When sending a payment reminder to a client, you should include the amount owed, payment due date and the acceptable payment methods like check or credit card. We recommend that you make a payment request within 24 to 48 hours upon completion of the job and, most importantly, maintain a professional yet friendly tone in all communications with your customer.
Templates to Help You Ask for Payment in an Email
We have created three professional email templates for three common scenarios including asking for payment before you start a job, asking when payment is complete and a past due invoice email template. When sending a payment reminder email, it’s important that you look professional. If your email address starts with an old nickname or ends with @hotmail.com, you should create a business email address. Check out our complete guide to choosing a professional email address.
Download the three professional email templates we have included below:
Asking for Payment in an Email
Asking for payment from a customer can be challenging, and how you ask can make all the difference in whether or not you’re able to collect the money owed to you. It can also make a huge difference in your ability to retain customers going forward. Typically when you need to ask for money from your customers you fall into one of three different scenarios and all require a different way that you should ask.
Three scenarios of how to ask for payment in an email from your customers are:
1. How to Ask for Payment in an Email Before You Start a Job
If you sell services, you should require an upfront deposit of 50 percent or more before you start the work. If you sell products, you should request payment in full before you ship the products to the customer.
Before sending a payment reminder, make sure that you have communicated to the customer that you require a deposit upfront. That way, the customer is not caught off guard by the email. This conversation should take place at the time your customer has agreed to have you provide the goods or services. If you typically send customers a quote or proposal, the upfront deposit should also be outlined in those documents.
Be sure to send this email immediately after your customer has approved the estimate or quote or has verbally agreed to let you do the work.
This email should include the following information:
- The total amount of the job
- The required deposit amount
- The date that the remaining balance is due
- Specific language that says, “Work will begin once the deposit has been received or when full payment is received,” depending on your situation
- Acceptable payment methods like check or credit card
- Instructions on how to submit payment
- Your contact information if there are questions
- Attach a copy of the invoice
Download the How to Ask for Payment in an Email Before You Start a Job template and customize it.
2. Asking for Payment When Work Is Complete
Once you have completed a job, you should send payment reminders within 24 to 48 hours. The longer you wait, the longer it will take for you to get paid. If you don’t make it a priority, then neither will your customers. If you use an invoicing software like FreshBooks, be sure to create an email the invoice directly from the software so that it can track the status for you. However, if you use Word or create invoices manually, then you can modify the template below and send it to your customer with the invoice attached.
This email should include the following information:
- The amount due
- The due date
- Acceptable payment methods like check or credit card
- Instructions on how to submit payment
- Your contact information if there are questions
- Specific language that says “Thank you for your business, I look forward to working with you in the future.”
- Attach a copy of the invoice
Download the How to Ask for Payment in an Email When Work Is Complete template and customize it.
3. Asking for Payment That Is Past Due Politely
Out of the three types of emails we have discussed, this is probably the toughest one to send. However, keep in mind that your customers are busy like you and, most of the time, they have simply overlooked sending payment. While it’s easy to fly off the handle, the number one rule is to keep your head if you want to get paid.
This email should include the following information:
- The amount due
- The due date
- Acceptable payment methods like check or credit card
- Instructions on how to submit payment
- Your contact information if there are questions
- Specific language that references previous attempts to collect payment; for example, “We did not receive a response to our email date 05/24/20xx.”
- Include a copy of the previous email(s) sent
- Attach a copy of the invoice
Download past due invoice email template and customize it.
If you do not receive a response from your customer after sending a couple of emails, it’s time to give them a call. Always give your customer the benefit of the doubt and be polite. There is a chance that you have the wrong email address or that your emails are sitting in a spam folder. It’s important to keep the lines of communication open.
If you are able to reach your customer and they are unable to pay you, give them the option of a payment plan. Document the agreed-upon plan and have your customer acknowledge it via email or with a signature. Stay on top of the due dates of the payment plan to ensure that your customer is living up to the agreement.
The Collections Process
If all of your attempts to collect payments via email fail, your last resort is to implement a more formal collection process. This will require you to send written collection letters via mail. If you have not received payments after the fourth collection letter, we suggest you contact a collection agency. Be sure to check out our free guide on How to Write a Collection Letter with free templates and tips on how to avoid payment collection issues in the future.
Benefits of Investing in Invoicing Software
One way that you can make it easier to ask for payment or minimize payment request emails is to invest in an invoicing software like FreshBooks. With FreshBooks, you can stay on top of invoice due dates, which should reduce the number of emails you have to send to request payment. Below is a snapshot of a dashboard in FreshBooks that shows invoices grouped by their status, such as overdue, outstanding or in draft.
