Writing Effective Email Rules

Writing Effective Email Rules

In Solido, rules are short directives that customise how your payment reminder emails are written. They are not templates, and they are not full email instructions. Think of each rule as a brief note to a colleague: a single, clear instruction about how the email should sound or what it should emphasise.

You can add multiple rules to each reminder stage, and Solido combines them all when generating the email. This lets you layer instructions (one rule for tone, another for what to mention, another for what to avoid) without cramming everything into a single sentence.

How Solido Uses Your Rules

Before your rules even come into play, Solido already handles the fundamentals. Every email it generates starts from a solid baseline:

• Professional tone is applied by default. Even without any rules, the email will be polished and appropriate.
• Invoice details (the invoice number, amount, due date, and customer name) are inserted automatically from your Xero data.
• The invoice PDF is attached to every reminder automatically.

Your rules build on top of this baseline. They tell Solido how to go beyond the default: how to adjust the tone, what to emphasise, what to include or leave out. You never need to instruct Solido to "write an email" or "include the invoice details." That is already taken care of.

What Rules Can Control

Even though each rule is short, the range of things you can influence is broad:

• Tone: Friendly, formal, warm, firm, casual, empathetic. Set the emotional register of the email.
• Length: Ask for a brief note or a more detailed message.
• What to emphasise: The relationship, the overdue status, the amount, the next steps.
• Specific phrases to include: Mention your payment portal, offer to answer questions, reference your terms.
• Phrases or approaches to avoid: No legal language, no aggressive wording, no apologies.
• How direct to be: A gentle nudge versus a clear request for immediate payment.
• Escalation language: Whether to mention consequences like pausing services or involving collections.

Good Rules vs. Bad Rules

The most common mistake is writing rules as if you are drafting the email yourself, with long, paragraph-style instructions that try to do everything at once. Solido works best with short, focused directives.

Here is a paragraph-style rule that tries to do too much:

That is not a rule. It is an essay prompt. Instead, break those ideas into separate, concise rules:

Each of those three rules is short and focused on one thing. Solido combines them all when generating the email, so the result covers everything, but you have not had to write a paragraph to get there.

More Examples

Here are more examples of effective rules at different reminder stages:

And here are some common mistakes to avoid:

Tips for Writing Better Rules

• Keep each rule focused on one thing. One rule for tone, another for what to mention, another for what to avoid. This makes them easier to add, remove, and adjust without rewriting everything.
• Use plain language. Write your rules the same way you would tell a colleague what to do. "Keep it short and friendly" is better than "Employ a concise, amicable register."
• Layer multiple rules. You can add several rules to a single reminder stage. Solido combines them all, so use this to build up exactly the email you want without overloading any single rule.
• Do not repeat what Solido already does. You do not need to say "include the invoice number" or "write a professional email." The baseline handles that. Focus on what you want to be different.
• Match your rules to the stage. A pre-due courtesy reminder needs very different rules from a final notice. Write rules that reflect the urgency and intent of each stage.
• Test and refine. After setting up your rules, use the preview feature to see a sample email. If the result is not quite right, adjust a single rule and preview again rather than rewriting everything.

The best rules are short, specific, and additive. Each one nudges Solido in a clear direction without trying to control every word. Write a few focused rules per stage, preview the result, and fine-tune from there.