QuickBooks Invoice Reminders Don't Send SMS — Here's the Fix

If you've ever dug through QuickBooks Online's reminder settings hoping to find an option to send a text message to a late-paying client, you already know the answer: it's not there. QuickBooks sends email reminders — and that's it.

For a lot of Canadian contractors, that's a real gap. Email inboxes are crowded and easy to ignore. A text message to a client's personal phone is harder to miss. If you want SMS reminders on top of your QuickBooks workflow, you need to bring in a tool that does it.

This post walks through exactly what QuickBooks Online's built-in reminders can and can't do, and how to get automated SMS reminders working alongside your existing QBO setup without changing how you manage your invoices.

What QuickBooks Online invoice reminders actually do

QuickBooks Online has a built-in reminder feature — but it's limited. You can set up automatic email reminders to go out before, on, and after invoice due dates. You can customize the email subject and body text, and choose how many days before or after the due date each reminder fires.

Where to find it

Go to Settings (gear icon, top right) → Account and Settings → Sales → Reminders. You'll see toggle switches for before-due, on-due, and past-due reminders, with day counts you can adjust.

What it can't do

• No SMS. Every reminder QBO sends is an email. There is no text message option, no WhatsApp, no push notification.
• Limited tone control.You can customize one email template per reminder stage, but the same message goes to every client — there's no automatic escalation based on how overdue the invoice is.
• No per-client customization.All your clients get the same reminder schedule. A long-standing client who always pays within 30 days gets the same cadence as the one who's 60 days overdue.
• Limited bilingual control.QBO can send email reminders in French or English based on each customer's profile language — but it requires manual per-client configuration and doesn't apply to SMS.
• No inbound reply tracking.If a client replies to a QBO reminder email, it goes to your standard reply-to address — it's not tracked or logged anywhere in QuickBooks.

Why SMS matters for overdue invoices specifically

Email open rates for invoicing-related messages are relatively high compared to marketing email — but “relatively high” still means a meaningful percentage of messages are never opened. A client who's screening your calls and letting your emails pile up will often still read a text, if only because it shows up on the lock screen.

This is especially relevant for trades work, where your clients are often on job sites during the day and not checking email until evening. A text sent mid-morning on a Tuesday has a very different read rate than an email that arrives at the same time.

How to add SMS reminders to your QuickBooks workflow

Keep QuickBooks doing what it does well — email reminders, invoice management, reporting — and connect a separate tool that layers SMS reminders on top.

Relanco connects directly to QuickBooks Online via OAuth — no manual export or import required. When an invoice goes past due in QBO, Relanco picks it up and sends follow-up SMS messages on a schedule you define. Your invoices stay in QuickBooks. Your client records stay in QuickBooks. You just get SMS coverage that QBO doesn't provide.

Setup takes under five minutes:

1. Connect your QuickBooks Online account in Relanco
2. Set your reminder timing (for example: SMS at 7 days, 21 days, and 45 days overdue)
3. Turn it on

From that point, Relanco monitors your unpaid invoices and fires SMS reminders automatically. If a client texts back, you see it. If they pay, the reminder sequence stops. You don't have to think about it.

What this looks like for a Quebec contractor

Say you're an electrician in the Montérégie region with 40 active clients — some English, some French. QuickBooks is already sending your email reminders in English. With Relanco connected, your French-speaking clients receive bilingual SMS follow-ups in French at the right cadence, while your English-speaking clients get the English version. You didn't change your QuickBooks setup at all.

The short version

QuickBooks Online's built-in reminders are a good starting point — but email-only coverage leaves money on the table, especially when clients are slow to open their inboxes. Adding automated SMS reminders on top of your existing QBO workflow doesn't require replacing anything. Relanco connects in a few minutes and handles the SMS layer so you don't have to.

Frequently asked questions

Does QuickBooks Online send SMS invoice reminders?

No. QuickBooks Online's built-in reminder feature sends email only. There is no SMS, WhatsApp, or text message option.

Do I need to replace QuickBooks to get SMS reminders?

No. Relanco connects to your existing QuickBooks Online account via OAuth and adds SMS reminders on top. Your invoices and client records stay in QuickBooks.

Does this work for French-speaking clients in Quebec?

Yes. Relanco sends bilingual SMS and email reminders — French to francophone clients, English to anglophone clients — automatically based on the client record. QuickBooks can send email reminders in the language set on each customer's profile, but it requires manual per-client configuration and only applies to email.

Read also: How to Automate Invoice Reminders in QuickBooks and FreshBooks