Snapshot of open invoices taken from a sample company, Paul’s Plumbing created in FreshBooks.
Listed below are a few features in FreshBooks that will help automate payment reminders:
- Track invoice status: Email your invoices directly within FreshBooks and it will track when an invoice has been viewed by the customer and when an online payment has been made
- Accept online payments: Turn on FreshBooks Payments to allow customers to pay their invoices online with a credit card; making a payment will be as easy as clicking a payment button
- Set up automatic reminders: You can create up to three automatic payment reminder emails in FreshBooks; the first reminder can be a certain number of days before the invoice due date; I recommend that you then create the other two reminders to go out seven days after the due date and then two weeks later if payment still has not been made
- Apply automatic late payment fees: After an invoice is past due for a certain number of days, you can have FreshBooks automatically apply late payment fees to the invoice; typically, if the customer does pay you, you can always waive the late payment fees, especially if you want to work with the customer on future projects
- Create recurring invoices: For those customers that pay you on a periodic basis — weekly, monthly or quarterly — you can set up their invoices to automatically go out on a specific date; for example, if you collect rent, and it is always due on the first of each month, then you can set up all invoices to go out to tenants a few days before the first
Sample invoice created in FreshBooks using a sample company file.
Above is a snapshot of a sample invoice that was emailed to a customer from a fictitious sample company file, Paul’s Plumbing.
- When you turn on the online payment feature, the Pay Now button will appear in the upper right-hand corner — as it does in the above screenshot. Your customer has to select the payment method and enter his or her payment information to pay the invoice.
- This text bubble allows your customer to make a comment on this invoice that you will receive. If they have a question or want to thank you for a job well done, they can do it without ever leaving FreshBooks.
Setting up automatic reminders and implementing recurring invoices ensures that there is no delay between the time a job is complete and the request for payment is made. In addition, by giving customers the option to pay their invoices online, you get paid faster and save time that would have been spent sending emails and writing letters to request payment.
Tips to Avoid Payment Collection Issues
If you are in business long enough, you will at some point encounter a customer who is not willing to pay you. This should be the exception and not the rule. While you may not be able to avoid a payment collection issue with a customer completely, there are a few other best practices we recommend on top of investing in an invoicing software.
Here are seven tips we recommend to avoid payment collection issues:
1. Run a Credit Check
If you have a new client who you would like to extend credit to, check their Dun & Bradstreet credit report. It costs $121.99 to pull a single report, but being able to offer the right terms to a big client could help you land a big client or avoid a giant headache. Check out our complete Dun & Bradstreet Credit Report guide for more details.
2. Review A/R Aging Report
The accounts receivable (A/R) aging report shows all outstanding customer invoices grouped by the number of days they are past their due dates — 0-30 Days, 31-60 Days, 61-90 Days and Over 90 Days. At the beginning of each week, you should take a few minutes to review this report and see what invoices are coming due in the next couple of weeks. If you use FreshBooks or another invoicing software, you should be able to run this report in just a few minutes.
If you don’t use invoicing software, you should create this report in Excel or Word so that you can stay on top of open invoices. Make a plan to follow up via email or by phone and be sure to document the action that you have taken. You will need this information should you ever have to hire a collection agency to collect payment on your behalf.
Check out our A/R Aging guide for more details on how this report works.
3. Offer Early Discount Payment Terms
Think about offering customers an incentive to pay their invoices early. Early payment discounts typically run between 1% to 5% and require payment within 10 days of the invoice date. You would be surprised at how many customers would take you up on this offer.
By offering this type of discount, you will cut down the number of days it takes you to get paid by almost a one-third and will go a long way to ensure you maintain a positive cash flow. Read our Early Payment Discount guide to learn how to implement early discount payment terms for your customers.
4. Always Do Good Work
Be sure to address issues early on to avoid giving your customer a reason not to pay you later on. Most importantly, make sure that the work is 100 percent complete before you send a payment request email.
5. Communicate Payment Terms
Make sure that you have communicated payment terms to your customer verbally and in writing before you start the work. This should take place in the initial consultation, and the terms should be included on a quote, estimate or proposal signed by your customer. Check out our article on Best Invoice Payment terms for best practices for setting payment terms for your business.
6. Don’t Delay Sending Payment Reminder Emails
Within 24 to 48 hours after you have completed the job, send your customer an invoice to request payment. Make sure the due date and acceptable payment methods are included on the invoice.
7. Be Friendly but Firm
In all communications with your customer, keep a friendly tone but be firm so that your customers know you are serious about getting paid.
The Bottom Line
We’ve shared a number of best practices and provided you with templates to address the three primary stages of asking for payment in an email. Now, it’s time to implement the information that we have shared with you into your customer billing process.
