Invoice Due Date Notification
This settings screen turns on an automatic process that emails your customers reminders about their credit invoices: before they're due and, if they haven't paid, after they're overdue. No one has to send these emails by hand: once configured, the system checks your invoices every day and sends the matching reminder on its own.
What is it and what is it for?
Invoice Due Date Notification lets you schedule up to three automatic email reminders for customers with credit invoices (credit sales), without you having to review or send them by hand:
- Before the due date: a "your invoice is about to expire" notice, sent with however many days of advance notice you choose.
- After the due date (reminder 1): a first "your invoice is now overdue" notice, sent once the invoice has been overdue for however many days you choose.
- After the due date (reminder 2): a second notice, usually with a firmer tone, for invoices that have been overdue longer.
Each of the three reminders can be turned on or off independently, has its own number of days and its own customizable email text. This complements the Customer Account Statement & Collections screen and the Automatic Customer Statement Mailing feature: while those give the customer the full balance detail, this feature sends a targeted notice per invoice, right when it approaches or crosses its due date.
How the sending works
- An internal AdmCloud process reviews your credit invoices every day; it never sends anything on Saturdays, Sundays, or other non-working days such as Christmas or New Year.
- Only invoices with an outstanding balance above the system's minimum (currently $10) are considered. Smaller invoices don't trigger a notice.
- Emails only go to the customer's contacts that have an email address filled in and the "Include in Statement Emails" checkbox marked on the Contacts screen. If the customer has no contact marked that way, they get no notice at all.
- Each type of notice (about to expire, reminder 1, reminder 2) is sent only once per invoice: once sent, the system records it and won't repeat it even if the invoice stays inside the same window for several days.
- A single invoice can receive more than one type of notice over its life (for example, the "about to expire" notice and, later, the "overdue" one) if it keeps an outstanding balance.
How to use it, step by step
- Open Invoice Due Date Notification from the System Administration menu, Configuration section.
- In the Enable Notification Before Due Date block, check the box and set the Days Before Due Date you want your customers to be warned with.
- Review or edit that reminder's email text, using the available variables (see below) so it's automatically filled in with each invoice's data.
- Do the same in the Enable Notification After Due Date blocks (reminder 1 and reminder 2), setting how many days past the due date each one should fire.
- Click Save to apply the settings. You can turn on only the reminder you care about (for example, only the "about to expire" one) and leave the others off.
- Check the Contacts screen of your customers to confirm at least one of their contacts has the option to receive statement emails turned on; otherwise that customer won't get any notice even if the feature is enabled.
You can use these variables inside each email's text, and the system automatically replaces them
with each invoice's real data when it sends it:
@Model.COMPANY_NAME, @Model.CUSTOMER_NAME, @Model.CONTACT_NAME,
@Model.NUMBER, @Model.DATE, @Model.AMOUNT,
@Model.BALANCE, @Model.DAYS_TO_EXPIRE, @Model.DAYS_EXPIRED.
Key fields
| Field | What it's used for |
|---|---|
| Enable Notification Before Due Date | Turns on or off the notice sent while the invoice hasn't come due yet. |
| Days Before Due Date | How many days ahead of the due date that first notice is sent. |
| Enable Notification After Due Date (1 and 2) | Turns on or off each of the two reminders sent once the invoice is already overdue. |
| Days After Due Date (1 and 2) | How many days past due each of the two overdue reminders fires at. |
| Email Text | The content of each reminder's email (one independent text per each of the three types), with variables that get filled with the invoice's, customer's and contact's real data. |
Validations when saving
- The days for each of the three reminders cannot be negative.
- If you turn on a reminder (its "Enable" checkbox), that reminder's email text is required; it can't be saved blank.
- You can leave all three reminders off; in that case no email is sent, but the settings are still saved.
Availability
- Access to this screen is controlled by the "Configuration" permission of the user group (System Administration module).
- The menu option only shows up once the feature has been enabled for your company; if you don't see it in the System Administration menu, it may not be available on your account yet.
- The feature doesn't send emails in trial companies or demo companies, even if the settings are saved and enabled.
- Sending depends on there being credit invoices with an outstanding balance above the system minimum and on customers having contacts marked to receive these emails; without both conditions, nothing is sent even if the feature is on.
Tips and common mistakes
Match the tone to each reminder. The first email (before the due date) is usually a friendly heads-up, while the second overdue reminder can be more direct about the consequences of not paying. Since each one has its own independent text, you can adjust the tone to how late the customer is.
"A customer isn't getting the reminders." First check that they have at least one contact with a valid email and the "Include in Statement Emails" box checked, and that the invoice's outstanding balance is above the allowed minimum. Also remember each type of reminder is only sent once per invoice, so if it already went out, it won't be repeated.
Nothing is sent on weekends or special holidays. If you turned the feature on and an invoice enters the notice window right on a Saturday or Sunday, the email is sent on the next working day the process runs, so the reminder is not lost.