Xero limits you to 5 invoice reminders. Here's what happens when you hit it.

What happens when you hit Xero’s invoice reminder cap

Xero limits automatic invoice reminders to 5 emails. Once those 5 have been sent, the system stops silently. That means:

• There’s no notification in Xero that a customer is no longer being emailed.
• There’s no way to re-enrol the customer in another sequence.

The only way to continue chasing the customer is by sending them statements but this is a manual process in Xero (see our article on the topic).

If you are frustrated, you’re not alone. Here’s a Xero Product Ideas thread that’s been going since 2022 including comments like…

“Does Xero not think we care about getting paid once we’ve sent 5 reminders?”

Xero’s response (as of 2025) is that it’s under consideration.

Is the limit on Xero payment reminders your main problem?

Only being allowed 5 reminders is frustrating. But it might not be the reason you’re not collecting invoices.

Trove is a credit control software that helps small businesses collect unpaid invoices. Trove’s data across thousands of invoices shows that around 80% of overdue invoices are recovered within the first two reminders.

The bigger issues are likely that those first two reminder emails are low quality. Here are the 2 most likely culprits:

1. Emails sent from Xero’s domain often get spam filtered. Every Xero email is sent from xero.com which is more likely to be spam filtered than an email from your business domain. We cover why in detail here but the take-away for businesses is sending 10 or 20 reminders won’t help if none of them get delivered to the recipient.

2. Reminders from xero.com are more likely to be ignored. People respond to people. If Xero sends an automatic reminder (even if it includes a note from you), your customers are more likely to ignore it. This is the other big factor in why five reminders aren’t enough on Xero.

How to send invoice reminders that get responses

There is one simple thing you can do. Change who the emails come from.

• Send your first reminders from an accounts@ email. Ideally this is handled by your accounts@ team but you can still use the email address even if you don’t have an accounts department. In both cases, it makes you look professional, keeps all invoice communication separate and maintains a neutral tone. This alone will typically lift response rates.

• Escalate to your own email when customers don’t respond. If the initial reminders from accounts@ don’t help, escalate to your own business email address. This gives you a chance to shift the tone and show the customer you are getting more serious.

Apart from signalling professionalism, sending from your own business domain will give the emails the best chance possible of getting delivered.

How Trove handles it

Trove always sends from your business domain. That can be finance@, accounts@ or just your own business email.

You can then build sequences that run for as long as needed, with the tone shifting as the invoice ages. Trove’s AI can suggest appropriate wording at each stage, so you’re not starting from scratch when you need a firmer message.

When a customer still hasn’t paid after several reminders, Trove gives you options beyond sending another email: you can apply a late payment fee or offer a payment plan.

For most businesses, being limited to 5 reminders isn’t the core problem. Avoiding spam filters and getting the customer’s attention is. To do this, we recommend changing who the emails come from as a first step.