Before you switch on automated chasing, check what it's going to send and to whom: the wording and order of your reminders, the terms and due dates on your invoices, your customer contact details, and how often any one customer can hear from you across every channel. Automation sends every message on time, so anything out of date in your current sequence will now reach every customer, every time.
In this article
The short version
- Automation sends every message on time, so check your current sequence before switching it on.
- Make sure reminder wording matches your terms and every message has a payment link and a named contact.
- Reconcile open invoices and flag disputes, payment plans and direct debit customers first.
- Cap contacts per customer across email, SMS and WhatsApp together.
- Start with one simple group of customers and widen once you're confident.
Review the sequence you're about to automate
Most chasing sequences were written once, by whoever looked after the ledger at the time, and then inherited. When chasing is done by hand, a stale template does limited harm, because plenty of reminders never get sent. Once it's automated, every customer gets it on schedule.
Read each message as your customer will and check:
- The wording still matches your terms. A reminder quoting 14-day terms when your invoices now say 30 is an easy argument for a client to win.
- Every message carries a payment link or clear payment details, so paying takes a minute.
- The tone steps up gradually. A first reminder the day after the due date should read as a nudge; save firmer language for later in the sequence.
- Any figure you quote is right. If a message mentions late payment interest or compensation, check the calculation and that the customer is a business, because the statutory scheme doesn't cover consumers.
- A named person and a reply address appear in the sign-off, so a customer with a question can reach someone.
Look at your invoices while you're at it. If the terms or due date aren't clear on the invoice itself, every reminder in the sequence starts from a weaker position.
Clean up the data it will work from
Automated chasing works from whatever your ledger says. A common problem in the first week is a reminder for an invoice that's already been paid, often a payment that came in with a reference nobody could match. Before you switch anything on:
- Reconcile your open invoices, so nothing paid is still showing as outstanding.
- Check the contact on each account is the person who pays invoices, not the person who signed the contract.
- Add mobile numbers if you plan to chase by SMS or WhatsApp, and check you have them for the right people.
- Flag any invoice under dispute, any customer on a payment plan, and anyone who's told you they're in difficulty, so they're excluded from automatic chasing.
- Note which customers pay by direct debit, so a collection that's already scheduled isn't chased.
Set a contact limit across every channel
Chasing by hand is limited by your own week, so the fourth message in a fortnight tends not to happen. Software has no such limit, and if email, SMS and WhatsApp each run their own polite schedule, together they can add up to far more contact than you meant.
There's a legal reason to keep an eye on this. Under section 40 of the Administration of Justice Act 1970, it's an offence to harass someone with demands for payment of a contract debt that, because of how often or how they're made, are calculated to cause alarm, distress or humiliation. There's a broad defence for anything reasonable done to recover a genuine debt, and the wording points at individuals and their households, so proportionate chasing of business customers is a long way from it. Sole traders are individuals, though, and the rule could start to matter if they're chased very frequently by automated messages.
So set a cap on contacts per customer per week or fortnight inside the software itself, counted across all channels together, so it applies where the messages are actually sent.
Start with one group of customers
Switching automation on for your whole ledger in one go makes problems hard to spot. Start with the simplest group, such as small, undisputed invoices to customers who usually pay, and read every message that goes out until you're confident in it. Once you're happy, widen it to more customers and allow more actions to run without your approval.
Decide up front what happens to invoices that are already overdue on the day you switch on. A customer who suddenly gets three reminders at once for invoices from last quarter is likely to be confused, so it's often better to send one statement covering everything outstanding and let the sequence run from there.
Adfin's collection agents suit a gradual start, because each agent covers a group of customers with its own channels, persistence and approval settings, so you can begin with one group and add others later. Any one customer can be paused on their own, and because payments are reconciled to invoices with a two-way sync to Xero or QuickBooks, customers who've paid drop out of chasing.
Common questions
What should I check before automating invoice chasing? The wording and order of your reminders, your payment terms and due dates, your customer contact details, and whether every open invoice is reconciled so paid ones aren't chased.
How many payment reminders is too many? There's no statutory number. Set a cap per customer per week or fortnight, counted across email, SMS and WhatsApp together, and keep the tone proportionate.
Can automated payment reminders count as harassment? The Administration of Justice Act 1970 makes harassing someone with frequent or distressing demands for payment an offence, with a broad defence for reasonable debt recovery. Proportionate chasing of business customers is a long way from it, but take care with sole traders.
Should I tell customers before switching on automated reminders? It helps. A short note saying when reminders arrive and who to reply to tends to make them feel expected.
What happens to invoices that are already overdue? Decide before you switch on. One statement covering everything outstanding is usually clearer for the customer than several reminders arriving together.
How long should I review automated reminders before letting them run? There's no set period. Many businesses review every message for a few weeks, then let routine reminders run and keep approval for late fees and anything to customers in dispute.
Sources
- legislation.gov.uk - Administration of Justice Act 1970, section 40 (accurate as of October 2026) https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1970/31/section/40
- GOV.UK - Late commercial payments: charging interest and debt recovery (accurate as of October 2026) https://www.gov.uk/late-commercial-payments-interest-debt-recovery
- Adfin - Credit control (accurate as of October 2026) https://www.adfin.com/credit-control
