How to Automate Payment Reminders That Actually Get Paid

Late payments cost small businesses an average of $22,000 per year in cash flow disruption, yet most companies still rely on manual follow-ups that happen inconsistently or not at all. The problem is rarely that customers refuse to pay; it is that invoices slip through cracks, land in spam folders, or arrive without enough urgency to trigger immediate action. Automated payment reminders fix every one of those issues, and when you build the escalation logic correctly, collection rates can improve by 30-40% within the first quarter.

This tutorial walks you through building a multi-stage payment reminder system that connects your accounting platform to email, SMS, and even Slack alerts for your internal team. Whether you use QuickBooks, Xero, or another invoicing tool, the architecture is the same.

Step 1: Map Your Reminder Escalation Sequence

Before you touch any automation tool, define exactly when and how each reminder fires. The most effective sequences follow a progressive urgency model: polite reminders early, firm follow-ups later, and internal escalation alerts when invoices hit critical aging thresholds.

Five-stage escalation sequence from courtesy reminder to internal team alert

Here is the proven five-touch sequence we deploy for clients:

• 3 days before due date: Friendly courtesy email. Subject: "Your invoice [#] is coming up." This single touch alone reduces late payments by 15% because many customers simply forget.
• Due date: Email and SMS. "Invoice [#] is due today. Click here to pay instantly." Include a one-click payment link.
• 3 days overdue: Firmer email. "We noticed invoice [#] is now past due." Reference the original amount and any late fee policy.
• 7 days overdue: Email and SMS with explicit late fee language and a statement that the account will be flagged.
• 14 days overdue: Internal Slack notification to your AR team or account manager for personal outreach.

Step 2: Connect Your Invoicing Platform to the Automation Engine

The trigger for your entire workflow is the invoice status inside your accounting tool. In QuickBooks Online, you can use the "Invoice" module in Make.com to watch for invoices where the due date falls within your reminder windows. Set a scheduled scenario that runs daily at 8:00 AM in your customer's timezone.

Configure the QuickBooks module to pull invoices with these filters: status equals "Open," due date is within range (negative three days to positive fourteen days from today), and balance remaining is greater than zero. This ensures you never send a reminder for an already-paid invoice.

For Xero users, the equivalent module watches the "Invoices" endpoint with an "AUTHORISED" status filter. Stripe users can monitor the invoice.payment_failed webhook event to trigger reminders after failed charges.

Step 3: Build the Branching Logic

Once the scenario pulls overdue invoices, a Router module splits them into branches based on how many days past due each invoice is. Each branch calculates the day difference between today and the due date, then routes to the appropriate reminder template.

Add a critical filter at the start: check a custom field or tag called "reminder_sent_stage" on each invoice. If the invoice already received the Stage 3 email, do not send it again. Update this field after every successful send. This prevents duplicate reminders, which is the number one complaint customers have about automated dunning sequences.

Step 4: Craft High-Converting Reminder Templates

Generic reminders get ignored. Effective ones include four elements: personalization, the exact amount owed, a single-click payment button, and a clear consequence of inaction. Here is a framework for each stage:

"Hi [First Name], just a quick heads-up that invoice [#] for [Amount] is due on [Date]. You can pay instantly here: [Payment Link]. Let us know if you have any questions."

For the SMS channel, keep messages under 160 characters: "Hi [Name], invoice [#] for [Amount] is due [Date]. Pay here: [Short Link]. Questions? Reply to this text." SMS open rates exceed 95%, making them ideal for the due-date and 7-day overdue touchpoints.

Step 5: Add the Payment Link Generator

The single biggest lever for faster payment is embedding a direct payment link in every reminder. If you use QuickBooks, the invoice already has a "Pay Now" URL you can extract from the API response. For custom setups, generate a Stripe Payment Link or PayPal.me link dynamically.

In your Make.com scenario, add an HTTP module that calls your payment processor's "create payment link" endpoint with the invoice amount and customer email pre-filled. Pass that URL into your email and SMS templates. Customers who can pay in two clicks pay 60% faster than those who have to log into a portal.

End-to-end workflow: invoice data flows through routing logic to multi-channel reminders

Step 6: Set Up Automatic Stop Triggers

Nothing damages customer relationships faster than receiving a payment reminder after you have already paid. Configure a parallel scenario that watches for payment events (QuickBooks "Payment" webhook or Stripe invoice.paid) and immediately removes the customer from the active reminder sequence. In Make.com, this means updating the invoice's custom tag to "paid" and adding a filter at the top of your reminder scenario that excludes any invoice with that tag.

Step 7: Track Results and Optimize

Route all reminder activity to a Google Sheet or Airtable base that logs: invoice ID, customer name, reminder stage sent, timestamp, and whether payment was received within 48 hours of the reminder. After 30 days, analyze which touchpoints have the highest conversion rate. Most of our clients find that the SMS on the due date and the 3-day follow-up email drive 70% of collections.

Use this data to refine your timing. Some industries respond better to Tuesday morning reminders; others convert more on Friday afternoons. A/B test subject lines monthly and rotate your email copy quarterly to avoid "reminder fatigue."

If you want to see how payment reminder automation fits into a broader order-to-cash workflow, or you need to integrate this with your invoice automation system, those guides cover the upstream and downstream pieces. You may also find our tutorial on automating refund processing helpful for handling the reverse flow when payments need to be returned.