5 payment reminder emails | Invoice reminder email templates | Chaser

Overdue payments can cause challenges for businesses and deeply affect any business's cash flow. If your incoming cash is unpredictable, it's much harder to manage your outgoing cash.
The time cost of late payments on average is 208 hours annually for most UK businesses.

Finding ways to encourage your clients to pay on time is therefore essential. Regular communications via an organised set of polite, yet persistent, overdue invoice reminder emails are the best way to do this.

When you send payment reminder messages, you can keep a contact line open with your client which ensures both that you are not forgotten, and that overdue payments are sent as soon as possible. Using a payment reminder email template is one of the best ways to perfect this vital form of communication.
 

Why use a payment reminder template?

Sending a friendly reminder email is far more beneficial for your business’ reputation and finances than using a debt collection agency immediately. However, to ensure you don't damage your good customer relationship, it's critical to strike the right note with your payment reminder emails.

Unlike in-person or verbal communications, a payment reminder email can all too often be misinterpreted or misunderstood. What might seem factual and to the point from a business perspective can easily be interpreted as abrupt or rude. For this reason, it can often be difficult to get payment reminders right.

Overdue payment reminder email templates that set the tone for your written communications can help you overcome that hurdle. They will help you craft an effective payment reminder email that will push a client to pay an outstanding invoice immediately.

At the same time, the best gentle reminder message will keep your relationship with a client positive and ensure that they continue to value your business.

Table of Contents

1. Email template 1: Payment reminder email template pre-due-date 
2. Email template 2: Polite overdue payment reminder email
3. Email template 3: When an invoice is early overdue
4. Email template 4: Late overdue payment reminder
5. Email template 5: When an invoice is paid
6. What to do if you don't succeed? 
7. The benefits of planning your invoice reminder emails with Chaser
8. Let Chaser take your overdue invoice reminder emails further

Email template 1: Pre-due date payment reminder email template

Even before an invoice payment due date, it’s important to send a payment reminder email to the customer.

You should send this email roughly one week before a payment due date, and it should contain all the information required for the timely receipt of any upcoming payments.

This ensures you don't get forgotten about and can help to keep payments on track. Within these pre-payment reminders, you should ask the client to confirm that they have received the initial invoice while acknowledging that payment is not yet past due.
 

What to include:

A payment reminder email is a great place to inquire about whether any known issues would delay payment. For instance, the client could be confused about the payment process or unsure of the payment details. You could even provide them with a link so they can easily view their invoice and pay online. It’s also important to provide clear contact details such as a phone number, where clients can discuss potential issues in advance.

You should also take this opportunity to ensure that everyone is clear on any payment terms, such as the due date by which clients should submit payment, or any applicable late fees if payments are missed. On your end, it's helpful to know the expected date when an invoice is going to be late so that you’re always immediately aware of an outstanding payment.

Here's one of the best payment reminder email templates you can use when crafting this type of communication.

Email template 2: Polite overdue invoice reminder email

If an invoice remains unpaid past an initial invoice due date, it’s important to chase the payment with further payment reminder emails.

You could send this kind of email on the date an invoice becomes due, or when an invoice is between three days and one week past due. 

What to include:

When inquiring about late payments, you should always avoid coming across as angry or rude. Instead, focus on ensuring a polite and professional tone throughout your payment reminder emails. Simply let the client know that this is just a payment reminder – keeping things friendly will help you gain a timely payment.

If your payment terms include charging for late payments, you should state this in your reminder message or follow-up email. You should also take this opportunity to include details on whether you intend to apply interest fees based on the original due date.

Remember, a payment reminder should provide the client with the key payment details and information they need. Mention of a late fee can spur them into action.

We recommend using your business name and phone number, as well as the invoice number on a payment reminder email as it allows the recipient to know precisely who is communicating (in this case, your business' name) and what this email refers to.

In any payment reminder messages, we recommend also stating clearly: 

• The amount owed due to outstanding payments
• The invoice number (included in the email subject line)
• The date when the payment was due
• Any payment options that they can use (you could include a payment link for online invoices)

Email template 3: When an invoice is early overdue

It’s important to send a prompt early overdue payment reminder email if you’ve received no communication after your previous emails, or if payment becomes more than a week overdue.

What to include:

Considering that not much time has passed since this payment became past due, your aim in sending these payment reminders should be to ensure that you get a payment date agreed upon as soon as possible, rather than “nudging” your customer.

Remember that when invoice payment is overdue, you are legally entitled to add interest and compensation for it depending on how many weeks overdue that late payment becomes. If you choose to employ these rights for your business, make this clear to the customer in your overdue invoice reminder email.

Clearly stating these payment terms ensures that clients fully understand the consequences of late payment. Highlighting this element of the payment process also makes it more likely that you’ll receive prompt payment shortly after sending payment reminder emails.

Email template 4: Late overdue invoice reminder

If you've chased a customer with multiple reminders for an overdue unpaid invoice without any luck using payment reminders, it's time to change your accounts receivable tactics.

After the first three email reminders, you have contacted your client repeatedly to pay their overdue invoice without any success. The email below gives your client one more opportunity to pay kindly, whilst still escalating the severity of the late payment. This kind of payment reminder email template is also useful if the client is ignoring other forms of communication such as SMS messages regarding their outstanding invoice.

