How to run different invoice reminders for different contact groups in Xero

You may have spent time grouping contacts in Xero to chase separately and then discovered this isn't possible. Xero runs one reminder schedule and ignores contact groups. Here's a workaround and how to give each group its own workflow in Trove.

Not every customer should be chased the same way. Long-standing clients might get a gentle nudge and plenty of room. Retainer accounts on direct debit might need almost no chasing at all. One-off or higher-risk customers might need a firm sequence that starts early. The way you treat each group is a deliberate choice, and it changes the timing, the tone and (sometimes) whether you chase automatically at all.

Xero runs one reminder schedule for the whole organisation. There is a limited manual workaround but more thorough routing comes with a tool like Trove on top of Xero.

Summary

The short answer: Xero has contact groups but reminders don’t use them. In Trove, you can give each group its own workflow.
Why Xero can’t: reminders are one global schedule that doesn’t look at contact groups, so being in a group changes nothing about how a customer is chased.
The workaround: manage groups by hand, turning reminders off for some customers and chasing them yourself.
How Trove does it: it lets you group customers however you organise them and put each group on its own workflow.
Example: clients on a gentle sequence, retainers left out of automated chasing, and higher-risk accounts on a firm sequence that starts early.

Why Xero can’t give each group its own reminders

Xero’s reminders are a single global setting that applies to every sent invoice. Contact groups exist for organising customers, but being in a group changes nothing about how a customer is chased.

This is one of the most requested fixes on Xero’s board. There’s a long-running request to set up invoice reminders for a contact group, where people point out they can only exclude contacts from all reminders when what they want is a different pipeline for those contacts. A separate thread asking for different reminder processes for clients versus customers makes the same case: different groups, different timing, different wording.

For the full picture of what Xero’s reminders can’t do, see the limitations of Xero invoice reminders.

The manual workaround in Xero

The workaround is to use the groups to keep track of customers, but manage chasing manually. For example, you might have a ‘No chasing’ group and then every time you move a customer into that group, you turn off invoice reminders for them.

You can then chase these customers separately via your own email, or not chase them at all. Up until a certain volume, this should work to make sure you’re not chasing the wrong customers with the standard Xero reminders.

For more information on how to turn invoice reminders on and off, check out our guide here.

How Trove gives each contact group its own workflow

You can use filters within Trove to decide which customers should get certain emails. However, if you have already spent time setting up contact groups in Xero, you can also just use these.

If you add more clients to groups within Xero at a later date, they will automatically enrol in the correct Trove workflow.

Contact group is one of several things you can segment on. For the full picture, start with whether you can send different Xero reminders to different customers, or see how the same approach works by product line, by customer location, or by overdue balance.

Try it on your own Xero account

Trove runs a free 30-day trial and takes about five minutes to connect to your Xero account. You can start a free trial here or book a demo if you’d like to see it set up first.