Invoice Follow-up Desk

Goal

Turn an export of overdue invoices into the next note a human sends. The invoice number, the amount, the currency, and the due date stay exactly as they are on the row. The note asks for payment or a date. The agent does not mark anything paid, add a fee, or threaten.

Tools required

Direct is the vendor's public site. Affiliate appears only when ShipPlays is enrolled in that program.

• Stripe Invoicing

  Direct

  Export invoices you already issued that are still open and past due. QuickBooks, Fortnox, or Xero is the same job if the invoice lives there. You paste rows. The agent does not get a secret key.

• A spreadsheet (e.g. Google Sheets)

  Direct

  The queue: invoice number, customer, amount, currency, due date, days late from a formula, last note you sent, and a flag for dispute or do-not-email.

• Gmail

  Direct

  Where you send the note you approved. Another mailbox you already use is fine. The agent never logs into it.

• Claude

  Direct

  Drafts one note from one row, then checks the figures. It does not mark the invoice paid in Stripe or anywhere else.

Step-by-step setup

1. Write the schedule and the stop rules first

   Three lines is enough. Example: a short reminder a few days after the due date, a second note later, and a last note that asks for a date and then stops. Stop rules: dispute, a lawyer or a regulator, a missing amount, a partial payment you have not reconciled, or anyone you marked do-not-email. Write whether any late fee is allowed. If the contract does not already state one, the allowed block says none.

2. Export overdue invoices into the sheet

   Columns from the source: number, customer, amount, currency, due date, status, link. Days late is a formula in the sheet, so the model is not the one doing the arithmetic. Copy last week's log of what you already sent. Leave payroll and card numbers out of the paste.

3. Pull out rows a prompt must not email

   Disputes, lawyer mentions, missing amount or currency, and unreconciled partial payments go to a person. They do not go into the chase prompt. A row with a blank invoice number is a data problem, not a draft.

4. Draft one note per remaining row

   The follow-up prompt copies the number, amount, currency, and due date. It asks for payment or for a date they will pay. It refuses a new total. Run it per row. A single prompt over the whole aging report will blend two customers into one balance.

5. Check the figures, then you send

   The number-check prompt quotes any amount that does not match the row. You send only a yes from your own mailbox, and you log the date on the row. You mark the invoice paid in Stripe, or in the ledger, only when the payment is actually there. The agent does not get that button.

6. Next week, silence is not a payment

   Rows that disappeared because they were paid leave the queue. A reply that is a dispute, a date, or a complaint goes to the reply prompt, which classifies it and stops the template. You do not send another chase over a dispute to keep the sequence tidy.

Exact prompts

Write one invoice follow-up. A human will send it. You do not send, and you do not mark the invoice paid.

Schedule and stop rules:
{SCHEDULE_RULES}

Allowed sentences (a late fee or a legal line I have already approved). If this says none, you may not add a fee or a legal line:
{ALLOWED_OR_NONE}

From name:
{FROM_NAME}

Invoice row (copy these figures exactly; do not recompute):
{ROW}

If the row is missing an invoice number, amount, currency, or due date, return only: Do not send. Missing: the field name. Stop.

If the row is flagged dispute, lawyer, or do-not-email, return only a handoff: who should read it, and the invoice number. No customer-facing text.

Otherwise return:
- Schedule step: first reminder, second, or later, using the days-late figure from the row. If days late is blank, say the schedule step is unknown and do not claim how late it is.
- Subject: the invoice number and that it is still open. No shame. Use "urgent" only when my schedule says this step is the last reminder.
- Body: who it is from, the invoice number, the amount with currency exactly as pasted, the due date exactly as pasted, and one ask: pay, or reply with the date they will pay. One short paragraph. Include the invoice link only if I pasted one.
- Refused: any late fee, new total, interest, lawyer, collections agency, or credit-score line you did not write. Name it.
- Clear to review, or Do not send, with the reason.

Do not invent a payment method. Do not say anyone has already spoken. Do not apologize for sending the invoice.

Check this note against the invoice row. Do not polish the tone. Quote any figure that does not match.

Row:
{ROW}

Allowed sentences:
{ALLOWED_OR_NONE}

Note:
{NOTE}

Return:
- Invoice number: match, or quote the mismatch.
- Amount and currency: match, or quote the mismatch. A fee, a tax, or a total that is not on the row is a mismatch.
- Due date: match, or quote the mismatch.
- Threats: quote any legal, collections, credit, or shame line that is not in Allowed sentences. If none, write none.
- Send: yes or no. No on any mismatch or any threat that was not allowed.

When you mark yes, repeat the amount, currency, and invoice number you compared so the human can see them beside the row.

The customer replied. Classify the reply. Do not write the next chase. Do not promise a refund, a waiver, or a payment plan unless that plan is already written on the row.

Row:
{ROW}

Their reply:
{REPLY}

Stop rules:
{SCHEDULE_RULES}

Return:
- Class: paid (only if the reply itself contains proof you can point at), promise of a date, dispute, wrong customer, lawyer or regulator, or unclear.
- Next human action: one verb a person can do today. Examples: log the date and pause this step, pull the row out of the chase, hand it to the accountant, wait for the bank.
- Template: do not send the chase template. Say that in the output.
- Facts they stated that are not on the row. List them. Do not turn those facts into a new balance or a new due date.

If they are angry about the work or the amount, prefer dispute or stop. Do not class that as unclear so the sequence can continue.

Expected results

• A short queue of notes whose invoice number, amount, currency, and due date match the export.
• A schedule you can run again next week without rewriting the policy.
• Disputes, legal replies, and broken rows pulled out before a chase is sent.
• A log of what you sent, so the next note does not pretend to be the first.

Guardrails

• The agent never sends email, never marks an invoice paid, and never adds a fee the row does not already contain.
• No legal threat, collections agency, or credit-score language unless that exact sentence is in the allowed block you wrote.
• No card numbers or bank details in the prompt. Invoice number, amount, currency, due date, and a link are enough.
• This is a reminder draft. It is not legal advice, a collections license, or a judgment about the customer.
• A missing invoice number, amount, currency, or due date means the only output is do not send.

Common mistakes

Next system to try

Also nearby

• Morning Exception Desk