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Payments Automation Overview

Automate your payments collection in MessageDesk by setting up automatic payment reminders, thank you messages, and overdue reminders.

Josh avatar
Written by Josh
Updated over a year ago

Automate Invoice Reminders, Past Due Notices, and Successful Payment Alerts

Watch the video below for a quick overview of Payments Automation by MessageDesk or keep reading for a step-by-step breakdown.

Section Guide:

Automation Overview

If you're connected to QuickBooks Online, Xero or MessageDesk Payments then you'll have access to Payment Automation in MessageDesk.

Once connected, MessageDesk will sync with your accounting system and access your invoices. Allowing MessageDesk to send automated text messages when invoices are created, become past due or get paid.

With MessageDesk, you'll be able to text customers with text-to-pay links. Allowing them to pay invoices directly from their mobile phones. To learn more about our text-to-pay experience read more here.


Not Connected to QuickBooks or Xero yet? Read our article about how to connect here


By default, MessageDesk provides 5 out-of-the-box automations.

2 of these automations are "event" based automations. Meaning they send messages immediately once the event gets triggered.

The events are "Invoice Created" and "Invoice Paid" - meaning the messages send once an invoice is created in your accounting software or paid in your accounting software.

The other 3 Automations are "reminder" automations. These Automations are customizable and allow you to change the number of days to wait before sending the message.

These are great for creating campaigns like 30, 60, 90 past due campaigns or asking for reviews after a completed transaction.

Creating a Custom Automation

Outside of the 5 default Automations you're also able to create your own. To do so just click "add reminder" from the Payments -> Automation Module

Then you'll be able to create a custom reminder

Once your reminder is created, you can always edit it or delete it by clicking on the edit icon or trash icon in the top right of the screen.

Activating and Pausing an Automation

Once an Automation is created, it can either be "Paused" or "Active".

Once "Active", any invoice that matches the criteria of the Automation will get enrolled. At this time there isn't a way to filter which invoices get sent and which don't.

To toggle an Automation between Paused and Active just click the vertical 3 dots and click "Activate" or "Pause". Depending on the current status, you'll only see 1 of those options.

Once an Automation is "Paused", no messages will get triggered by it anymore. By default, all Automations start as paused and you must manually activate them.

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