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ServiceM8 how-to

How do you send automatic invoice reminders from ServiceM8?

Turn on the Automation add-on, then Payment Follow Up under Settings, Automation. ServiceM8 emails or texts the customer before or after the due date and cancels the message once the job is paid. Xero has its own email reminders, so run one system, not both, or a slow payer gets chased twice.

Last checked 25 Sep 2026 against the sources listed at the end of this page.

Yes, natively

Yes, natively: the Automation add-on's Payment Follow Up sends email or SMS reminders on a schedule you set and stops when the invoice is paid.

Step by step

  1. Go to Settings, ServiceM8 Add-ons and make sure the Automation add-on is on.
  2. Go to Settings, Automation and click Edit next to Payment Follow Up.
  3. Choose how many follow ups to send. For each one, pick email, SMS or both, and the number of days before or after the due date.
  4. Write each template. Keep the first one friendly and include the online invoice link so the customer can pay by card.
  5. Mark jobs Completed before producing the invoice. ServiceM8 counts the due date from the Completed date or the first PDF invoice, whichever came first.
  6. Set non standard payment terms on the client card for customers on 30 day accounts, so their reminders are timed from their own terms.
  7. In Xero, go to Sales, Invoices, Invoice Reminders and turn reminders off, or turn them off per contact for customers ServiceM8 already chases.
  8. Open a job with a sent invoice and check the Diary shows the scheduled follow ups with the right dates.
  9. Optional: turn on Live Statements in Settings, Automation and tick Send Live Statements on the Billing Details tab of your account customers.

Gotchas

  • Follow ups only send to an email or mobile that matches a saved contact on the job. If you resend the invoice to someone who is not a saved contact, the scheduled follow ups are cancelled.
  • Each SMS follow up uses a text credit. The Starter plan includes 100 SMS a month and extra texts cost 10c each, so a long SMS sequence on a big debtor list adds up.
  • A customer reply pauses the sequence until someone responds or clicks Dismiss. An unanswered reply sitting in the inbox means that customer is never chased again.
  • Payments reconciled in Xero take up to 30 minutes to reach ServiceM8, and only after you have reconciled them. Late reconciliation means paid customers get reminders.
  • Xero reminders only go to invoices marked as sent in Xero. Check one ServiceM8 invoice in Xero before assuming Xero is chasing anything.
  • Producing a PDF invoice before the job is Completed starts the due date clock early, so reminders go out sooner than you expect.

What the official help article misses: It never mentions Xero's own invoice reminders, so it does not warn that customers can be chased by both systems. It also does not explain that bank payments only stop a follow up once they are reconciled in Xero and synced back, or point to Live Statements for account customers. Read ServiceM8's article.

Two reminder engines, one customer

If ServiceM8 is connected to Xero, you have two places that can chase an unpaid invoice, and neither knows the other exists.

ServiceM8's Payment Follow Up is part of the Automation add-on, which ServiceM8 includes on every plan. You choose how many follow ups to send, whether each one goes by email, SMS or both, and how many days before or after the due date it fires. Each scheduled message sits in the job's Diary, so the office can see what is about to go out.

Xero's invoice reminders are email only. You can have up to five, each set a number of days before or after the due date, and Xero switches three on by default when you first turn the feature on. They only go out for invoices marked as sent in Xero, and you can switch them off per customer on the contact record.

Running both means a customer can get a ServiceM8 text on day 7 and a Xero email on day 7 for the same invoice, with different wording and a different reply address. That looks disorganised, and it is the fastest way to annoy a good customer who is simply slow.

Which one to keep

If you raise and send invoices from ServiceM8, keep ServiceM8's follow ups and switch Xero's reminders off. The reasons are practical. ServiceM8 can text as well as email, which Xero's reminders cannot. Replies land on the job card, and a reply pauses the sequence until someone responds or dismisses it, so you do not keep chasing a customer who has just asked a question about the bill. The message goes from the staff member who sent the invoice, to the contacts it was sent to.

Keep Xero's reminders instead if most invoices are created directly in Xero, or if a bookkeeper owns collections and works from Xero's aged receivables. In that case switch Payment Follow Up off in ServiceM8.

Check one thing before relying on Xero reminders for ServiceM8 invoices: open a synced invoice in Xero and confirm it shows as sent. ServiceM8's Xero sync article does not say that invoices it creates are marked as sent, and Xero skips any invoice that is not.

The paid customer who still gets a reminder

ServiceM8 cancels a scheduled follow up when the job is paid in full before the send time. If the customer pays by bank transfer and you reconcile it in Xero, the payment syncs back to ServiceM8 within 30 minutes of being entered in Xero. The lag that matters is yours: if bank reconciliation happens once a week, ServiceM8 does not know the invoice is paid and will send the next reminder. Reconcile daily, or set the first follow up a few days after the due date rather than on it.

For account customers with several open invoices, a monthly Live Invoice Statement often works better than per invoice nagging. It sends one link listing everything outstanding, on each Monday, every second Monday or the 1st of the month, only to clients you tick for it.

Sources

  1. Payment Follow Up is set in Settings, Automation; you choose the number of follow ups, email and/or SMS for each, and timing before or after the due date. Messages are cancelled if the job is paid in full first, if the customer replies and nobody responds or dismisses, or if the invoice is resent to someone who is not a saved contact. The Automation add-on is available on all plans and each SMS uses a text credit. ServiceM8 Help Center, checked 25 Sep 2026.
  2. The invoice due date used for follow ups is calculated from the date the job was Completed or the first date a PDF invoice was produced, whichever came first. ServiceM8 Help Center, checked 25 Sep 2026.
  3. Payments received in Xero are synced to ServiceM8 within 30 minutes, and a job fully paid in Xero updates to paid in ServiceM8. ServiceM8 Help Center, checked 25 Sep 2026.
  4. Xero invoice reminders email customers about invoices marked as sent; up to five reminders can be set, three are set up by default, and reminders can be turned off per customer from the contact record. Xero Central, checked 25 Sep 2026.
  5. Xero sends reminder emails before or after the payment due date on your behalf. Xero, checked 25 Sep 2026.
  6. Live Statements send a link to all outstanding invoices each Monday, every second Monday or on the 1st of the month, only to clients with Send Live Statements ticked; paid invoices show as Paid for 14 days. ServiceM8 Help Center, checked 25 Sep 2026.
  7. On ServiceM8's Australian pricing, Automated Payment Follow-ups and Live Invoice Statements are included on every plan; Starter includes 100 SMS a month and additional SMS cost 10c each. ServiceM8, checked 25 Sep 2026.