Overdue-Invoice Chaser: firm, polite payment reminders that escalate on schedule
An n8n workflow that scans your invoices sheet every morning, finds what's overdue, and has Claude write the right reminder for the stage — gentle at day 3, firm at day 14, final-notice at day 30 — sent from your Gmail with the invoice attached, and every send logged.
- 1
Keep one honest invoice sheet
Columns:
invoice_no,client,email,amount,due_date,pdf_link(Drive),paid(checkbox),last_reminder(0–3). Whatever tool generates your invoices, this sheet is the chase register. - 2
Morning sweep for overdue
A
Schedule Trigger(weekdays 09:00) reads unpaid rows. ACodenode computes days overdue and maps to a stage: 3+ days → stage 1, 14+ → stage 2, 30+ → stage 3 — but only if that stage hasn't been sent yet (last_reminderguards repeats). - 3
Claude writes for the stage
Stage-specific prompts: (1) warm, assumes oversight, restates amount and due date; (2) businesslike, mentions your late-payment terms if any, offers to resolve blockers; (3) formal final notice with a clear next-step date. All under 120 words, all ending with the invoice number and amount — the details that make payment easy.
- 4
Send with the invoice attached
A
Google Drivenode fetches the PDF, aGmailnode sends reminder + attachment (re-attaching removes the classic 'can you resend the invoice?' delay), and aGoogle Sheetsupdate bumpslast_reminder. A monthly summary of outstanding totals goes to your Telegram as a bonus branch.
Frequently asked questions
Why do the reminder stages matter?
Because one-size chasing fails at both ends: a firm letter at day 3 burns a good client relationship, and a soft nudge at day 30 signals you can be ignored. The three-stage ladder — friendly assumption of oversight, businesslike with late-fee mention, formal final notice — matches how professional AR teams actually operate.
What if the client pays but the sheet isn't updated?
The sheet is the single source of truth, so update the `paid` column when money lands — that instantly stops the sequence. If you invoice through Stripe or PayPal instead, swap the sheet-read for their API and paid-detection becomes automatic; the workflow file notes where.
Can I review emails before they go out?
Yes — ship mode sends automatically, but there's a draft mode toggle (one IF node) that creates Gmail drafts instead, so you approve each send. Most users run draft mode for two weeks, see the quality, then flip to automatic for stages 1–2 and keep final notices manual.