Quick answer
First ask the customer to check their spam/junk folder and confirm the email address is exactly right in Xero. If invoices keep vanishing, the real cause is usually email authentication — Xero sends on behalf of your domain, so add Xero to your domain's SPF record. In the meantime, use the invoice's online link or a resend to get paid.
WHY IT HAPPENS
Xero sends "on behalf of" you.
When you email an invoice, Xero doesn't send it from your own mail server — it sends from Xero's servers on behalf of your business address. Modern spam filters check whether the sending server is actually allowed to send for your domain, using DNS records like SPF (and DKIM/DMARC). If your domain doesn't list Xero as an approved sender, some mail systems quietly bin the message or drop it in junk. Add to that the odd typo in an email address and the usual over-eager corporate spam filters, and invoices go missing. The steps below cover the quick checks first, then the permanent fix.
HOW TO FIX IT
Work from the customer inward.
- Have the customer check spam and junkThe fastest win: ask them to search their inbox for your business name and look in Junk, Spam, Clutter and any "Other" or "Promotions" tab. If it's there, ask them to mark it "not junk" and add your address to safe senders so future ones arrive cleanly.
- Verify the email address in XeroOpen the contact and check the email against the customer's letterhead or a recent reply — a single wrong character means it never had a chance. While you're there, confirm you haven't got an old address for someone who's moved on.
- Check the invoice's history in XeroOpen the invoice and look at its history and notes. Xero records when it was sent and whether the online version has been viewed. "Sent but not viewed" points to a delivery or spam issue, not something you did wrong.
- Set the reply-to so responses reach youIn your Xero email settings, make sure the reply-to address is a real, monitored mailbox. Because invoices are sent on Xero's behalf, a customer replying to the "from" line may not land where you expect — a clear reply-to avoids lost queries.
- Add Xero to your domain's SPF recordThis is the permanent fix. Update your domain's DNS SPF record to include Xero's mail servers, so receiving systems trust invoices sent on your behalf. This is a DNS change best made by whoever manages your domain or your IT provider — done properly it also helps every other service that sends "as" your domain.
- Resend, then use the online invoice linkOnce the address and authentication are sorted, resend the invoice. If it's still not landing, copy the invoice's secure online link from Xero and send it to the customer yourself (or via a messaging app) — they can view and pay it in the browser without relying on the emailed copy.
- Consider sending from your own domainFor businesses that invoice constantly, sending from a properly authenticated custom domain (rather than the generic Xero-branded email) is the most reliable long-term setup. Your IT provider can configure this alongside your wider email security.
If invoices go missing across the board — not just to one fussy customer — the issue is almost certainly your domain's email authentication (SPF/DKIM/DMARC), and it likely affects more than Xero. That's worth fixing once, properly, so every invoice, quote and reminder you send actually lands and your domain can't be spoofed by scammers.
