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Wodify’s automated billing system helps you streamline your collections process so you can spend less time chasing payments and more time coaching your clients.

Pre-requisite Pro-Tip

There are no special prerequisites to begin using Wodify’s automated billing system. However, to get the most value out of Auto Bill, make sure:

• Your clients have a default payment method on file.

• Your invoices have accurate Payment Due dates.

• You’ve designated a Billing Contact so someone on your team receives the Billing Results email each day.

Step-By-Step How To

How the Automated Billing System Works

Every night at midnight (your local timezone), Wodify’s automated billing process runs and attempts to process any unpaid invoices that meet all of the following criteria:

1. The Payment Due date indicates that the invoice is due or overdue.

2. Auto Bill is set to Yes on the invoice.

3. The client has a default payment method on file.

Once the process runs, the status of each transaction (successful or failed) will be reflected in the Billing Results email, which is automatically sent to your Billing Contact shortly after the billing process is complete.

Automatically Retry Failed Payments

If an invoice fails to process on its payment due date and Auto Bill is set to Yes, the system will automatically attempt to process it again during the next automated billing run.

If Auto Bill is set to No and you want the invoice to be retried automatically, you’ll need to turn Auto Bill back on at the invoice level.

To turn Auto Bill back on for a specific invoice:

1. Open the Invoice # you want to update.

2. Click the pencil icon next to Auto Bill.

3. Toggle the slider On (purple).

4. Click Save.

Once re-enabled, the automated billing system will check for the standard criteria (due/overdue, Auto Bill = Yes, default payment method on file) and, if met, will automatically attempt to pay the invoice again in the overnight billing run. The result will be reflected in the next Billing Results email.

Configure Your Invoice Auto Bill Settings

Sometimes you may not want Wodify to keep retrying the same failing invoice indefinitely. The Invoice Auto Bill configuration lets you control how many times the system will attempt to automatically pay an invoice before it stops.

This has two key benefits:

• It helps reduce transaction fees by limiting repeat attempts on invoices that are likely to fail.

To configure your Invoice Auto Bill settings:

1. Go to Financial > Settings.

2. In the Invoice Configuration tab, locate Invoice Auto Bill.

3. For each payment method type (Credit Card and Bank Account), select the desired Number of Auto-Bill Payment Attempts.

4. Scroll down and click Save.

How these settings work

• For each payment method type (Credit Card or Bank Account), you set the maximum number of auto-bill attempts per invoice.

• Once an invoice reaches the selected attempt threshold, its Auto Bill setting will be automatically switched to No, preventing any further auto-billing attempts on that invoice.

Examples:

• 1 time

  • The system will attempt to automatically pay Auto Bill invoices one time.

  • If the payment fails, the system will not attempt to auto-bill that invoice again.

• 3 times

  • The system will attempt to automatically pay Auto Bill invoices up to three times.

  • If it fails the first night, the system will try again the next night.

  • If it fails the second night, it will attempt payment one more time.

  • After the third failure, the system will stop attempting to auto-bill that invoice.

• Until successful payment

  • The system will continue trying to automatically pay Auto Bill invoices until the invoice is successfully paid.

Note: Fees from banks for direct debit / bank account failures are often higher than for credit card failures. Because of this, Wodify provides separate Auto Bill attempt settings for each payment method. You may want to limit automatic retries for bank accounts to help protect your clients from excessive bank penalties.

FAQs

Which invoices are included in the automated billing run each night?
Invoices are included in the nightly billing run if they:

• Have a Payment Due date that is due or overdue,

• Have Auto Bill set to Yes, and

• Belong to a client with a default payment method on file.

Only invoices that meet all three criteria will be processed during the automated billing run.

What happens when an invoice hits the maximum number of auto-bill attempts?
Once an invoice reaches the maximum number of attempts you set in Invoice Auto Bill (for that payment method type), Wodify will automatically set Auto Bill = No for that invoice. The system will stop trying to pay it automatically, and you’ll need to either process the payment manually or re-enable Auto Bill on that invoice if you want additional automated attempts.

Should I use “Until successful payment” for all payment methods?
Not necessarily. While “Until successful payment” can reduce manual work, it may also increase the chances of clients receiving Dishonour/Insufficient Funds fees, especially for bank account transactions. Because bank-related fees are often higher, many businesses choose fewer attempts for bank accounts and more attempts (or “Until successful payment”) for credit cards.