How to set up and send Xero invoice reminders

Xero can email your customers a reminder when an invoice falls due, and you should turn it on. Here's how to set the schedule, how to send or resend a reminder by hand, and what to do about the invoices email never collects.

How to turn on Xero invoice reminders

1. In Xero, go to Business → Invoices, then Invoice Reminders (or Settings for the organisation).
2. Switch reminders on.
3. Set the schedule. A reminder a few days before due, on the due date, and at 7, 14 and 21 days overdue covers most cases.
4. Edit the message so it reads like you, not a robot, and set a minimum amount so tiny invoices don't trigger emails.

From then on, Xero emails the contact on each overdue invoice on your schedule, and stops once the invoice is paid.

The rest of what Xero gives you

• Statements catch customers with several small invoices outstanding, in one monthly run.
• Online invoices with a pay link mean fewer excuses when paying takes one click.

Do all three. They're free and they collect the easy ones.

What Xero reminders do well

• They're automatic. No more remembering to nudge.
• They catch the honest slips. Most late invoices are simply forgotten, and an email fixes those.
• They're free and already in your accounting.

Where email stops working

• Email only. If a customer ignores email, or never sees it, reminders have nowhere else to go.
• No reply handling. A reminder can't tell you the invoice went to the wrong person, that there's a query, or when they'll actually pay.
• Easy to tune out. A customer who is late on purpose learns that nothing happens if they ignore the emails.

Once an invoice is a couple of weeks overdue, another automated email mostly signals that there's no consequence. The follow-up that changes behaviour at that point is person-to-person: a phone call. A call gets an answer in two minutes, a payment date you can hold them to, a dispute you didn't know about, or "send it again, I never got it". None of those come back from an email.

If your reminders are already on and being ignored, that's a different problem from setting them up, and it has its own guide: when Xero invoice reminders aren't enough.

Adding the phone step

If you make the calls yourself, work from Xero's Awaiting Payment list, oldest first, and log what each customer says. The chasing overdue invoices guide has a sequence and a script.

If you'd rather not spend your mornings on it, this is exactly what Gary does:

1. Connect Xero so Gary syncs your invoices and sees what's overdue. Nothing is written back to your ledger.
2. Switch on the customers you choose. No call goes out without your approval per customer.
3. Gary rings them in a friendly voice, business hours only, every call opening with a recording disclosure.
4. You get the outcome: transcript, result and any promised payment date, plus follow-ups like resending the invoice by email.

When the customer pays, Xero marks the invoice paid and Gary counts the recovery, so days-to-payment and collection rate move on your dashboard.

Keep the relationship

Chasing your own customers is awkward precisely because you'll work for them again. A consistent, polite check-in, same tone every time, never outside business hours, stopping the moment they ask, protects the relationship better than sporadic frustrated emails. That consistency is easier to buy than to maintain by hand.

Common questions

Does Xero call customers about unpaid invoices?

No. Xero invoice reminders are email only. For a phone follow-up you need a person, or a tool like Gary that reads your Xero invoices and makes the calls.

How do I send a Xero invoice reminder manually?

Open the invoice, choose Send, and Xero drafts the email again with the pay link. It's the same message the automatic reminder sends, so if the automatic ones are already being ignored, sending another by hand rarely changes the outcome.

How do I resend an invoice in Xero?

Open the invoice and use Invoice Options → Send, correcting the contact email first if it went to the wrong person. Gary can also resend the invoice straight after a call, which is the moment it's most likely to be read.

Why aren't my Xero invoice reminders working?

Usually the schedule, the minimum amount, or a wrong contact email. Check those first. But if customers are seeing the emails and still not paying, the issue isn't the reminder, it's that email alone has stopped working.

Can I automate a phone call from Xero?

Not in Xero itself. Gary connects to your Xero organisation and makes the follow-up calls for you, then records the outcome so your history stays in one place.