What to include:

These types of payment reminder messages should ultimately act as a final notice for unpaid invoices. Spell out this level of urgency in the body of the follow-up payment reminder message with the line “as a matter of urgency,” as well as with the use of the word “OVERDUE” in the email subject line. A clear subject line is critical for a high open rate.

For instance, the email’s subject line on payment that’s one week overdue could be “Overdue Payment reminder from (Your Business) - Due (Date Due). A month overdue subject line will be more urgent such as “Urgent Overdue payment notification from (Your business) - Due (Date Due).

Again, remember to attach a copy of the invoice with your reminder email to prevent getting held up by claims that the client never received the initial invoice. You should also include a customer statement if emailing about multiple invoices, and ask the client to confirm receipt of these documents. It’s also important to restate any escalating late fees, preferably with a cost breakdown of how you’ve arrived at that late fee to highlight the growing expense of the overdue payment.

Email template 5: When an invoice is paid

Whether it was early, on time, or two weeks late, when a customer pays your invoice, you should send them a “thank you for paying” email once you have received payment to your bank account. It's crucial to do this regardless of whether the client responded after the first payment reminder message or the fifth.

This type of communication will undoubtedly have a positive effect, as perhaps the client will feel guilty about their late payment from your polite handling of it and endeavour to pay earlier in future. Or they'll appreciate you recognising them paying in a timely manner, reinforcing the relationship and ensuring future payments remain timely.

Not only do ‘thanks for the payment' emails help to improve future payment behaviours, but they can also be used as an in for converting customers to direct debit or securing further sales.

We recommend the following template for thanking your customers for payments.

What to do if you don’t succeed?

Sometimes, using a debt collection agency is a necessary step to get your invoices paid, but it’s one you should always avoid until it becomes absolutely necessary.

This is largely because debt collectors who enforce invoice payments will rarely have a client’s best interests in mind, and may even come across as aggressive. This can have a significantly negative impact on customer relationships, increasing the risks of costly negative press or bad reviews.

A friendly reminder is always more favourable, particularly for a small business owner who relies on the support of loyal clients and repeat custom.

Send a final late payment reminder email

Before you even think about using a debt collection agency, you should send a final payment reminder email.

This final notice is the last chance for a client to complete timely payment or include late payment fees and other actions. Depending on when you choose to send this email, you could include the week late subject line included above.

Remember an effective payment reminder email will include:

• The original payment due date
• Any information on late fees 
• The original invoice number
• Contact information, including a phone number and manned email

In most cases, a well-written and comprehensive final payment reminder message will result in timely payments for the original invoice. 

An alternative to standard debt collection

You can send payment reminders for as long as you like once a payment is past due depending on things like your relationship with the client or the payment amount in question. However, eventually, it may become clear that your late payment reminder emails are being ignored.

At this point, you still don't need to resort to using a typical debt collection service when payment is due. If an effective payment reminder email has failed, there is another alternative.

Try Chaser's debt collection service

Chaser provides a better way to collect debt than using an impersonal collection agency. As well as making it easier to perfect invoice reminder emails in the first place, Chaser’s debt collection services ensure you never risk client relationships.

This is because Chaser’s friendly debt collection team works closely with debtors to ensure they act respectfully and seek agreeable resolutions in every instance.

Find out more about Chaser’s debt collection services, or download the fact sheet for more information.

The benefits of planning your invoice reminder emails with Chaser

Chasing overdue invoices can drain your energy and take time away from running your business.

Chaser eases that strain by simplifying the invoice reminder process wherever possible. With Chaser, you can plan out times (schedules) and sequences for when your invoice reminder emails go out, as well as how often you will follow up on invoices after the first payment reminder email so that these become programmed and expected by your customers.

How could Chaser help?

The benefits of set schedules for sending out an overdue payment reminder are twofold:

1. Save time! Time spent chasing outstanding invoices is time spent away from business operations. When you schedule, automate, and oversee credit control using Chaser, you’ll save time to spend on more important elements of company success.
2. Your customers will expect it and come to respect it. When you encourage positive customer paying habits thanks to reliable invoice reminders and Chaser’s easy-to-use payment portal, you make payments easier for everyone. This makes positive customer paying habits, and timely payments, far more likely.

Using Chaser, email and SMS payment reminders can be scheduled at different intervals throughout the invoicing process. It’s also possible to tailor those reminders to different customer groups, such as good or bad payers, with a unique template that you customise with your own branding.

Having a transparent view of debtors, payments, and all invoice communications in one centralised system empowers you to spot any potential issues, take action and keep your company's cash flow in a positive position.

Let Chaser take your overdue invoice reminder emails further

Chaser is committed to creating a world where all businesses have the confidence that they will get paid for their work.

To make that happen, you can access a free 10-day trial of Chaser's credit control software, which delivers real-time insights about your most urgent debt and how best to chase it, as well as automated payment reminders, that are branded to look like they come directly from you.

If you want to take matters one step further than optimising your overdue invoice payment reminder emails, see our ultimate guide to accounts receivable blog, with free guidance on how to optimise your business' entire receivables function. This guide covers everything from the fundamental cornerstones of your AR procedure, when, how and why to conduct credit checks and how to distinguish good and bad payers.

Alternatively, you can contact our friendly team of experts for more information, or join our webinar for practical advice and insights on how to reduce late payments.