Chasing an invoice without thinking about it: QR-bill, Bexio, Crésus

The short answer

A payment reminder does not need artificial intelligence: it needs a due date written on the invoice, a fixed schedule and three messages written once and for all. First check what your invoicing software already does. What automates well: spotting overdue invoices, preparing the reminder, attaching the QR-bill. What stays with you: approving the send, and deciding when to call rather than write.

The situation

The job is finished, the invoice went out on a Friday evening. Six weeks later, while preparing your VAT return, you discover it was never paid. Nobody refused anything: the client simply put the invoice on a pile, and you did not look.

Chasing payment is the task everyone puts off. It is unpleasant, it always comes at the wrong time, and it requires remembering who owes what since when. The result: we chase late, in too sharp a tone because we are annoyed, or not at all. And a small business’s cash flow often rests on three or four late invoices.

The problem is not courage. It is that a reminder depends on your memory. As soon as it depends on a calendar, it becomes ordinary — for you and for the client.

What you can do yourself, this week

1. Write the due date out in full

“Payable within 30 days” makes the client do the sum. “Payable by 14 November 2026” leaves no doubt, and gives you a precise date from which to chase. State the payment term in your quotes too: a term accepted in advance is rarely argued about afterwards.

2. Send a clean QR-bill

The Swiss QR-bill replaced the orange and red payment slips in 2022. With a structured reference, the payment attaches itself to the right invoice when it reaches your account: that is what later lets you know, without searching, what is paid and what is not. Make sure your software is up to date — the requirements on address format changed at the end of 2025.

3. Set a schedule, once

Decide with a cool head, and apply it to everyone. A short, regular schedule is easier to keep — and better accepted — than a single late reminder.

4. Write the three messages in advance

Written on a calm day, they will be polite. The first assumes an oversight: “Unless we are mistaken, invoice no. … of … is still open. You will find it attached. If payment has been made in the meantime, please disregard this message.” The second recalls the first and sets a new deadline. The third is the only one that should never go out without you having re-read it.

5. Look at payments once a week

Ten minutes, always on the same day: match payments received against open invoices. Most Swiss packages do it from your e-banking. It is this weekly appointment, more than any tool, that makes forgotten invoices disappear.

What your software already does

Before adding anything, open your invoicing software’s settings. Bexio, Crésus, Banana and their competitors generate the QR-bill and handle reminder levels; depending on the software and the plan, they can also send the reminders themselves or only suggest them to you. Many independents pay for this feature without ever having switched it on.

If it is enough, stop there: the best automation is the one that already exists. It shows its limits in three cases: when invoices come out of several tools, when you want a different tone depending on the client, or when the reminder has to take account of what was said — an instalment promised on the phone, a touch-up still to be done.

What can be delegated, what stays with you

This is where a supervised assistant becomes useful: it reads the list of open invoices, knows the client’s history, prepares the right message at the right level and presents it to you. You approve with one gesture, or you hold the send.

Its real value is not the writing: three templates are enough for that. It is not losing the context. The instalment promised on the phone, the touch-up still to be done, the client who always pays on the 25th: noted once, it is there at every reminder — instead of depending on your memory on a tired evening. Every message sent stays in a log you can read back.

The rule we apply: at first, nothing goes out without you. After a few weeks, if the friendly reminders are always right, you can let those go automatically and keep approval only for the later ones. A reminder sent to a client who had already paid — or with whom a dispute is under way — costs more than ten reminders done by hand.

Three points of Swiss law

This is not legal advice, but three points worth knowing before you write your templates.

No number of reminders is required. Three reminders are a custom, not an obligation. If the payment term was agreed in advance, in the quote or the contract, the client is in default as soon as it expires; if the date only appears on the invoice, it is your first reminder that puts them in default.

Statutory default interest is 5% per year, unless agreed otherwise. Few artisans charge it, but mentioning it in the last reminder is often enough.

Reminder fees are only owed if they were agreed — in the quote, the contract or terms and conditions accepted by the client. Adding them afterwards on a reminder does not give you the right to demand them.

For a large or disputed claim, talk to your accountant or a lawyer before starting debt collection proceedings.

What it costs

Switching on your software’s reminders and writing three templates costs only two hours of your time.

If you want to go further — invoices prepared from your notes, reminders in the right tone, client history kept up to date — that is a first automation brick: CHF 490, installed in a week, wired to the software you already use. Optional care starts at CHF 90 a month, and AI usage, where there is any, is re-billed at cost. You only pay if you approve the proposal.

The limits

If you issue five invoices a month, a reminder in your calendar does the job: do not automate. The benefit appears when volume or scattered tools make you lose the thread.

Nor does a reminder settle a disagreement. If the client is not paying because they dispute the work, the next reminder makes things worse: what is needed is a call. And with a client genuinely in difficulty, instalments offered in person almost always bring in more than a third letter.

Frequently asked questions

How long after the due date should I chase?

A few days, not several weeks. A first reminder three to seven days after the due date is perceived as a service — many delays are simple oversights. The longer you wait, the harsher the reminder seems.

Can I chase by email, or does it need a letter?

Email is enough for the first reminders and leaves a dated trace. For formal notice before debt collection, a registered letter remains the custom: it is the proof of receipt that counts.

Do I need to change software to automate?

No. We start from the one you have, and first check what it allows. In many cases the automation sits around the software — preparation, follow-up, messages — without replacing it.

Going further

Reminders rarely stand alone: they follow the quote, the job and the invoice. The artisans and building trades page shows the whole chain, from site photos to payment. And if your clients first find you on Google, the Google profile checklist applies to every local trade, not only therapists.

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