Plumbers & electricians · Getting paid

Email a polite chaser when a Xero invoice is 7 days overdue

Set-up time30 min
DifficultyMedium
AppsXero Zapier Google Workspace Microsoft 365

The problem

Chasing late payers is awkward and easy to forget.

The result

When an invoice reaches the number of days overdue you choose, a personalised chaser goes out from your own Gmail or Outlook.

How to set it up: Zapier

Create a Zap with Xero as the trigger app and choose the 'Overdue Sales Invoice' trigger.
Set the days overdue (for example 7).
Add an action: Gmail 'Send Email' or Microsoft Outlook 'Send Email'.
Map the contact's email, the invoice number, the amount due and the due date into a short, friendly message.
Test with one of your own invoices first, then turn the Zap on.

Get AI to help you build it

Paste this into ChatGPT, Copilot, Gemini or Claude:

Write three short, polite UK-English payment reminder emails for a sole-trader plumber: at 7, 14 and 30 days overdue. Use placeholders {ContactName}, {InvoiceNumber}, {AmountDue} and {DueDate}. Keep each under 90 words, friendly but firm, and don't threaten legal action.

AI tools can get menu names wrong. Check against the sources below.

Before you start

Xero has built-in invoice reminders (Invoices > Invoice Reminders). Try them first: see the recipe 'Switch on Xero's own invoice reminders'.
Prefer to check first? Use Gmail 'Create Draft' instead of 'Send Email'.
Zapier's listing says polling triggers check for new data every 15 minutes on its Free plan, so this is not instant.

Integrations used

Xero + Zapier

Works via connector

Yes. Zapier's Xero app has triggers like New Sales Invoice and Overdue Sales Invoice, and actions like Create Sales Invoice and Create/Update Contact.

Sources

Last checked 22 October 2026. Software changes; check the vendor's docs before you rely on this.