When to use Xero reminders for chasing invoices (and when to upgrade)

What are Xero invoice reminders?

Xero invoice reminders are automated emails sent to customers when invoices are approaching their due date or become overdue. Once enabled, Xero automatically sends these reminders based on the schedule you set up.

The system checks daily (between 4am and 8am in your organisation’s timezone) and sends reminders to any invoices that meet your chasing criteria.

How to set up invoice reminders in Xero

1. Log into Xero and go to Sales → Invoices. At the top right of the page, you will see a button saying ‘Invoice reminders: Off’.

2. Click on that button and then tick the box that says ‘Email customers when an invoice is…’. This will open editing and you can start configuring which reminder emails you want to send when.

3. These are the settings to customise for your email sequence:
   1. Number of reminders in sequence (up to 5)
   2. When reminders are sent
   3. Reminder content and placeholders
   4. Attachments (e.g. PDF or online link to the invoice)
   5. Threshold for size of invoice before you start sending reminders (£0 is fine)

You can always start with the default Xero sequence and tweak it if no one replies.

4. Hit save. You now have a sequence of email reminders ready to go and the first batch will be sent between 4am and 8am tomorrow.

When to use Xero’s invoice reminder system

Most Xero users would benefit from turning on an invoice reminder system and Xero’s built-in functionality is free to use on most plans. Here’s a quick sense check of whether to turn it on:

✅ When to use Xero’s invoice reminder system:

• You send out more than 10 invoices a month using Xero
• You currently have at least 2 invoices that are overdue
• Your number of overdue invoices is increasing each month
• You have no process in place yet for chasing unpaid invoices

There are circumstances when you might need a more advanced system than Xero’s invoice reminders:

❌ When not to use Xero’s invoice reminder system:

• Customers receive multiple invoices each month (Xero sends a separate email per invoice which can be hard to keep track of)
• You have sensitive or high-value customers who you would prefer to personally email
• You have a diverse customer base where different customers need different reminder types
• You use Xero’s system at the moment and still have lots of overdue invoices

If this sounds like you, upgrading to a system like Trove can help.

When to upgrade your collections system

Most Trove customers upgrade after turning on Xero reminders and seeing their overdue balance continue to increase. That’s when it’s time to roll out a more sophisticated process for collections.

To show what’s possible with Trove, all Xero users can access a 30-day trial of Trove that takes five minutes to get going. You can get going with your free trial here or book a demo if you want to take a look at the platform first.