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Payment reminder email templates, by stage
To say a payment is due, state the invoice, the amount, the date and a link to pay, in a friendly tone. Here are five reminder emails by stage, each with a subject line, plus SMS and WhatsApp versions.
Chasing money is awkward, so most people send the reminder too late and too cold. The fix is boring: the same friendly emails, on the same days, for every client.
Everything below is on the page to copy. The Word file with all of them is the download.
What’s inside
Email 1: a few days before it's due
Subject: Heads up: [Project] invoice is due [Friday]Hi [Name],Quick heads up that the invoice for [project] ([amount]) is due this [Friday, date]. Everything you need to pay is here: [link].If anything needs changing on it, just tell me and I'll sort it.Thanks as always, [Your name]
Email 2: due today
Subject: Today's the day: [Project] invoiceMorning [Name],The [project] invoice ([amount]) is due today. Here's the link to pay it: [link].Let me know if you need anything from me. [Your name]
Email 3: 7 days overdue
Subject: Quick question about invoice [number]Hi [Name],I haven't seen payment for invoice [number] ([amount]) yet. It was due on [date]. It's easy for these to get buried, so here's the link again: [link].If something's wrong with the invoice or the date doesn't work, tell me and we'll sort it out. If you've already paid, ignore this. [Your name]
Email 4: 14 days overdue
Subject: Invoice [number] is two weeks overdueHi [Name],Invoice [number] for [amount] is now two weeks past its due date of [date]. I'd like to get this closed off so we can keep [the next piece of work] on track.You can pay here: [link]. If there's a problem, reply to this email or call me on [number] and we'll fix it. Could you let me know by [date] when I can expect it? [Your name]
Email 5: 30 days overdue
Subject: Invoice [number]: I'd like to hear from youHi [Name],Invoice [number] for [amount] is 30 days overdue and I haven't heard back. I'd rather sort this out together than let it drag on.Please pay by [date]: [link]. If you can't, tell me what you can do and when, and we'll agree a plan in writing. Until it's resolved I'll need to pause work on [project]. I'd really like to keep working with you. [Your name]
SMS and WhatsApp versions
SMS: Hi [Name], it's [Your name] from [Business]. Invoice [number] ([amount]) was due [date]. Link to pay: [link]. Any problem, just reply. Thanks!WhatsApp: Hi [Name], [Your name] from [Business] here. Just a nudge on invoice [number] for [amount], it was due [date]. Here's the link: [link]. If anything's off with it, let me know and I'll sort it. Thanks!
Payment reminder questions, answered
How do you ask a client for payment?
Ask directly, with the invoice, the amount, the due date and a link to pay in the first two lines. Then say what to do if something's wrong. That's the whole message: a request, the facts, a way to say yes.
Do it twice, at two different moments. Before it's due, keep it light: “Quick heads up that the invoice for [project] ([amount]) is due this Friday. Everything you need to pay is here: [link]. If anything needs changing on it, tell me and I'll sort it.”
After it's due, stay just as calm but be clearer about the date: “I haven't seen payment for invoice [number] ([amount]) yet. It was due on [date]. Here's the link again: [link]. If something's wrong with it, tell me. If you've already paid, ignore this.”
Both of those are straight out of the five emails above, with the later ones getting firmer. The pack has all five, the subject lines, and the SMS and WhatsApp versions, so you're not writing each one from scratch while you're already annoyed.
Send them on the same days for every client. A request that arrives on a schedule reads as admin, not as a comment on the person.
How do you ask for payment without sounding rude?
State the facts and leave out the mood. Rude usually comes from the extra words: “as per my last email”, “please be advised”, “this is the third time”. Strip those out and a plain request, with a link and an offer to fix anything wrong, reads as polite.
Assume it slipped through the cracks, because it usually did. “It's easy for these to get buried” gives the client a face-saving way to pay without admitting anything. Save the firmer wording for the later emails, and keep “I'd like to keep working with you” in them.
How do you say payment is due?
Plainly, with the facts and the link: the invoice, the amount, the date and how to pay. “The [project] invoice ([amount]) is due Friday 15 March. Here's the link to pay it.”
Skip “please be advised” and “per my previous email”. A friendly heads-up reads as helpful. Wording that sounds like a collections notice gets ignored.
How do I politely remind someone to pay an invoice?
Assume it slipped through the cracks, because it usually did. Say what's outstanding, put the pay link in the first two lines, and give them a way out: “if something's wrong with the invoice, tell me and I'll sort it.”
Add “if you've already paid, ignore this” and nobody feels accused. Save the firmer wording for emails 4 and 5.
When should you send payment reminders?
A few days before it's due, on the day, then at 7, 14 and 30 days overdue. That's the schedule these five emails follow. The one people skip is the first, and it's the one that catches the wrong PO number or the invoice sitting in a junk folder.
Send them on the same days for every client. When it isn't personal, clients stop taking it personally.
What should a payment reminder subject line say?
Name the project or the invoice number, and keep the tone calm. “Heads up: [Project] invoice is due Friday”, “Quick question about invoice 1042” and “Invoice 1042: I'd like to hear from you” all work. Avoid all-caps and “FINAL NOTICE”.
“Re:” only if you're actually replying to an earlier email on the same invoice.
Can you send a payment reminder by SMS or WhatsApp?
Yes. Keep it to three lines: who you are, the invoice and amount, the link. The SMS and WhatsApp versions above are written for that. Use them when an email has gone quiet, or when the client lives in their messages.
Those two you send yourself. Handl's reminders go out by email.
Can the reminders send themselves?
In Handl they can. You set the schedule (how many days before and after the due date), switch reminders on for a project, and they go out under your business name. You still write the tone: the templates above are what to put in them.
Worth knowing
Friendly, not threats
The tone is the whole trick. The first three emails assume a simple miss. Emails 4 and 5 are direct about what happens next, but they still say “I’d like to keep working with you.”
Reminders are for your clients. For your own projects, Handl’s alerts tell you the week hours or budgets slip.
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Drop your email and all five emails, plus the SMS and WhatsApp versions, land in your inbox as a Word file (opens in Google Docs too). The download link is on screen as well.
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