Recurring Invoices - Bill Retainers and Memberships on Schedule

Learn how to bill retainer clients, monthly memberships and ongoing services in ClientFlow. Set the schedule once, and the next invoice is drafted for you every period, ready for you to send.

Introduction

Retainers and memberships are the backbone of predictable revenue, and almost all of the work in them is repetition. Ongoing coaching, a monthly retainer, a weekly class block: same client, same amount, same day of the month, every month. A recurring invoice takes that repetition off your desk.

You create the invoice once and describe the pattern. From then on ClientFlow drafts the next one on time; you check it and send it, and ClientFlow follows up when it goes unpaid. You stay in control of the money itself.

How Often You Can Bill

A recurring invoice repeats on one of three frequencies, and you can space it out by repeating every N periods:

Frequency	With an interval of…	Best for
Weekly	1 = every week, 2 = every other week	Weekly sessions, class blocks
Monthly	1 = every month, 3 = quarterly	Memberships, coaching, retainers
Yearly	1 = every year	Annual plans, yearly service contracts

Step 1: Create the Invoice

A recurring invoice starts life as an ordinary one, so build the first one exactly as you want every copy to look:

1. Go to Invoices and click New Invoice
2. Choose the client
3. Add your line items, quantities and prices
4. Set the tax rate and any discount
5. Set the due date — this drives the reminder ladder later

Step 2: Set the Schedule

On the same form, turn on Make this a recurring invoice, then describe the pattern:

1. Pick the frequency: weekly, monthly or yearly
2. Set the interval — every 1 month, every 3 months, and so on
3. Choose when it stops:
   • Never — runs until you stop it
   • After N invoices — for a fixed engagement, such as a 12-session block
   • Until a date — for a contract with an end date
4. Save the invoice

Step 3: What Happens on Schedule

Once the series is running, ClientFlow does two things without you:

1. Drafts the next invoice. A scheduled job runs every night and creates any invoice that has come due, as a draft, linked back to the original so the series stays together.
2. Marks it overdue. A second nightly job flags any sent invoice that has passed its due date without being fully paid.

Sending is yours: open the draft, check it, and send it by email and/or WhatsApp. It goes out in your client's own language, from the email account you connected. A draft is never sent on its own, and never enters the reminder ladder.

Everything after that is a reminder, never a charge.

Step 4: When an Invoice Goes Unpaid

Unpaid invoices enter a four-step reminder ladder. Each step is measured in days past the due date, and each one sends the client a message by email and WhatsApp:

Step	Days past due	Tone
1	3 days	Gentle reminder
2	7 days	Firm reminder
3	14 days	Urgent notice
4	30 days	Final notice

The ladder never sends two messages within two days of each other, and it stops at step four. It also stops the moment you record the payment, and you can pause it on any individual invoice when a client has told you the money is coming.

Step 5: Change or Stop the Series

Open any invoice in the series to edit the schedule. Changing the amount, the line items or the frequency affects invoices generated from then on; invoices already sent stay exactly as your client received them, which is what keeps your records defensible.

To stop a series, turn off Make this a recurring invoice. No further invoices are generated. Anything already sent and unpaid stays open and keeps its reminder ladder, because the client still owes it.

Recording the Payment

When the money arrives — bank transfer, cash, card machine, however you take it — record it against the invoice. A partial payment is fine; the invoice tracks the amount paid and the amount still due, and the reminder ladder works from the remainder.

Recording the payment is the step that closes the loop. Until you do it, ClientFlow has no way of knowing the invoice was settled and will keep chasing.

What ClientFlow Does Not Do

Stated plainly, so you never plan around a feature that is not here:

• It does not charge your clients' cards. There is no card on file for your clients and no way to collect from them inside ClientFlow.
• It does not retry a failed payment, because it never attempted one.
• It does not prorate a mid-series change. Edit the next invoice if you need to adjust an amount.
• It does not give your clients a self-service subscription portal where they can pause or cancel their own billing. They ask you, and you change the series.
• It does not restrict a client's access when they fall behind. That is your call to make and your action to take.

Common Questions

Q: Can I change the amount partway through a series?
A: Yes. Edit the invoice and the new amount applies to invoices generated after the change. Invoices already sent are unchanged.

Q: What happens to unpaid invoices if I stop the series?
A: Sent ones stay open and keep their reminders; drafts wait for you to send or delete them. Stopping a series only stops new invoices being created.

Q: Can my client pause their own subscription?
A: No. There is no client-facing billing portal. Your client asks you, and you pause or stop the series.

Q: Can I take card payments from clients through ClientFlow?
A: No. ClientFlow records what your clients have paid you; it does not collect it. Card payments in ClientFlow are for your own ClientFlow plan, not for your clients.

Q: Do recurring invoices work for retainers where the amount changes every month?
A: A recurring invoice repeats a fixed amount. For genuinely variable work, create each invoice from a template instead so you can set the amount each time.

Next Steps

1. Turn your largest retainer client into a recurring invoice first — it is the one that costs you most when you forget
2. Set due dates that give the reminder ladder room to work before month end
3. Record payments as they land, so the chasing stops for clients who have already paid
4. Review your overdue list weekly and decide which final notices need a human follow-up

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Read time: ~8 minutes | Difficulty: Intermediate