Why do customers stop replying to invoice reminders?

Most often because the person receiving them cannot pay them and has no habit of forwarding them; next most often because they cannot pay right now and have nothing to say that is not embarrassing; occasionally because something is wrong with the invoice or the work and nobody wanted the conversation. Only rarely is it a refusal. All four call for a different next email, which is why the useful move at this point is a question rather than another reminder.

How many emails should you send before you call?

Three unanswered emails is a reasonable point to change channel. Email is better at creating a record; a phone call is better at getting an answer, and by this stage the answer is what you are short of. Call, then email the same day with what was said, so the record stays intact.

Customer stopped replying about an invoice — what to send

Sending a fourth copy of the same reminder into the same silent inbox achieves nothing. Change the recipient, the channel, or the question.

30 days overdue
Neutral tone
They have gone quiet

The email

Subject

Invoice [Invoice number] — am I writing to the right place?

Body

Hi [Customer name],

I have written [Number] times about invoice [Invoice number] for [Amount], due [Due date], and have not had a reply. I am not sure whether that is because the emails are not reaching you, because this is not your area, or because something is wrong that I do not know about.

Rather than send another reminder, one word is enough:

- "Scheduled" — and I will stop chasing until the date you give me.
- "Query" — and I will hold everything while we sort it out.
- "Not me" — and I will take it to whoever handles payments.

If I do not hear anything by [Date], I will call [Your phone number] and try that instead.

Thanks,
[Your name]
[Your business]

Fill in before you send

[Customer name]
[Number]
[Invoice number]
[Amount]
[Due date]
[Date]
[Your phone number]
[Your name]
[Your business]

When to send this

After three or more unanswered emails, when you have no idea which of the possible reasons is the real one.
When you are willing to pick up the phone, because the email says you will.
When you want to make replying cheaper than continuing to ignore you.

When not to send this

The wrong reminder at the wrong moment costs more than no reminder at all.

From the same address, to the same person, with nothing else changed.: Instead: Change at least one variable — a different recipient, a reply to their own last email so it threads, or a phone call. If your emails are being filtered or the address is dead, a better-written one lands in the same place as the others.
When you will not actually make the call it promises.: Instead: Cut the last line. Every unkept commitment in a chase sequence teaches the reader that your deadlines are decorative, and this is the point in the sequence where that lesson costs you the most.
When the silence started right after you raised a price increase or a change order.: Instead: Address that directly instead. Silence with an obvious cause is not really silence, and a process email asking whether you have the right contact will be read as ducking the thing they are actually unhappy about.

Not certain this is the reply you got?

This template assumes they have gone quiet. Replies rarely say so in those words, and picking the wrong one is how a dispute gets chased or a kept promise gets nagged. Paste what they actually sent and the decoder will tell you which situation it is — and therefore which email belongs here.

Decode the reply you were sent

Notes on this one

Three one-word replies work because the barrier to answering a chase is rarely the money — it is that a proper reply requires knowing an answer the reader does not have yet. 'Not me' requires no knowledge at all and is often the true answer.

If the silence is total across every channel for a large amount, stop escalating politely and find out whether the business is still trading. That is a five-minute check in most public registers, and it changes what you do next far more than another email would.

Questions this comes with

Why do customers stop replying to invoice reminders?: Most often because the person receiving them cannot pay them and has no habit of forwarding them; next most often because they cannot pay right now and have nothing to say that is not embarrassing; occasionally because something is wrong with the invoice or the work and nobody wanted the conversation. Only rarely is it a refusal. All four call for a different next email, which is why the useful move at this point is a question rather than another reminder.
How many emails should you send before you call?: Three unanswered emails is a reasonable point to change channel. Email is better at creating a record; a phone call is better at getting an answer, and by this stage the answer is what you are short of. Call, then email the same day with what was said, so the record stays intact.

All 19 reminder templates

Collectly does this across every invoice, on its own

You just picked the email to send on one invoice. Collectly does the same thing continuously for every unpaid invoice you have — reads the replies, works out why each one is unpaid, estimates when it will land, and drafts the follow-up for you to approve.

With 15 rules it cannot talk its way around

A paid or written-off invoice is never chased again. Follow-ups are switched off permanently, not deferred.
A disputed invoice stops automated chasing entirely and goes to a person to resolve.
A promise to pay on a date pauses reminders until that date has passed. Collectly checks back the day after, not on the day.
At least three days between reminders on the same invoice, so re-running the analysis cannot turn into nagging. A resent or corrected invoice the customer has just asked for is not a reminder, and still waits for your approval.

Try it on your invoices See how it works

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