How To Chase Unpaid Invoices
Turn on the automatic reminders in your invoicing tool first: QuickBooks and Xero can both email customers before and after the due date. Then add a personal step for anything two weeks late: a short, friendly email with the invoice number, amount and pay link, followed by a phone call. Keep a dated note of every contact.
How To Do It
These steps work with the tools you already have, whatever you use.
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Make The Invoice Easy To Pay
Show the due date, invoice number and an online pay link at the top. State payment terms when you agree on the work, not for the first time on the invoice.
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Turn On QuickBooks Reminders
In QuickBooks Online, go to Settings › Account and settings › Sales, edit Reminders, and turn on Automatic invoice reminders. Set up to three, before or after the due date. They only go out for invoices you’ve emailed from QuickBooks.
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Or Turn On Xero Reminders
In Xero, go to Sales › Invoices, click Invoice Reminders: Off, and tick “Email customers when an invoice is.” You can have up to five reminders. The invoice must be marked as sent and the contact needs an email address.
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Send A Personal Email At Two Weeks Late
Reply on the original invoice email: “Hi Jen, checking on invoice 1043 for the October work, due on the 15th. Here’s the pay link. Is anything holding it up?”
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Call At 30 Days
Ask what’s in the way. Often it’s a missing PO number, a new person in accounts payable, or an invoice stuck in someone’s spam folder.
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Escalate In Writing
Send a final notice with a firm date and say what happens next, such as pausing work. For long-overdue amounts, ask your accountant or attorney about your options.
What To Watch Out For
- Check the invoice reached the right person. Larger customers often need a PO number or a specific accounts payable address.
- Assume a mix-up first. Most late payers are disorganized, not dishonest, and a friendly tone gets paid sooner.
- Automatic reminders keep going after a customer says “paid it yesterday.” Turn them off for that invoice so you don’t annoy a good client.
- Don’t threaten steps you won’t take. Collecting consumer debts also comes with legal rules.
How Octopus Prime Does It
Your Octopus Prime agent does the chasing prep: it pulls the overdue list from your invoicing tool, drafts a personal note for each customer, and keeps the log. It never moves money.
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A Monday Overdue Check
A repeating task has the agent open QuickBooks or Xero with your login and list overdue invoices by customer and age.
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Drafts In Your Voice
For each one, it drafts a short email with the invoice number, amount and pay link, and mentions anything from earlier notes, like “Jen said their new AP person starts Monday.”
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You Approve Each Send
Every email waits for your OK by default. Anything that would move money, like a credit or money back, waits for you too.
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A Call List For The Late Ones
For invoices past 30 days, it posts a short call list with numbers and notes. You make the calls; Octopus Prime has no phone line.
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Every Contact Logged
The agent notes each reminder and promise in the project log, so you have a dated record if you ever need one.
From $10/month 30 days free No credit card
Questions
When should I follow up on an unpaid invoice?
A reminder a few days before the due date, one on the day, then a personal email about two weeks late and a call at 30 days works for most small businesses.
Can QuickBooks send payment reminders automatically?
Yes. QuickBooks Online has automatic invoice reminders under Settings › Account and settings › Sales › Reminders, for invoices you sent from QuickBooks.
What should a payment reminder email say?
The invoice number, amount, due date and a pay link, plus one friendly line asking whether anything is holding it up. Keep it short.
Will the agent take payments or give money back?
No. Anything that moves money waits for your OK, and the agent doesn’t collect payments; your invoicing tool’s pay link does that.
Let your agent do the steps. You approve what matters.
From $10/month 30 days free No credit card
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