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Invoice reminders eliminate the need to manually chase unpaid invoices. The HoopAI Platform can automatically send follow-up messages to customers on a schedule you define — before the due date to prompt early payment, on the due date as a final nudge, and after the due date for overdue accounts.
Invoice reminders require at least one email template or SMS template to be set up in your account. Go to Marketing → Email Templates or Conversations → Templates to create message templates before configuring reminders.

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How invoice reminders work

When you create or send an invoice, the reminder schedule you have configured is attached to that invoice. The platform tracks the invoice due date and fires each reminder at the specified time relative to that date. Reminders stop automatically as soon as:
  • The invoice is fully paid
  • The invoice is voided
  • You manually disable reminders on the specific invoice
Reminders continue even if the customer has made a partial payment — they stop only when the invoice balance reaches zero.

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Reminder types

You can configure three categories of reminders, and you can have multiple reminders of each type:
TypeWhen it firesUse case
Before dueX days before the due dateProactive payment nudge (“Your invoice is due in 3 days”)
On due dateThe day the invoice is dueLast-chance reminder on the due date
After due (overdue)X days after the due dateOverdue notice (“Your invoice is now 7 days past due”)

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Configuring global reminder settings

Global reminder settings apply to all invoices by default. Any invoice you create will automatically inherit this reminder schedule unless you override it on an individual invoice.
1

Open invoice settings

Go to Payments → Invoices & Estimates and click the gear icon in the upper-right corner to open Settings. Select Reminder settings.
2

Add a reminder step

Click Add reminder to create your first reminder. You can add as many reminder steps as you need — for example, a 7-day before, 3-day before, on-due-date, 3-day after, and 7-day after sequence.
3

Configure each reminder

For each reminder step, fill in the following:
  • Reminder name — an internal label for easy identification (e.g., “3-day overdue notice”)
  • When to send — select Before due, On due date, or After due, and enter the number of days
  • Channel — choose Email, SMS, or Both
  • Email template — select an existing email template or click Preview to create a new one
  • SMS template — select or create an SMS template (if SMS is selected)
  • Reminder frequency — how many days between repeat sends (if you want the reminder to repeat)
  • Max reminders — the maximum number of times this reminder fires (set to 1 for a one-time send)
  • Business hours restriction — optionally restrict sends to your configured business hours only
  • Time zone — send relative to your business time zone or the customer’s time zone
4

Add additional reminder steps

Click Add another reminder to chain multiple reminders together. You can configure an entire sequence — for example:
  • Reminder 1: 7 days before due — Email
  • Reminder 2: 3 days before due — Email and SMS
  • Reminder 3: On due date — Email
  • Reminder 4: 3 days after due — Email and SMS
  • Reminder 5: 7 days after due — Email
Toggle any reminder off to temporarily disable it without deleting it.
5

Save

Click Save. The new reminder schedule is now active for all new invoices. Existing invoices already in circulation are not affected — see the note below.
Changes to global reminder settings apply only to new invoices created after you save the settings. Invoices already sent before the change retain their original reminder schedule.

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Customizing reminders on an individual invoice

You can override the global reminder schedule on any specific invoice to give it a different sequence — or to turn off reminders entirely for that invoice.
1

Open the invoice

Go to Payments → Invoices & Estimates, find the invoice in the list, and open it.
2

Locate the reminders section

In the invoice editor, scroll to the Reminders section (available under Additional options or in the invoice settings panel).
3

Override or disable

  • To disable all reminders for this invoice, toggle the Reminders switch off.
  • To use a custom schedule, deselect “Use global settings” and configure the reminder steps specifically for this invoice.
4

Save

Save the invoice. The per-invoice reminder configuration takes precedence over the global settings.

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Personalizing reminder message content

Each reminder message supports merge tags (custom values) to personalize the content dynamically. Use these in your email subject lines and message bodies:
Merge tagInserts
{{contact.first_name}}Customer’s first name
{{invoice.number}}Invoice number (e.g., INV-042)
{{invoice.amount}}Total invoice amount
{{invoice.due_date}}Invoice due date
{{invoice.payment_link}}Direct link to the online payment page
{{invoice.balance}}Remaining unpaid balance
{{business.name}}Your business name
Always include the {{invoice.payment_link}} merge tag in every reminder message. This gives customers a one-click path to pay without having to search for the original invoice email.

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Global reminders vs per-invoice reminders

SettingScopeHow to access
Global remindersApplies to all new invoices by defaultPayments → Invoices & Estimates → Settings → Reminder settings
Per-invoice remindersOverrides global settings for one invoiceOpen individual invoice → Additional options → Reminders
Use global reminders to set your standard follow-up sequence, and use per-invoice overrides only when a specific client relationship requires a different approach — for example, turning reminders off entirely for a VIP account that you prefer to contact personally.

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Custom invoice notifications

In addition to time-based payment reminders, you can configure event-based invoice notifications. These fire when a specific thing happens to an invoice, not at a scheduled time. Go to Payments → Invoices & Estimates → Settings → Notifications to configure:
Event triggerWhen it fires
Invoice sentWhen you send the invoice to the customer
Invoice viewedWhen the customer opens the invoice link
Invoice paidWhen full payment is received
Invoice overdueWhen the due date passes without payment
Partial payment receivedWhen the customer pays an installment
For each event, you can select a custom email template and control whether a notification goes to the contact, to your team, or both.

