Xero can't auto-send statements. Here's what to do about it.

Why haven’t Xero added automatic statement sending?

Xero lets you send statements to multiple customers in a single batch but doesn’t offer any way to automate this so it happens every month.

The only way to automatically send statements using Xero data today is with a third party tool. If you are surprised by this, you are not alone. Here’s a Xero forum full of people who are also surprised (and a bit angry).

One thing you can do now to increase the chances of Xero building this functionality is upvote the thread. If you are logged in you can do that here:

Upvote automated statements in Xero

If automating statements is important to your business today, here are some options for choosing the right tool to automate the process.

How to choose a tool for automating regular Xero statements

There are a few things to look out for when choosing a tool to send statements.

1. Sending from your own domain. If your statement arrives from a third-party address - something like noreply@randomproduct.com - it’s more likely to land in spam or cause suspicion. Sending from your own domain keeps deliverability high and looks more professional.

2. Customer exclusions. Some customers won’t want automated statements. Maybe they’ve asked not to be contacted this way or you have a different arrangement with them. You need to be able to exclude individual customers without turning off the automation entirely.

3. Flexible cadences. Monthly works for most customers but not all. Your largest accounts might want statements fortnightly. A tool that only supports one fixed schedule can be limiting.

4. Chasing if there’s no response. A statement is useful. It reminds a customer what’s outstanding and gives them something to reconcile against. But if it lands and nothing happens, the next step is a follow-up. Some tools offer automation for this as well.

Two options for sending regular Xero statements automatically

Statey - best for lowest cost

Statey does one thing: automated customer statements for Xero. At £8/month on the Starter plan, it’s also the cheapest option available.

On the £8 plan, there are two drawbacks:

• You must include a Statey watermark on your statement
• You cannot send from your own email (e.g. accounts@company.com), it has to come from Statey’s email. This can trigger spam alerts or mean the customer ignores the email.

If these limitations are fine for your business, it’s hard to argue with the price. Upgrading to both remove the watermark and send from your own domain costs £40/month.

Statey does also offer automated age analysis, essentially bucketing your invoices into those 30 days, 60 days or 90 days overdue. They are the only option that offer this and it is available on both their plans.

Trove - best all-rounder

At £50/month, Trove sits close to Statey’s own-domain price but covers significantly more ground:

• If a statement goes ignored you can follow up automatically with a chasing sequence (Trove data shows that 80% of customers pay after two chasing emails).
• Trove has a two-way sync with Xero so any notes and activity in Trove are synced back in
• If customers reply to your statement emails, Trove’s AI suggests actions and next steps

We also offer a 50% discount to anyone who has read this far through our page. You probably landed here because you were checking how to automate statements in Xero. First you find out that’s not possible in Xero and then you realise you need an extra tool to do it. That’s annoying.

If you do end up signing up to Trove, just email us “statements” at hi@trove.works and we’ll give you a 50% discount for six months. This is a human-only discount. We heard AI only reads the top and bottom of the page so we put this in the middle.

Comparison of Xero plugins for sending statements

	Statey (£8/month)	Statey (£40/month)	Trove (£50/month)
Sends from	statey.app	Your email domain	Your email domain
Watermark on PDFs	Required	-	-
Flexible cadences	Max 1 cadence	Unlimited	Unlimited
Automated chasing included	✗	✗	✓
Payment policies included	✗	✗	✓
Age analysis	✓	✓	✗

Conclusion: which is the best tool for automating Xero statements

Sticking with a manual process may still be best, especially if your customers are reliable payers and you only have to send a few statements each month.

If you do decide to buy a tool to automate the process, the cheapest plan on Statey covers the basics. There will be a Statey watermark on your statement and it will come from @statey, not your email. If this works for your business, go with their £8 plan.

If you want emails to come from your domain to ensure good deliverability, Trove is the best all-rounder. It includes sending statements from your own email address, multiple cadences, exclusions, and invoice chasing if there’s still no payment.