# How Paintvine reduced late payments to zero within a month

> Late fees, reminders, and customer groups took Paintvine from 20%+ late invoices to zero within a month.

Source: https://www.paidnice.com/success-stories/paintvine
Publisher: Paidnice
Part of: Paidnice success stories, https://www.paidnice.com/success-stories

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## At a glance

- **Customer**: Paintvine
- **Industry**: Events
- **Location**: 🇳🇿 New Zealand
- **Accounting platform**: Xero
- **Interviewed**: Alex Hamilton, CEO
- **Outcome**: 20%+ late to 0% late
- **Also reported**: On-time payment rate rose from 80% to 100% within one month.
- **Video**: https://latechaser.wistia.com/medias/p36a4k8kws (0:49)

## Paidnice features used

- [Late fees & interest](https://www.paidnice.com/late-fees)
- [Email & SMS reminders](https://www.paidnice.com/email-sms-reminders)
- [Your own email domain](https://www.paidnice.com/email-sms-reminders)
- [Customer groups](https://www.paidnice.com/debtor-management-software)

## The policy set

- Percentage late fee on overdue invoices
- Due and overdue reminder sequence
- Group-specific rules by purchase history

## The story

[**Paintvine**](https://paintvine.co.nz/) is a popular paint and wine studio based in New Zealand that was struggling with customers frequently paying invoices late. We spoke with Alex Hamilton, CEO of Paintvine, on how Paidnice's accounts receivable automation helped them reduce late payments to zero within the first month.

## The challenge: unreliable cash flow

As a small business, Paintvine relied on predictable cash flow to pay employees and suppliers on time. With over 20% of customer payments consistently late, it was difficult for Alex to reliably forecast and manage cash flow.

> "Late customer payments were our single biggest headache. We never knew when or if invoices would be paid on time."

This frequently led to liquidity issues that forced Paintvine to delay payments themselves. Alex knew he needed to solve the problem of late payments to stabilize cash flow.

## The fix: late fees and reminders on autopilot

After researching options, Alex chose Paidnice for its ability to automatically apply configured late fees and send invoice payment reminders directly to customers. Four features did the work:

- **Automatic late fees**: Paidnice detects unpaid Xero invoices and adds a configured percentage fee that is sent to the customer. Paintvine's late payment policy finally got enforced, consistently.
- **Invoice reminders**: Customized email and SMS payment reminders go out as invoices become due and overdue. The friendly reminders lifted on-time payment rates.
- **Your own email domain**: Reminders and late fees are sent from Paintvine's email domain, not Paidnice's, improving open and response rates.
- **Customer segmentation**: Late fee rules and reminders are customized for different customer groups based on purchase history.

## The results: late payments dropped to zero

Within the first month of implementing Paidnice, Paintvine saw late customer payments decrease from over 20% to zero.

| | Before Paidnice | After Paidnice |
| --- | --- | --- |
| **Late payments** | Over 20% paid late. "We never knew when or if invoices would be paid on time." | Zero within a month. On-time payment rate improved from 80% to 100%. |
| **Cash flow** | Unpredictable. Liquidity issues forced Paintvine to delay its own payments. | Stabilized. Employees and suppliers paid reliably, on schedule. |
| **Enforcement** | Manual and inconsistent. A late payment policy existed, but applying it depended on someone following up. | Automatic. Paidnice applies the late fees; fees collected rose 10%. |

> "Paidnice gave us the reliability we needed in our accounts receivable. Now we can depend on customer payments arriving on time to pay our own bills."

By automating the process of collecting owed payments, Paintvine eliminated late payments and achieved the predictable cash flow crucial for small business success.

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Full version with video: https://www.paidnice.com/success-stories/paintvine
All success stories: https://www.paidnice.com/success-stories