Categories / Invoicing/
Daily overdue Stripe invoice chase
Freelance designer · £8,340 recovered within 6 weeks
- Task
- stop avoiding awkward chasing emails; escalate reminders automatically based on how late each invoice is
- Result
- £8,340 outstanding recovered within 6 weeks; three of six paid in week one; average days-to-payment 52 → 18; ~3 hrs/month of invoice admin; oldest invoice still needed a manual call
- Tools
- n8n
- Stripe invoices (payment link)
- Gmail (OAuth)
- Google Sheets "last_contacted" column
- Setup
- n8n schedule trigger every morning → pull unpaid Stripe invoices past due date (fall back to created + 30 days when due_date is empty) → pick one of four email templates by days overdue (7–13 friendly, 14–29 clear, 30–44 firm, 45+ final notice) → personalise with client name, invoice number, amount and Stripe pay link → log tier sent so no one gets the same reminder twice → skip anyone contacted in the last 48 hours (human override) via the Sheet
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Help me set this up for my business: "Daily overdue Stripe invoice chase".
Example business: freelance designer (solo) with six overdue invoices (£400–£2,200; oldest 94 days). Task: stop avoiding awkward chasing emails; escalate reminders automatically based on how late each invoice is.
Reported result: £8,340 outstanding recovered within 6 weeks; three of six paid in week one; average days-to-payment 52 → 18; ~3 hrs/month of invoice admin; oldest invoice still needed…
Tools: n8n, Stripe invoices (payment link), Gmail (OAuth), Google Sheets "lastcontacted" column
Setup outline:
1. n8n schedule trigger every morning → pull unpaid Stripe invoices past due date (fall back to created + 30…
First, ask me up to 5 questions about my business and tools. Then give me a beginner step-by-step setup plan, plus copy-paste prompts/templates I can use. Plain English, and tell me if any step needs a tech helper.
via autopilotbusiness.ai/use-case/agency-n8n-workflow-chases-overdue-stripe-invoices-daily-freelancer-re/Step-by-step setup guide + copy-paste prompt
Honest note: this is rule-based automation (a daily check plus four template emails). There's no generative AI. This one needs some comfort with n8n. If you'd rather not build it, QuickBooks and Xero have built-in reminders (see the related guides), and these cover most small businesses.
Prerequisites
- Invoices issued through Stripe, with payment links.
- An n8n account (cloud or self-hosted), a Stripe secret key, a Google account for Gmail and Sheets.
- A Google Sheet with columns: invoice ID, client, email, last_contacted, tier_sent.
Step-by-step setup
Step 1. Schedule the check. In n8n add a Schedule Trigger set to run once each morning. Set the workflow's timezone, then save and publish. A scheduled workflow only runs once it is published.
Step 2. Pull unpaid invoices from Stripe. Add the Stripe node using a credential with your secret key (keys start sk_test_ for test mode and sk_live_ for live). List open invoices and keep the ones past their due date. If an invoice has no due date, fall back to created date + 30 days, as the builder did.
Step 3. Check the sheet before sending. Add Google Sheets → Get row(s) and look up each invoice's last_contacted. If the client was contacted in the last 48 hours (for example, they replied and you answered by hand), skip them. This keeps a human override in the loop.
Step 4. Choose the tier. Add a Switch node on days overdue: 7–13 friendly nudge, 14–29 polite but clear, 30–44 firm, 45+ final notice. Skip a tier if it was already sent.
Step 5. Send the email. Add a Gmail → Send a message node per tier. Connect Gmail with Google OAuth2. Include client name, invoice number, amount and the Stripe payment link.
Step 6. Log it. Update the sheet with today's date and tier. Before turning it on for real, run it on a test invoice sent to yourself.
Step 7. Keep the personal call. The 94-day invoice needed a human phone call as well. Decide your own cut-off for calls or small claims.
Copy-paste prompt
Write four overdue-invoice emails for a freelance {{profession}}, escalating by tone but never hostile.
Tier 1 (7–13 days late): friendly nudge. Tier 2 (14–29): polite but clear, asks for a payment date. Tier 3 (30–44): firm, asks for payment by a named day. Tier 4 (45+): final notice mentioning that I may move to formal collection.
Use placeholders {{client}}, {{invoice_no}}, {{amount}}, {{days_overdue}}, {{payment_link}}. Under 100 words each.Sources
- Get Microservices: Automating invoice chasing, how one freelancer recovered £8,000. Credit: a freelance designer, built by an automation agency.
- n8n Docs: Schedule Trigger
- n8n Docs: Stripe credentials
- n8n Docs: Google credentials (Gmail, Sheets)
Industries: AI automation for Agencies & Consultancies
Results as reported by the source; not independently verified. Community-sourced from public sites and attributed to the source platform. Original author? Ask us to correct or remove it. Read the disclaimer.