Cadences

Rules-based customer communication and automated workflows

What are cadences?

If you’re like most companies you’ve been managing Accounts Receivable with a combination of aging reports, spreadsheets, and a lot of manual labor. While accounting systems show you what’s past due, all the effort of determining what needs your attention and what needs to happen is left to you.

Our cadence system lets you automate all or some of these steps with fully customizable workflows and communication rules. You can use multiple communication channels (including email, SMS, letters, phone calls), copy other team members, and even control which communication is sent automatically and which require approval. Cadences maximize collections effectiveness and efficiency by ensuring every customer and invoice receives the optimal level of attention while your team is empowered to do more impactful work.

Each cadence is a set of rules that can be assigned at the customer and invoice level. This lets you create specific communication rules to manage different customer types, products, teams, and relationships. You can create an unlimited number of cadences, giving you specific workflows to manage any billing scenario or customer relationship. After a cadence is assigned, all cadence steps are scheduled and can be viewed in the To-Do List. After an invoice is fully paid, it is automatically removed from the cadence and all unsent steps are canceled.

Create a Cadence

  1. In the Settings screen, click Cadences.
    All existing cadences (including default cadences) are available from this screen.

  2. In the Cadences screen, click New Cadence in the top-right of the screen.

  3. Enter the Name and Description of the cadence.

  4. Click the name of the cadence you just created.

  5. In the New Step screen, enter the Condition, which is the trigger for the rule.
    Conditions can be based on customer, invoice, payment statuses, or a point in time. Some of the most frequently used conditions trigger communication when an invoice is created, when an invoice is past due, when a payment is made/declined, and sending statements on a specific day of the month.

  6. Select the type of communication to be created. Communication options are:

  • Email — Sends an email to the customer. Emails are sent from the connected email accounts, based on the Billing Team Email settings.

  • SMS — Sends an SMS message to the phone number listed for the customer. Depending on your AR Automation plan, the phone number can be customized and a set number of SMS messages may be included each month. Additional SMS message charges are deducted from your balance. You can choose your plan and view/reload your balance under Account > Billing.

  • Letter — The system can print, stamp, and mail documents including collection notices and invoices statements. All letters are printed double-sided and include a return envelope with a tear-off return slip. The cost of printing letters is deducted from your balance.

  • Phone call — In a cadence, a Phone call is a reminder (displayed in the To-Do List) to call the customer.

  • Internal reminder — This option lets you send an email to any email address. This is especially useful for sending inter-company notifications regarding the status of a customer or invoice.

  1. Click Add to save the step.

  2. On the right side of the screen, complete the cadence step settings. The availability of settings depends on the type of condition and communication channel.

  • Send a copy to others — For Email or Internal Reminder steps, you can copy other team members or email accounts on the communication. Selecting the option to Copy to company email will CC the email address listed as the Accounting Email under Company Profile. Selecting the option to copy the Owner, Sales Rep, or Account Manager will send an email to the user listed for the respective role for the customer the step was triggered for.

  • Send automatically — Every step has the option to be sent automatically.

    • If you select Send automatically, as soon as the condition is met that step in the cadence is sent in the next delivery window. (Delivery windows are configured in the email settings.)
    • If you do not select this option, this step must be approved manually. Steps that require approval appear as Pending in the To-Do list.
  • Attachments — For Email and Letter steps, there is an option to Attach invoice PDF. If you select this option, a PDF of the invoice is attached to the email or, for letters, the invoice PDF is printed on the back of the first page.

  • Attach invoice attachments — (This is only available for email steps.) If a file is attached to an invoice, the attached file is sent as an attachment to the email. To attach a file to an invoice, click the invoice number and scroll down to the Document section of the invoice, and select Attach New Document.

  • Include one-off invoices and Include recurring invoicesRecurring Invoices are invoices in the accounting system or invoices created by the Subscription Module. All other invoices are considered One-off Invoices. Typically, you want to keep both of these options selected. If you do not select both, you create steps that only occur for subscription invoices or only occur for non-subscription invoices.

  • Timing — Most conditions have the option to choose the number of days before or after an event to trigger the step. For example, you can create a step to send a past due notice 5, 15, and 45 days after an invoice is past due. You can enter up to three digits in this field.

  • Statements — Statements have some unique settings because they are generated at the account level. When you create a statement you can choose to Not send if the customer's balance is cleared, which does not send a statement to customers assigned to the cadence if the customer does not have a balance. You can also limit the invoices included on the statement to only include invoices created in the last __ days. This option excludes invoices created outside the number of days selected. Statements can be sent by email (as an attachment) or as a letter.

  • Cadence Step Content — Below the settings on the right side of the page, you create the content for each step.

