Add and Manage Customers
What is a customer in Paymely?
A customer represents a person or organization that owes you money. Each customer has a profile with their contact information and outstanding balance. You then assign reminder schedules to that customer.
Add a Customer Manually
- In the sidebar, click Customers
- Click Add Customer (button in the top right)
- Fill in the required fields:
| Field | Required | Description |
|---|---|---|
| First and last name | ✓ | Full name — used for automatic payment matching |
| ✓ | Email address — used to send reminders and identify payments | |
| Phone | Optional | Canadian number (e.g. 514-555-0100) — required for SMS reminders |
| Amount due | ✓ | Dollar amount the customer owes you |
| Language | Optional | Preferred language (English or French) — reminders are sent in this language |
| Payment Frequency | Optional | Weekly, Biweekly, Semi-monthly, or Monthly — used for filtering when assigning to recurring schedules |
| Installment Amount | Optional | Amount per payment cycle (e.g. $100 every 14 days). Only appears when a frequency is set. Available as a template placeholder. |
| Notes | Optional | Additional information about the account |
Important: The full name and email are used by the AI to automatically reconcile payments. Make sure they exactly match what the customer will use in their communications.
Customer Statuses
| Status | Description |
|---|---|
| Inactive | Customer added, no active schedule yet |
| On Track | Schedule in progress, reminders being sent |
| Overdue | Due date passed, balance unpaid |
| Paid | Balance settled — reminders stop automatically |
| Stopped | All reminders exhausted — settlement offer possible |
| In Settlement | Settlement offer sequence actively sending |
| Lost | Settlement offer expired without response |
| Legal | All communication blocked (legal proceedings) |
Assign a Schedule
After creating a customer:
- Open the customer profile by clicking their name
- In the Schedules & Settlement Offers section, click Assign a schedule
- Choose an existing schedule from the list
- Confirm — reminders will start according to the defined timeline
Phone Number Management
Paymely automatically validates Canadian phone numbers. Accepted area codes include all Canadian provinces (e.g. 514, 416, 604, 403, etc.).
If a number is not recognized as Canadian, a warning is displayed — SMS will not be sent until the number is valid.
Mark a Customer as Paid
When a payment is confirmed (automatically or manually):
- The customer's balance is updated
- Ongoing reminders stop automatically
- Status changes to Paid
You can also manually mark a payment from the Payments section or directly from the customer profile.
Invoices & Documents
Each customer profile has two file sections:
- Invoices — Files you want to send to the customer (PDF, DOC, XLSX). When enabled on a schedule, invoices are automatically attached to chase emails. See Invoices & Automatic Attachments.
- Documents — Internal reference files for your team only. Never sent to customers. See Customer Documents.
The customer table includes a Docs column (paperclip icon) showing the combined count of invoices and documents at a glance.
Comments and Notes
The comments section uses an append-only system for legal compliance:
- Click the comments cell in the table or open the customer profile to view all notes
- Click Add a note to write a new entry
- Each note is automatically stamped with the date, time, and author name
- Notes cannot be edited or deleted once saved — this creates a tamper-proof audit trail
This design ensures a complete, verifiable history of all interactions with each customer.
Move to the Directory
If a customer is no longer in active collection, you can move them to the Directory — a parking zone that frees up your active slots without losing data.
- Select the customer in the table
- Click Move to Directory
- Choose the tab: Holding (temporary) or Archived (permanent)
The customer is removed from all schedules and stops receiving any communication. You can reactivate them at any time from the directory.
For full details, see Directory — parking zone.