Payment reminder: five lines, one question
A payment reminder needs five lines: invoice number, amount, due date, days late and one question about when payment will be made.
5 documents free. PDF, photo or XML — data out as CSV, Excel or JSON.
The five lines
«Invoice 1042, €2,400, due 14 November, now 9 days late.»
«Can you confirm a payment date this week?»
That is the entire message. Everything else is politeness, and politeness should not push the ask out of sight.
How often
Twice in the first week after the due date, then weekly.
Daily reminders do not speed up payment; they train the client to filter you.
What to attach
First two reminders: the invoice or a pay link.
Later: nothing new — at that point the client knows where the invoice is.
When to stop writing
When two emails in a row go unanswered, the next step is a call, not a third email.
After a formal notice, stop emailing entirely: repetition weakens the escalation.
Frequently asked
Should the reminder come before the due date?
Yes — three days before prevents more late payments than any email sent after.
Is it rude to remind twice in a week?
No, if the second one is a single question and not a repeat of the first.
Read next
DueBuddy — invoices and reminders, without the enterprise contract