Guide
Chasing an unpaid invoice, politely.
The email and the text to send on the due date, then 7 and 14 days late, and what to do after that. Free to copy and change.
The schedule
Three reminders, then a call.
Assume the invoice was missed, not refused, until you know otherwise. The wording below starts there and firms up only a little each time.
| When | What it does |
|---|---|
| Due date | A friendly reminder, with the invoice attached again. |
| 7 days late | Asks them to check, and offers to fix anything wrong with it. |
| 14 days late | Asks when it will be paid, and offers to talk. |
| After that | Stop sending, and ring them. |
The reminders stop the moment it's paid or the customer replies.
Due date
A reminder, not a chase.
Subject: Invoice [number] is due today Hi [first name], A quick reminder that invoice [number] for [job], [amount], is due today. I've attached it again with the payment details. If you've already paid, thank you, and please ignore this. [your name] [business name]
Text message
Hi [first name], [business name] here. A reminder that invoice [number] for [amount] is due today. If you've already paid, thank you.
7 days late
Could you check on it?
Subject: Invoice [number] is now overdue Hi [first name], Invoice [number] for [amount] was due on [due date] and I can't see a payment yet. Could you check on it for me? If something's wrong with the invoice or the work, tell me and I'll put it right. If you've paid in the last day or two, thank you; it may not have reached us yet. [your name]
Text message
Hi [first name], it's [your name] from [business name]. Invoice [number] for [amount] was due on [due date]. Could you check on it? If anything's wrong with it, call me on [phone].
14 days late
When can you pay it?
Subject: Invoice [number], 14 days overdue Hi [first name], Invoice [number] for [amount] is now 14 days overdue. Can you let me know when it will be paid? If paying it all at once is hard right now, call me on [phone] and we'll work something out. [your name]
Text message
Hi [first name], [your name] from [business name]. Invoice [number] for [amount] is now 14 days overdue. Can you let me know when you can pay it? Happy to talk it through on [phone].
Before each one
Check before it goes out.
Has it been paid?Check your bank as well as your invoicing software. A payment made this morning may not show in the software yet, and a reminder to someone who has just paid is the one that annoys people.
Is your software already sending one?Some invoicing software sends its own reminders. If yours does, switch one of them off, or the customer hears from you twice.
Is it only about the invoice?Keep every message to the invoice, the amount and the date. Nothing personal, and nothing that reads as a threat.
After that
Then pick up the phone.
After the 14-day reminder, another message won't do what a conversation can. A late invoice can turn out to be a question, a cash-flow problem or a missing order number, and each of those sorts out faster on the phone.
Or we run it for you
The checking is the work.
Sending reminders on a schedule is the easy part; software does it. The work is in the ones where a wrong message would cost you, and in the replies. That is what the follow-up service does: a person checks every message to a new customer, every job over $2,000 and anything more than 30 days overdue before it goes, using wording you approved, and passes every reply on to you. After the last reminder, the invoice comes back to you for the call.
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