. The Customers page in the main navigation lists every customer, and each customer has a page of their own.

The customer list

The list can be searched and filtered, for example by country, VAT number or salesperson, and it is where you add a customer, import a list from a file or export the list as a CSV file. See Importing customers, Exporting customers and Filtering and customising list views.

From a customer's row you can start a new invoice or estimate for them, or edit, duplicate and delete the customer. Selecting several rows shows the bulk actions; see Bulk actions on customers and products.

The customer record

The customer form holds the contact details and address, the tax numbers, the customer's document defaults and their salesperson.

The Email field takes several addresses separated by commas, and every address gets the documents sent to this customer. Whatever is typed in Additional information is printed under the customer's address on their invoices and estimates.

When the customer is in one of the countries with a business register lookup, typing the name of a new customer also searches that register. Picking a result under Results from Business Registry fills in the registration number, VAT number and address for you.

The Registration number and the VAT number are printed on the customer's documents, and Sliptree checks their format for the customer's country; see Registration number validation. The Customer number is your own identifier for the customer, for example the id from your accounting software, and it matches customers on import. See Customer "external ID" and matching on import.

A customer can override your business defaults, for example the currency, the language or the payment terms of their documents. A blank field uses the business default. See Setting defaults for individual customers.

A customer can also be assigned to one team member as their Salesperson. Customers with no salesperson are visible to every sales representative. See Sales Representatives: scope and customer assignment.

The customer page

The customer's own page shows their details and settings, and for customers in a country with an e-invoicing register, whether they accept e-invoices and through which operator. From the page you can start a new invoice or estimate for the customer, or edit, duplicate and delete the record.

What a document keeps

An invoice or estimate keeps a copy of the customer's details as they were when the document was made. Editing the customer afterwards changes future documents only; an existing document is updated from its own customer panel. See Managing customer information on invoices and estimates.

Deleting a customer

Deleting a customer removes the record from the list and cannot be undone. Their invoices and estimates stay where they are, with the customer details they already carry. A bulk delete skips every customer that has documents, so those customers have to be deleted one by one.

Common questions

• The customer wants their VAT number on the invoice. Enter it in the VAT number field; it is printed on every document from then on.
• The customer should not be charged VAT. See How do I make sure tax-exempt customers see no tax on their invoices?.
• The customer pays in another currency or reads another language. Set Currency and Language in the customer's settings; see How do I set a default currency for a specific customer?.
• One customer gets a longer payment term or no late fee. Set Invoice payment terms or Late fee rate on the customer; see How do I prevent a customer from being late-fee-eligible?.
• Invoices should go to several people at the customer. Put all their addresses in the Email field, separated by commas; see How do I send the same invoice to multiple recipients?.
• Does this customer accept e-invoices? See Sending e-invoices to customers.
• Several customers need a new salesperson. See Reassigning customers in bulk.