How Do I Send a Payment Request or Payment Reminder?

If you don’t have a business that collects payment at the time of service, you need to make sure customers know when to expect your invoice, how they can remit payment and how long they have to do so.

Every online billing solution will include an option to send payment requests manually. You can do this by filtering your customers and creating a list of just those clients with unpaid invoices. Then you’ll want to send that subset of clients a payment request or reminder. However, this manual process is time-consuming and inefficient.

If you use a modern online invoicing solution, you can create automated payment reminders based on your own rules. Most systems make the set-up process pretty painless, but you will need to make a few important business decisions regarding when you want to trigger notices and how often. Let’s take a look at what you’ll need to consider if you want to send out a payment request.

When Should I Send a Payment Reminder?

if you are not sure how to get paid without being rude, you are not alone. Many business owners struggle with this one. There is no one-size-fits-all rule for this as it depends on your company’s business model. If you generally invoice right after you complete a project and the terms include getting paid within 15 days, you can set a pre-triggered payment reminder to go out five days before it’s due. If you bill a client every month, you could send an automated reminder 15 days in advance. On the other hand, if you’re following up on an unpaid invoice that’s past due, you might set the notice to go out every two weeks until the status in your system is updated to paid.

How Can I Send a Payment Request?

Regardless of whether you’re sending a first request or a third payment reminder, you need to decide how you want to communicate with your customers. One option is to send invoices and payment reminders by email. This is a standard form of communication. The other option, and one that has become popular with business-to-consumer (B2C) companies, is to send SMS notifications.

What Do I Include in a Payment Request?

You want to make it as easy as possible for your clients to take action and make a payment. Don’t ask them to go hunting around for an invoice or purchase order number. Instead, provide them with exactly what they need in the payment request. When you set up the specifics of the payment reminder, make sure that the email subject line or SMS text clearly express that the content is about a payment reminder from your company. It should include important details such as any identifying information. More importantly, provide a link with option to process their payment online. If the client has been procrastinating the payment, you might cut as many steps as possible to make it happen!