The 15 Best Template Apps to Use for Your Business

A whopping 627,000 businesses — that’s how many organizations start up in the United States every year. Most of these are small businesses, with some literally having started from garages!

In fact, in 2013, 69% of start-ups were home-based businesses. During that time, 59% of established businesses were also home-based.

All these prove that you can be the boss of your own, even at the comfort of your own home.

Since you’re starting small though, you need effective time and resource management. And one great way to cut down your admin tasks is to use business template apps.

But what are template apps exactly and how can they benefit your business? For what type of documents and projects should these apps give you templates for?

All that and more, you’ll discover in this post, so be sure to keep reading!

Template Apps, e.g. blogger or wordpress
blogger or wordpress

Template Apps 101

Administrative tasks are non-core, repetitive tasks, such as managing documents and files. While they seem easy enough, they contribute to reduced efficiency in the workplace. In fact, experts say that admin tasks in U.S. businesses lead to lost productivity amounting to $2.87 trillion!

Take email activities, for instance. An average employee spends over three hours reading emails alone. That doesn’t even include responding to all the important emails.

So, imagine how much time and effort you and your team can save if you have ready-to-use templates. You can save even more time if you use a template-generation app for all business documents!

A template app eliminates the need to develop a new document, like a report or form, from scratch. This software lets you generate pre-formatted files that you can quickly fill out. Their pre-formatting allows you to reuse these documents and simply enter new details.

These apps can be for almost every business task you create documents for. From budgeting to employee time sheets to new projects, there’s a template app for each of them. With these apps, you can avoid wasting time and money in creating new business documents all the time.

Ready to make your business as productive as possible? Then make sure you use one of the popular template apps for creating the following must-have templates!

1. Business Budget and Expense Templates

One of the biggest benefits of template apps is that they can help you keep track of budget and expenses.

For instance, you can use a template app for expense documentation. You only have to fill in details like “items” you purchased, their cost, and their time of purchase. You can even note other important details, such as the supplier of the items you bought.

By using an expense template, it’ll be easier for you to track your business’ cash outflow. You can then use this to determine which areas you can afford to cut costs from. You can also better plan big-ticket purchases, such as buying your first business car.

2. Employee Scheduling Templates

Did you know that in 2017, about 40% of employees quit within 12 months from their start date? A top reason for this high turnover rate was poor work scheduling.

Having employees quit on you can be much more expensive than hiring new workers. That’s why proper employee scheduling is key to raising your business’ survival rate.

Make sure you give your employees a fair schedule by using a work schedule template. You can even color-code these templates, with each color representing a team member. This’ll make it easier for you to track their previous week’s schedule.

From there, you can make the proper adjustments for the new week’s schedule.

3. Employee Timesheet Templates

Aside from schedules, you should also use apps that give you a time sheet template. It’s best to pair this with a time tracking tool, so you can easily cross-check employee time-in and time-out.

4. Employee Payslip Templates

Failure to track your employees’ pay can result in an overpayment. This can then deplete your capital, which for 29% of SMBs, led to them having to close shop. If you don’t overpay, you may end up sending them incomplete payment for their hard work.

You can make salary management easier by using a wage template. You can even use some payslip template apps with accounting automation software!

5. Invoice Templates

Cut the time needed to fill out invoices by using professional invoice template apps. These apps even let you send the invoices online, organize bills, and track payments.

You can even schedule the times these apps should send out the invoices. This is one way to automate workflow in your business and reduce unnecessary admin tasks.

6. Work Order Templates

Capture and summarize client and job details by using a work order form template app. The smartest apps even calculate totals as well as taxes on your behalf. All you need to do is key in quantities, item prices, tax rates, and other fees.

7. Safety Policy Templates

In 2017, about 2.8 million nonfatal injuries and illnesses occurred in private U.S. workplaces. Of this, 882,730 cases led to days away from work.

Granted, your business and worker’s compensation insurance will cover these incidents. But it’s best to keep your workplace safe and healthy by enforcing safety policies. This should include daily, weekly, or monthly updates, such as for equipment safety.

The first step is to learn more about job safety and workplace activity hazards. From there, make sure you train each of your team members to abide by all safety protocols. Don’t forget to update cybersecurity measures when creating your workplace safety program.

Then, disseminate the information by using a safety and security policy template! A template app for this can be very useful especially when making protocol updates. You can also use the app to print physical copies or send the updates via email.

8. Marketing Campaign Template

Planning to get started on a new SEO marketing campaign for your business? Then get a marketing campaign template app so you can easily make changes as it progresses!

Let’s say your initial goal is to concentrate on free online marketing platforms. But as you create content for your new blog, you decided to include business videos in your campaign. You want to take advantage of the fact that videos can increase qualified marketing leads by up to 66%.

If you don’t use a template, you’d have to create a new campaign document from scratch. Whereas a marketing template app allows you to make easy edits to the current document. You can add and delete details along the way, as well as correct grammar errors and typos.

9. Company Newsletter Templates

Keep your clients engaged by sending them regular company newsletters. You can do this on a monthly basis to let customers know of any new products or services as well as promotions. This will keep them engaged, especially if you include a “bonus,” such as a discount, for your readers.

To reduce the time you need to spend on creating the newsletter for the current month, use a template. With a newsletter template app as a guide, you won’t forget important details. You can follow the past month’s format, only plugging in the updates and making minor edits.

10. Executive Summary Templates

Update your team with new product plans by sending executive summaries. Use a template right from the start, so you can update the summary as more details become available. You can also use the filled-in template to notify your clients about the new product.

11. Internal Advisory Templates

Make official internal announcements a breeze by using internal advisory templates. You can use these templates to announce job openings, new hires, and company events. You can even edit these templates to let your team know of changes in company policies.

12. Business Letterhead Templates

Use a branded letterhead when writing letters you’ll send to clients and investors. Better yet, use an on-brand letterhead template to make all official letters consistent. Keep in mind that branding consistency is key to establishing credibility and legitimacy.

13. Meeting Agenda Templates

Fill out and send a meeting agenda template a few days before every actual meeting. This way, the team members who’ll participate will already have an idea on what the meeting will be about. This gives them enough time to prepare and make notes of what they may have to present.

14. Project Status Templates

A project status template app is a great way to track task status and who’s working on what. You and your team members can also update the template every day with current work progress. You can even color-code areas of priority, rank, and display them on the template.

15. Email Templates

Craft “new” emails and email responses faster by using a fill-in-the-blank template. This is especially helpful for messages you always send, such as for generating leads. Since they’re editable, you can make them more “personalized” for each recipient.

Save Time and Effort While Boosting Productivity with these Templates

As you can see, there are so many things you can use template apps for. What’s more, they can save you a lot of precious time, which you can then use for more important tasks. Plus, they’re a great tool for reducing the risks of omission errors.

So, as early as now, use these templates as guides for all your business’ important documents! The sooner you do, the sooner you’ll see a rise in your team’s productivity.

Need even more help boosting your business’ productivity levels? In that case, you may want to check out our list of must-have business productivity software!

Melissa Thompson writes about a wide range of topics, revealing interesting things we didn’t know before. She is a freelance USA Today producer, and a Technorati contributor.