How to send Xero invoices from your own domain

Xero Small Business Insights measures the wait a reminder schedule is built to shorten.

A reminder that lands in spam does nothing to it.

Does Xero let you send invoices from your own domain?

Xero does not let you send invoices from your own domain. Every invoice, quote and reminder Xero emails leaves from [email protected], and the only address you control is the reply-to, which is set to your user email. Your customer's mail server sees Xero's domain as the sender, so your own domain's reputation and authentication records play no part in whether the email lands.

The request has its own thread on the Xero ideas board, Xero mail: send as company name.com, where Xero's response is that a feature of this kind is complex, needs steps outside Xero, and is not planned. The route that works today is a connected app that sends the invoice for you.

Why send invoices from your own domain?

Sending invoices from your own domain means the email is authenticated by your domain's SPF and DKIM records, so the receiving server can verify that the message really came from your business rather than from a shared third-party address. Three things change:

• Deliverability. A shared sending address carries every sender's reputation. Your own verified domain carries only yours.
• Recognition. The invoice arrives from [email protected], the address your customer's accounts payable team already has on file, instead of a name they have to look up.
• Tracking. Each email records delivered, opened, clicked and bounced, so a bounced invoice is caught on the day rather than 30 days later.

How to send Xero invoices from your own domain with Paidnice

To send Xero invoices from your own domain, connect Paidnice to Xero, verify your domain with the DNS records Paidnice gives you, and create an Email Policy that sends each approved invoice on its issue date. Custom-domain sending is on the Pro plan and above. Five steps:

Step 1: Sign up for Paidnice

Create a Paidnice account and connect your Xero organisation. Sign-up is free with no credit card, and the Xero connection is a two-click authorisation.

Step 2: Connect your domain

1. In Paidnice, open Email Preferences and add your domain.
2. Paidnice returns the DNS records (CNAME records) for that domain.
3. Publish them with your domain host. Your host's support team or your IT provider can do this if you would rather not.
4. Click verify. Once verified, every address on that domain can send from Paidnice, with no further verification for each one.

Step 3: Set up the invoice send

1. Open the Default Group in Paidnice, which covers all contacts and invoices, including future ones.
2. Create an Email Policy with the trigger set to the invoice issue date:
   • Schedule the send for business hours on the issue date.
   • Tick Mark Sent in Xero, so Xero records the invoice as sent and its own reminders behave normally.
3. Pick or edit an email template. The invoice PDF from Xero attaches to it.

Step 4: Test the workflow

1. Create a test invoice in Xero and approve it rather than sending it.
2. In Paidnice the invoice appears in the Draft Queue.
3. Review the email and release it. It arrives from your domain.

Step 5: Go live

Switch the policy from Draft to active and turn off Global Safe Mode. From then on, every invoice you approve in Xero is emailed from your own domain on its issue date.

Do I need to add Xero to my SPF record?

No. Xero's invoice emails are sent and authenticated under Xero's own domain, post.xero.com, so adding Xero to your SPF record changes nothing about them; Xero's own deliverability advice is for the recipient to allow @xero.com and @post.xero.com. The DNS records you publish are for Paidnice, and they authorise your domain to send the invoices Paidnice emails on your behalf.

What else sends from the same domain?

Once the domain is verified, every email Paidnice sends for that Xero organisation can use it: invoice sends, pre-due and overdue reminders, late fee and interest notices, prompt payment discount offers, and customer statements. Sender Profiles set the from name, from address and reply-to per policy, so a reminder can come from accounts@ on the due date, a named credit controller at 7 to 14 days, and a director at 21 days and beyond. One verified domain can also be linked to your other Paidnice organisations with no new DNS records.

FAQs

Do I need technical expertise to connect my domain?

No. Paidnice shows the exact records to publish, and most domain hosts have a support team that will add them for you. The whole step takes one DNS edit and one verify click.

Will this change my Xero setup?

No. Xero stays the ledger. Paidnice reads approved invoices from Xero, sends the email, and marks the invoice as sent in Xero so nothing in Xero is duplicated.

Can I send reminders and follow-ups from my domain too?

Yes. Reminders, late fee notices, statements and thank-you emails all send from the verified domain under the same policies.

Try Paidnice for free, or read the guide to automating invoice reminders.

Related Articles:

• How to Automate Late Fees in Xero with Paidnice
• How to Send invoices via SMS for Xero
• How to Automate Customer Statements in Xero

Written by

Denym Bird

Co-founder & CEO of Paidnice

Denym is a software entrepreneur and writes about accounts receivables management for small business.

LinkedIn X