How to automate follow-ups on an unpaid invoice

Why manual follow-up doesn't hold up

Every tradie wants to get paid; that's not the issue. Without a system, follow-up is inconsistent. A busy week on site means overdue invoices go unnoticed until they're three weeks overdue, and what started as a slow payer can quietly become a longer-term debt problem. Chasing also carries a relational dimension: you've worked alongside these people. It helps to have a process that does it for you, professionally and consistently, without it feeling personal on either side.

What a proper sequence looks like

Invoice date: delivered by email, payment link sent if a WhatsApp thread exists. 7 days overdue: polite reminder, invoice re-attached. 14 days overdue: firmer follow-up, overdue status flagged. 30 days overdue: firm message, escalated to you directly. Early reminders assume good intent. Later reminders are direct without being aggressive. The tone shifts with the timeline.

How Korda automates it

You set the timing and language once during onboarding. From there, every invoice you send is automatically tracked, and the sequence fires on its own. Each message goes out from your business email address, so it arrives looking exactly like a follow-up from you, because it is. Your Morning Brief shows which invoices are outstanding, overdue, and which follow-ups went out overnight. When a customer pays, the reminders stop immediately.

What it's worth

If you're running five or six jobs a month at $5,000 to $8,000 each, a three-week payment delay across even two of those is $15,000 or more sitting idle at any given time. Tightening that cycle by a week, consistently, changes your cash position in a way that compounds across the year.