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Workflow-based reminders

For more advanced reminder logic — such as conditional sequences that branch based on whether a customer has viewed the invoice — use the Automation module instead.
1

Open workflows

Go to Automation → Workflows and click + New Workflow.
2

Set the trigger

Add a trigger and select Invoice. Choose from:
  • Invoice Sent
  • Invoice Overdue
  • Invoice Paid
  • Invoice Viewed
3

Build the reminder sequence

Add Wait steps to introduce time delays, then add Send Email or Send SMS actions. Use If/Else conditions to branch the flow — for example, stop the sequence if the invoice has been paid (check invoice status in the condition).
4

Activate the workflow

Turn on the workflow. It will now fire for every invoice that matches the trigger conditions.
Workflow-based reminders give you the most flexibility — you can check whether the customer has viewed the invoice and send a more urgent message only to contacts who have seen the invoice but not yet paid.
The following example schedules work well for most service businesses. Use them as a starting point and adjust the timing to match your payment terms.

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Standard 30-day net terms

For invoices due 30 days after sending:
StepTimingChannelPurpose
Reminder 17 days before dueEmailAdvance notice
Reminder 23 days before dueEmail + SMSUrgency nudge
Reminder 3On due dateEmailFinal day reminder
Reminder 43 days after dueEmail + SMSFirst overdue notice
Reminder 57 days after dueEmailSecond overdue notice
Reminder 614 days after dueEmailFinal notice before escalation

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Short-term invoices (due in 7 days)

For invoices with a quick turnaround:
StepTimingChannelPurpose
Reminder 12 days before dueEmail + SMSAdvance notice
Reminder 2On due dateEmail + SMSDue today
Reminder 33 days after dueEmailOverdue
Reminder 47 days after dueEmailFinal notice

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High-value invoice sequence

For large invoices where you prefer a more personal touch on overdue notices:
StepTimingChannelPurpose
Reminder 114 days before dueEmailEarly awareness
Reminder 27 days before dueEmailUpcoming notice
Reminder 33 days before dueEmail + SMSUrgent reminder
Reminder 4On due dateEmailDue today
Reminder 55 days after dueEmail + SMSFirst overdue
For high-value accounts, disable the automated overdue reminders (steps 4 and 5 in the high-value sequence) and handle overdue follow-up with a personal phone call or email instead. You can toggle off individual reminder steps without deleting them.

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Default reminder accounts (accounts created after March 2025)

If your account was created after March 20, 2025, three default reminder steps are pre-configured for you:
Default reminderTimingChannel
Reminder 13 days before dueEmail
Reminder 2On due dateEmail
Reminder 33 days after dueEmail
These default reminders are enabled but use a generic email template. To personalize them:
  1. Go to Payments → Invoices & Estimates → Settings → Reminder settings
  2. Click the edit icon on each default reminder
  3. Select or create a custom email template
  4. Optionally add SMS delivery
  5. Save
You can also add additional reminder steps to the default sequence without removing the existing ones.

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Tracking reminder delivery

You can confirm whether a reminder was delivered to a contact by checking the contact’s activity feed:
  1. Go to Contacts and open the contact record
  2. Click the Activity tab
  3. Look for email or SMS delivery events associated with the invoice number
If a reminder email bounced or an SMS failed to deliver, the activity log will show the failure reason. You can resend manually from the Conversations module if needed.

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Frequently asked questions

Yes. When configuring each reminder step, set the channel to SMS or Both (email and SMS). You must have an SMS template assigned and a phone number connected in your account for SMS delivery to work.
No. Reminders continue until the invoice is fully paid. A partial payment reduces the outstanding balance but does not stop the reminder sequence. Only full payment or voiding the invoice stops reminders automatically.
Yes. Click the edit icon next to each reminder step to open the template selector. You can choose an existing email template or create a new one. Use merge tags to personalize the subject line and body with the customer’s name, invoice amount, due date, and payment link.
No. Changes to global reminder settings only apply to new invoices created after you save the change. Invoices that have already been sent retain the reminder schedule that was active when they were created.
No. Reminders are invoice-specific. Estimates have their own expiry date notification but do not support the same time-based reminder sequence as invoices. Once an estimate is converted to an invoice, the invoice reminder schedule applies.
Reminders are time-based follow-ups for unpaid invoices — they fire a specified number of days before or after the due date to prompt the customer to pay. Notifications are event-based alerts that fire when something happens to an invoice (sent, viewed, paid, overdue). Both can be configured independently and serve complementary purposes.
Yes. Open the invoice, scroll to the Reminders section in Additional options, and toggle the reminders switch off. This disables all reminders for that invoice only, without affecting any other invoices or your global settings.
Yes. In each reminder step, set the Max reminders field to limit the total number of times that reminder fires. For example, set Max reminders to 3 with a 7-day frequency for an overdue reminder that sends a maximum of three times over three weeks, then stops.
Yes. Each reminder step has an optional Business hours restriction toggle. When enabled, the system waits until your next configured business hours window before sending the reminder, even if the scheduled send time falls outside those hours.
Yes. Each invoice generated by a recurring template is treated as an independent invoice. If you configure reminders on the recurring template, every generated invoice inherits that reminder schedule and behaves identically to a manually created invoice for notification purposes.
Last modified on March 5, 2026