    • For emails, enter the Subject of the email then the content below. You can use the editor to customize the appearance of the communication or you can switch to HTML mode by selecting the </> icon from the editor menu at the top.
    • For information specific to the customer, balance, invoice, and so on, use a Placeholder. To access the placeholder list, select the + icon in the editor menu. Placeholders pull in specific information, letting you personalize the content as a call to action. The availability of specific placeholders depends on the condition.
  • Call-to-Action options — A call-to-action lets you direct your customers to take a specific action (such as "Pay your invoice", "Pay your balance" or "update the payment method on file") directly from the communication. To add a call to action, click the + icon to access the placeholder menu, and then select the call to action.

  • Invoice Button — Directs customers to an online version of the invoice that triggered the reminder. Integrated payment options are available to accept payment for this invoice. Payment options are configured in Account > Payments.

  • Pay Balance Button — Directs customers to a summary of open invoices with the ability to make a payment for all invoices at once or individually.

  • Update Billing Info Button — Directs customers to update the payment method they have on file. This can be especially useful for failed automatic payments.

  • Customer Portal Button — Directs customers to log in to their customer portal. Customers who have previously been invited to the portal can log in with the password they created. Customers who have not been previously invited need to Request Access and enter the email address on file.

  1. Click Save in the top-right of the screen.

Create a Cadence Assignment rule

Cadence Assignment rules allow you to automatically assign cadences to invoices or customers meeting a set of conditions that you define. Follow these steps to create a Cadence Assignment rule.

  1. Click the Assignment Rules tab and click Add Rule.

  2. Choose whether the rule should apply to an invoice or customer, and click Next.

  3. Click Add Field.

  4. Select a field from the list of options, such as Date, Type, or Status.

  5. Set the condition for the chosen field.

  6. Add additional fields by repeating steps 3 through 5. When you've finished adding the fields and conditions, click Next.

  7. Select a cadence and click Next.

  8. Preview your rule and click Create.

Now that your rule has been created, any customers or invoices that trigger your rule will have the cadence automatically assigned to them.

Manually Assign a Cadence

You can also manually assign cadences to specific customers or invoices that should receive those rules. For more information, refer to Assign Candences.

QR Code Placeholders

For users who opt for physical letters for communication, an easy way to navigate to AR Automation Payment Links and our Customer Portal login page is by using our QR Code Placeholders. For each physical letter, we generate a unique QR code for each customer’s Payment Link/Pay Balance Link/Payment Method Link and Customer Portal Link.

When your customer receives a letter with a QR code, they just need to scan the QR Code on the letter using their smartphone and they will be redirected to the corresponding linked page.

You can find a complete list of QR codes and what they are linked to below:

  • Placeholder Pay Balance QR Code is linked to the customer's Pay Balance Link.
  • Placeholder Customer Portal QR Code is linked to the Customer Portal login page.
  • Placeholder Payment Link QR Code is linked to the customer's Payment Link.
  • Placeholder Update Billing Info QR Code is linked to the customer's Payment Method Link.

Find more detailed information about ways to accept payments and descriptions of each payment link here.

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Cadence Conditions

Cadence conditions are categorized by object. Below you can find th list of cadence conditions related to each object and cadence step condition.

Customer Level Cadence Conditions

Cadence ConditionDescription
Customer is created Communication is triggered after the customer record has been created. To trigger communication, the customer must be created with the cadence assigned automatically upon customer creation.

Tip:
To achieve this, you need to select a default cadence. The default cadence is automatically applied to all new customers. Without a default cadence, customers must be assigned to a cadence manually. To choose a default cadence, click the star icon next to a cadence.
Customer updates a payment method Communication is triggered when a customer updates a payment method on file.
Customer’s balance exceeds threshold Communication is triggered when a customer’s outstanding balance is greater than the specified amount (set the amount threshold under the cadence condition settings).
Oldest Invoice exceeds threshold Communication is triggered when a customer’s oldest invoice has a Past Due status for a specified number of days (set the number of days under cadence condition settings).
Before Credit Card expires Communication is triggered before the credit card expiration date.
After Credit Card expiresCommunication is triggered after the credit card expiration date.

Tip
We consider the Credit Card expiration date as the last calendar day of the expiration month. For example, a credit card's expiration date may read as 11/24, which means the card is active until the last day of November 2024
After a Cadence is assigned Communication is triggered after the Cadence is assigned to the Customer.
After Last Contacted date Communication is triggered after the last message sent date. You may find a field Last Contacted on the Customer Record page.

Tip:
The date value for Last Contacted field is used for triggering communication. →
Before the next Auto Charge Communication is triggered before the next Auto Payment date. You may find a field Next Auto Charge on the Customer Record page.

