Xero invoice reminders vs collects.io
Two weeks free. £1 card check, refunded. Nothing is sent to your customers. Switch off by the end of day 14 and you pay nothing.
Xero's built-in invoice reminders send a scheduled email before or after the due date. That works when a customer has simply forgotten. Most late invoices are stuck for a reason: a missing purchase order, a wrong contact, a disputed line. collects.io finds that reason on every invoice, fixes it with your sign-off where you choose, and collects, from your own mailbox. Keep Xero reminders for the forgetful; use collects.io for the rest.
| Xero invoice reminders | collects.io | |
|---|---|---|
| What it does | Sends reminder emails on a schedule you set, before or after the due date | Works out why each invoice is unpaid, fixes the cause and collects |
| Finds why an invoice is unpaid | No | Yes: health checks on every invoice (PO, contact, reference) |
| Different action per invoice | No, one schedule for all invoices | Yes, the next step depends on the reason |
| Sent from | Xero | Your own mailbox, with the email thread kept |
| Disputes and queries | Not tracked | Logged and brought to your team with the reason |
| Who decides | The schedule | You: rules you set, and a person decides every exception |
| Analytics | Xero aged receivables | 29 analytics, 19 of them not in Xero |
| Cost | Included in your Xero plan | Visibility from £9 a month; on Collect, £3.25 per invoice collected, falling to £2.25, only on invoices we collect |
| Try it | Already in Xero | Two weeks free on your own Xero ledger |
Why reminders stop working
A reminder repeats the request. If the invoice is missing a PO number, sits with the wrong contact, or has a line the customer disputes, a second and third reminder get the same answer: nothing. In our research with 40+ UK businesses, 381 of the 488 steps that get an invoice paid were about resolving what was in the way. Only 107 were reminding.
What collects.io does instead
It reads your Xero ledger read-only and the email thread about each invoice. It spots the reason the invoice is stuck, asks for the missing PO, corrects the contact, logs the dispute, or sends a reminder when a reminder is the right step. Emails go from your own mailbox. You set the rules and choose which actions need your sign-off.
Can I keep Xero reminders?
Yes, while you try collects.io on Visibility: nothing is sent to your customers. When you move to Collect, switch Xero reminders off so customers don't get two emails.
Questions
Does Xero have automatic invoice reminders?
Yes. Xero can send scheduled reminder emails before or after an invoice's due date. They send the same set of messages, on the same schedule, to every customer.
What is the difference between Xero reminders and collects.io?
Xero reminders repeat the request on a schedule. collects.io works out why each invoice is unpaid, such as a missing purchase order, a wrong contact or a dispute, fixes that reason and then collects.
Can I use Xero reminders and collects.io together?
Yes on Visibility, which sends nothing to your customers. On Collect, turn Xero reminders off so your customers get one set of emails, from your own mailbox.
Is collects.io a certified Xero app?
Yes. It is on the Xero App Store and connects to Xero read-only. It never writes to your ledger.
How much does collects.io cost compared with Xero reminders?
Xero reminders are included in Xero. collects.io Visibility starts at £9 a month on your invoice volume; Collect adds £3.25 per invoice collected, falling to £2.25 at higher volumes, charged only on invoices we collect. Two weeks free.
29 analytics on your own Xero ledger, free for two weeks.
19 of them you can't get in Xero. Then from £9 a month on your invoice volume. Per-invoice fee only when we collect.
Two weeks free. £1 card check, refunded. Nothing is sent to your customers. Switch off by the end of day 14 and you pay nothing.
What happens when you click Start 2 weeks free
- Start 2 weeks free. Enter your organisation name and work email, or sign up with Xero. You accept our terms on this screen.
- Set your password from the invitation email. If it isn't in your inbox within a few minutes, check junk.
- Connect Xero. You sign in on Xero's own screen and choose the organisation to connect. collects.io connects one Xero organisation per account. Read-only. We verify your card with a £1 charge, which we refund.
- See your own numbers about 2 minutes after you connect: the 29 analytics, on your live ledger. Nothing is sent to your customers.
- Before day 14 we email you the date and amount of your first payment. Switch off by the end of day 14 and you pay nothing. Otherwise Visibility continues month to month.
- Upgrade to Collect whenever you're ready. We start working your overdue invoices, and you add a per-invoice fee only on the invoices we collect. Collect carries a 12-month term from the day you upgrade.