One week overdue invoice email — friendly reminder template

The second email. Still warm, but it now asks for something specific — a date — because a week of silence is no longer self-explanatory.

One week overdue
Friendly tone

The email

Subject

Following up on invoice [Invoice number]

Body

Hi [Customer name],

Following up on invoice [Invoice number] for [Amount], which was due on [Due date] — a week ago now.

I sent a note last week and have not heard back, which usually means it is stuck somewhere rather than that anything is wrong. Could you let me know roughly when it is likely to be paid? Even a rough date helps me plan.

If there is a problem with the invoice itself, I would rather know that too.

Thanks,
[Your name]
[Your business]

Fill in before you send

[Customer name]
[Invoice number]
[Amount]
[Due date]
[Your name]
[Your business]

When to send this

Roughly seven days past due, when a first reminder has gone unanswered.
To a customer you want to keep, where preserving the relationship is worth more than the week you might save by hardening the tone.
When you genuinely do not know whether the delay is a problem with the invoice or a problem with their cash.

When not to send this

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

When you never sent a first reminder.: Instead: Send the day-one email instead. Opening with 'I sent a note last week' when you did not is a factual claim your customer can check, and being caught inflating the record costs you the only leverage a reminder has.
When they already replied and gave you a date that has not arrived yet.: Instead: Wait. You asked a question, they answered it, and asking again a week early is the clearest possible signal that answering you does not help. Diary their date and use the missed-promise email only if it passes.
To a customer who has been late on every invoice for a year.: Instead: Warmth has already been tried on this account and did not change anything. Go to the neutral one-week email that asks for a date in writing, so that the next escalation has a record behind it.

Notes on this one

Asking for a date rather than for payment is the move that makes this email work. A request for payment can be ignored without anyone feeling they have refused you. A request for a date is a question, and unanswered questions feel rude in a way unpaid invoices somehow do not.

The last line — inviting a problem with the invoice — is not politeness. About a third of silent invoices are silent because something on them is wrong and nobody wanted the conversation. Opening that door at one week is much cheaper than finding out at sixty days.

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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