Paidnice allows you to send SMS text messages to your customers to remind them about an invoice - you can send the messages based on the due date, the issue date or (soon) the date the invoice was marked paid.
You can customize the message and use merge tags to put customer specific values (such as their name or balance payable).
You can also include payment links to make it easy for your customers to pay directly from their mobile.
💡 A note about SMS pricing
SMS messages are charged at US$0.10 per message. You will see your SMS usage in your billing page. You can set a maximum number of SMS to send per month to manage your spend and ensure you do not send more messages than you intended.
About SMS text messages
Due date - before, on or after the invoice due date you can send a reminder SMS text messages to your customer. This message can be customized by using merge tags to include the Invoice details and any potential late fees that would apply to the invoice if it is not paid.
Issue date - on or after the issue date for an invoice you can send a SMS text message to the customer. This can be useful if you want to create invoices for a future issue date and have them send a reminder to the customer automatically on that date.
Date marked paid - on or after the date the invoice is marked paid you can send a SMS text message to the customer. This can be useful if you want to send a 'thank you' message or even a post-service survey link asking for feedback or a review.
In this article you can learn how to create each of these types of SMS text message in your group workflows.
Create the SMS policy
To start click the SMS Alert button when you are viewing the group you wish to add an SMS Alert Policy to.
Configure your SMS policy
Once you have created the SMS Alert Policy you have two tabs of settings you can tailor to your specific requirements.
Policy Configurations
This section is all the key information required for the SMS Alert feature to be set up.
Name the Action: It's a good idea to set a meaningful name for the SMS Alert using the little pencil and pad icon, in the example above the email is named '3 days Late SMS' so that when viewed in the group workflow it's easy to see what it is for.
When to Send: You then need to select when to send the SMS. Is it a reminder SMS prior to the Due Date or a reminder for an overdue invoice? You can even choose what time of day to message your customers to ensure they are within working hours. (see the action time filter in more options)
Due Date: Before, on or after the invoice due date you can send a reminder SMS text message to your customer. If the invoice has already been paid the message will not be sent.
Using Merge Tags for Personalized Messages: Merge tags allow you to insert dynamic content into your SMS reminders, making each message more personalized and relevant to the recipient.
Here is a list of available merge tags and what they mean:
{{{InvoiceContactName}}}: The full name of the invoice contact.
{{{ContactPersonName}}}: The contact person name (Xero only).
{{{OrganisationName}}}: The name of your organization.
{{{ForecastPenaltyAmount}}}: This is the amount of the penalty for late payment, if applicable.
{{{InvoiceNumber}}}: The unique invoice number.
{{{DueDate}}}: The due date of the invoice.
{{{DaysUntilDue}}}: The number of days until due.
{{{DaysAfterDue}}}: The number of days past due.
{{{DueAmount}}}: The amount due.
{{{InvoicePortalLink}}}: Link to the invoice in the Paidnice portal.
More Options & Filters
Apply only to invoices due from
Apply only to invoices due before
These options determine when to start and stop applying the policy, based on the due date of the invoices.
Minimum Due Amount
Maximum Due Amount
These options can ensure you do not SMS messages on invoices that are too small or too large.
Exclude Branding Themes
This option relates only to Xero. You can determine which Branding themes will not have any SMS sent - this can be useful if you send some branding themes manually for high value clients or invoices.
Action time
This determines when in the day the SMS are sent. You may wish to set this to the very start or end of a day to allow time for any bookkeeping the day prior or during the day or ensure business hours to ensure SMS arrive when your customers are in the office.
Default country code
By adding your default country code it will apply the code required for your selected group to ensure all your SMS text messages get sent. This feature is a time saver to prevent manual updates in your accounting software where the country code has been left out of contact information.
Use business phone number
This feature allows the Paidnice software to send a SMS text message to a business phone number if the mobile phone number field is blank in your accounting software. This can be useful if the only contact info you have for a business is their mobile, saved as the business number.
Contact Tag
The Contact Tag feature allows you to include or exclude certain customers from receiving specific alerts. Examples include VIP, Late Payers, New Customer, and Direct Debit tags to tailor your reminders. For instance, you can create a Direct Debit tag and send an additional email reminder to this group about upcoming payments.
Xero Group Name
Similar to the above feature, this is for Xero software uses who have groups already set up in the accounting software, so you can filter and include or exclude specific alerts for groups already set up in your accounting software.
Reviewing and testing your SMS
You can create a test invoice for yourself so you can experience the exact SMS text message your customers will receive by forcing an SMS Text Message to be sent on your test invoice.
To Preview the actions and timing, click on the invoice or pending actions.
You can force any action that is scheduled to run immediately by clicking the 'action now' button. This will cause the SMS Reminder to send to the customer immediately and will ignore Safe mode.