Tip:
The date value for Next Auto Charge field is used for triggering communication.
Auto–payment schedule is created Communication is triggered when an auto-payment schedule is created.
Auto–payment schedule is cancelled Communication is triggered when an auto-payment schedule is cancelled.

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Invoice Level Cadence Conditions

Cadence ConditionDescription
Invoice is created Communication is triggered after the invoice has been created.
After the Invoice Date Communication is triggered after the invoice date.
Before the Due Date Communication is triggered before the invoice due date.
After the Due Date Communication is triggered after the invoice due date.
Before Expected Date Communication is triggered before the invoice expected date.
After Expected Date Communication is triggered after the invoice expected date.
Invoice is updated Communication is triggered when the invoice has been updated, either in AR Automation or in your accounting system.
Invoice is fully paid Communication is triggered when the invoice has been fully paid.

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Cadence conditions that trigger statements

In order to trigger a statement to be sent out to a specific customer, you need to select at least one of the following Statement Cadence Conditions as the cadence applied to your customers.

Cadence ConditionDescription
Day of month Communication triggers a statement to be generated and sent out on a specific day of the month.
Invoices are due Communication triggers a statement when the customer has a specific number of invoices in Past Due status.
Invoices are created Communication triggers a statement when the customer has a specific number of invoices created.

You can set the number of invoices on the cadence condition settings for the Invoices are due and Invoices are created steps. These conditions trigger communication once a day, as long as the customer account meets cadence condition rules.

Payment Cadence Conditions

In order to trigger communications related to payment, you need to select at least one of the following Payment Cadence Conditions as the cadence applied to your customers. If the payment cadence condition is applied to the invoice only, communication will not be triggered.

Cadence ConditionDescription
Payment Declined Communication is triggered when an auto payment with any payment method is declined.

Tip:
Communication is not triggered for payments attempted via the Customer Portal manually. The shopper will see a decline response directly on the Customer Portal.
Payment Receipt Communication is triggered when payment is processed successfully (when payment status is Succeeded).
Payment Authorized Communication is triggered when ACH payment is successfully attempted. ACH payment has a status of Authorized.
Before Payment Due Date Communication is triggered before payment due date. This is only for payments based on a Payment Plan Payment.
After Payment Due Date Communication is triggered before payment due date. This is only for payments based on a Payment Plan Payment.

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Payment Plan Cadence Conditions

In order to trigger communications related to Payment Plan payments, you need to add a Payment Plan cadence condition to the Payment Plan. If the Payment Plan cadence condition is only applied to the customer/invoice, communication will not be triggered.

Cadence ConditionDescription
Past Due Payment exceeds threshold Communication is triggered when the oldest Payment Plan payment has a status of Past Due for a specified number of days (set the number of days under cadence condition settings).

Subscription Cadence Conditions

In order to trigger communications related to subscriptions, you need to add at least one of the following Subscription Cadence Conditions to the cadence applied to your customers.

Cadence ConditionDescription
Subscription is created Communication is triggered after the subscription has been created.
Subscription is updated Communication is triggered after the subscription has been updated.
Subscription is cancelled Communication is triggered after the subscription has been cancelled.
Subscription is paused Communication is triggered after the subscription has been paused.
Before next renewal Communication is triggered before the subscription renewal date.
After next renewal Communication is triggered after the subscription renewal date.
Before next service period starts Communication is triggered before the next service period start date.
After next service period starts Communication is triggered after the next service period start date.
Before next service period ends Communication is triggered before the next service period end date.
*After next service period ends Communication is triggered after the next service period end date.
Before subscription ends Communication is triggered before the subscription end date.
After subscriptions ends Communication is triggered after the subscription end date.

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Quotes Cadence Conditions

In order to trigger communications related to quotes, you need to add at least one of the following Quotes Cadence Conditions to the cadence applied to your customers.

Cadence ConditionDescription
Quote is created Communication is triggered after quote has been created.
Quote not viewed Communication is triggered after quote has not been viewed for a specific number of days.
Quote is Pending Communication is triggered after quote has a status of Pending for a specific number of days.

Prospect Cadence Conditions

In order to trigger communications related to Prospects, you need to add the following Prospect Cadence Conditions to the Cadence applied to your prospects.

Cadence ConditionDescription
Prospect is created Communication is triggered after the prospect record has been created. To have the communication triggered, prospects must be created with a cadence assigned automatically upon prospect creation. The default cadence is automatically applied to all new prospects.

Other Cadence Conditions

Cadence ConditionDescription
Day of month Communication is triggered on a specific day of the month for all customers who have a cadence with this condition assigned. This is useful for bulk email dispatch, like sending an email on the first day of every month.
On a particular day Communication is triggered on a particular fixed date, like sending an email on November 1st, 2023.

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