Simplify Invoicing with 17hats Invoice Email Reminders

Wouldn’t it be nice if everyone paid on time and in-full every time. Wow! Business would be easier if that was the case. 

But, unfortunately, life happens and people forget to pay. And, what’s worse, we as business owners forget to remind them which leaves us leaving money on the table year after year. 

You might laugh, thinking who forgets about money owed? But, actually it is a pretty common issue for busy solopreneurs.

Invoice goes out, to-do is checked off, and mentally you move on to the next big thing. Then 30 days later, you realized, they didn’t pay.

Set Yourself Up for Success

Invoicing sounds pretty easy. Add your item, description, amount, tax and a CTA to pay you and you are off. In the ‘textbook’ world that works. But when life kicks in and throws our clients kinks, it’s important to have an easy way to follow up and manage your payments. 

By setting up Invoice Reminder Emails, you are ensured that past due invoices and payments are being followed up on in a timely manner and consistently. The old saying, “The money is in the follow up,” is true in so many ways. 

17hats Invoice Email Reminders

Our email reminders for past due invoices and payments are easy to use and set up.

When enabled:

1. The reminder emails automatically start when then invoice is past due.
2.  The reminder emails will automatically stop sending when the invoice is brought into good standing or paid in full.
3. The email automatically send a link for the client to easily access the invoice to pay online.

When those three tasks are automatically done for you for each of your past due invoices, think how much time you’ll save in your day. That’s a lot less worry, and more money in your pocket.

5-Minute Setup

Invoice reminders take less than 5-minutes to set up.

Before jumping in, invoice reminder emails are sent everyday at 10am, your account time, to your past due clients. So, if you have some outstanding invoices that actually have been paid via check or cash, go ahead and add a payment to those invoices and bring them back into good standing or close them out. Therefore, only the people who need reminding are sent the email. 

Then head to your Account Settings > Email Settings > Reminders. 

Next, slide down to the bottom for Invoice Reminder Past Due. Go ahead and enable it. 

Don’t fret – nothing will be automatically sent right now (unless it’s a little before 10am your account time. 🙂 )

Let’s go ahead and edit the reminder.

First, set the parameter of when and how often you would like the email to send.

Then, you can edit the body of the email. Since this email will be sent out for all past due invoices, it’s important to keep it generic and use tokens.

For a personal touch, I use the Contact First Name Token, Invoice Number, and Outstanding Amount.

Remember, tokens are placeholders that will be populated with the contact, project, and account data when sent. 

(Screenshot from Doug’s Dog Walking)

Once done, press save. That’s it. Starting tomorrow (or today if completed prior to 10am your account timezone), your contacts will receive an email reminding them to pay you. It’s that easy!

And, on a final note, if you haven’t turned on online payments through 17hats Payments yet, I highly recommend it. People will pay you faster and you will probably even sell more. If you are worried about the fees, increase your prices just a tad. People are always willing to pay a little more for convenience. Time is money these days.