Sales & invoicingHow-to
Automatic invoice payment reminders that get you paid
Nefin Team4 min read
Most late invoices aren't disputed. They're forgotten, buried in an inbox or waiting on someone to find the PDF again. A polite reminder at the right moment fixes most of them, but writing those emails by hand is the job everyone puts off. Nefin sends them for you, on a schedule you choose, and stops the moment the invoice is paid.
- Invoice INV-1061 to Oak Dental is overdue with 780.00 to pay; a reminder already went out 3 days before its due date.
- The reminder scheduled for 7 days after the due date fires: its status goes from Scheduled to Sending to Sent.
- The client's email arrives: the balance due of 780.00, the due date, 7 days overdue, the PDF attached and a View invoice button.
- The client clicks View invoice and sees the invoice page without signing in; in Nefin, the client link now reads Opened by the client.
- A 780.00 bank transfer is recorded: the balance due falls to 0.00, the invoice turns Paid, and the 14-days-after reminder is skipped.
What your client receives
A payment reminder is an email from your company about one open invoice. It's written in the client's language and carries everything they need to pay without writing back to ask:
- The invoice total, anything already paid, the balance due and the due date.
- A status line: "Due in 3 days", "Due today", or "7 days overdue" in red.
- The invoice PDF, attached again.
- A View invoice button that opens the invoice online, no account needed.
Replies go to your company owner's email address, so a client who answers "paid yesterday" reaches a person.
Before you start
- Give each client an email address. Automatic reminders skip clients without one.
- Set the client's Language for emails if it differs from your company default.
- Reminders are for invoices that have been sent and still have a balance. Drafts, paid and void invoices never get one.
1. Set the company schedule
Go to Settings, then Payment reminders. Add the days a reminder should go out, counted from each invoice's due date: before it, on it, or after it. You can add up to 10 reminder days, from 60 days before the due date to 365 days after. Then switch on Send automatic reminders. It's off by default, so no client is emailed until you decide.
| Reminder day | What the status line says |
|---|---|
| 3 days before the due date | Due in 3 days |
| On the due date | Due today |
| 7 days after the due date | 7 days overdue |
| 14 days after the due date | 14 days overdue |
Nefin checks open invoices once a day and sends the step that's due. Each invoice gets at most one reminder a day, and reminders stop as soon as the invoice is paid or voided. A part payment doesn't stop them: the next reminder simply shows the smaller balance.
2. Turn reminders off for one invoice
Some invoices shouldn't be chased: a client on an agreed payment plan, or one you're already talking to. Every open invoice has a Payment reminders card with an Automatic reminders switch. Turn it off and that invoice leaves the schedule; the rest of your invoices carry on.
3. Send one now, or pick a date
From any open invoice, Send reminder opens the email already written in the client's language, with the current balance. Edit the subject and message if you want a personal touch, add other addresses from the client's record, and send. To have it go out later instead, pick a date under Schedule a reminder on the same card.
One-off reminders go out even when automatic reminders are switched off, and you can schedule up to 10 per invoice. If the invoice is paid before the date arrives, the reminder is skipped rather than sent.
The client invoice link
Every invoice email Nefin sends, reminders included, carries the same View invoice link. It opens a page with your logo and company details, the invoice status, its lines, totals, what's been paid and the balance due. While the invoice is unpaid, it also shows the payment details printed on your invoice, and the client can download the PDF or switch the page's language.
- See whether it was opened: the invoice shows "Opened by the client" with the time of the last visit.
- Share it anywhere: Copy link and paste it into a chat or a text message.
- Take it back: Reset link stops the old address working at once, including in emails already sent.
See what was sent
The Payment reminders card lists what's coming up and everything that already happened, each marked automatic or by hand. Reminders that didn't go out say why: invoice paid, client has no email, or replaced by a later reminder. Each one also appears in the invoice's email history with a Reminder badge.
What lands in your books
Nothing, until the money arrives. Reminders and the client link never post an entry. When you record the payment, the invoice turns Paid, its balance clears from receivables, and any reminder still scheduled for it is skipped.
