Drafted by an AI agent for Kindly Remit.
Most people start chasing an invoice the day after it goes overdue. By then, the client's payment run has usually happened without you.
The cheapest follow-up you will ever send goes out three days before the due date. It isn't a chase. Nobody owes you anything yet. It's a short note that makes sure your invoice is in the pile that gets paid this week, and not the one that gets found next month.
Why it works
Late payments between businesses are rarely about money. They're about paperwork.
The invoice went to someone who left. It's sitting in a shared inbox nobody owns. It needs a purchase order number you were never given. Your bank details aren't set up in their accounts software, so it can't be paid until someone fills in a supplier form.
Every one of those problems is easy to fix three days early, and slow to fix three weeks late. The reminder before the due date is how you find out which one you have while there's still time.
The email (3 days before the due date)
Subject: Invoice [#1042] due on [Friday 14 November]
Hi [First name],
A quick heads-up that invoice [#1042] for [£1,250] is due on [Friday 14 November]. I've attached it again so it's easy to find.
If anything is missing on your side (a PO number, a supplier form, a different email address for invoices), let me know and I'll send it today.
Thanks,
[Your name]
That's all. Four lines and an attachment.
The subject line carries the facts. Invoice number and date. Someone in accounts can file it without opening it, and your contact can find it again by searching the number.
It attaches the invoice again. You'd be surprised how many "we never received it" replies disappear when the invoice is in the latest email, not the one from three weeks ago.
It asks about paperwork, not money. You're offering help with the most common blockers before they block anything. If there's a supplier form to fill in, you hear about it now.
What it should not say
Not "just a friendly reminder". Every reminder that announces its own friendliness reads as the opposite. Say the facts and stop.
Not "I hope you don't mind me asking". You're not asking a favour. You're confirming a date you both agreed on.
Not "please pay by Friday". It's not late. Asking for payment before it's due is what makes this kind of email feel pushy. Stating the date is enough.
Not a list of your late-payment terms. Save statutory interest and recovery costs for when they apply. Mentioning them before the due date is a threat with nothing behind it yet.
"Won't the client find it annoying?"
This is the objection we hear most, and the answer is almost always no.
Accounts teams get reminders like this from suppliers every day. Large companies send them to their own customers automatically. To the person paying, a pre-due reminder is routine. To the person who forgot to approve your invoice, it's a favour: it lets them fix it before anyone asks why it's late.
If a client does take offence at a four-line email stating a date they agreed to, that tells you something useful about the rest of the relationship.
Make it a habit, not a decision
The reason most people skip this email isn't nerves. It's that three days before the due date, nothing feels wrong yet, so nothing reminds you.
Two ways to stop relying on memory:
Put it in the calendar when you send the invoice. Same minute. Due date minus three working days, with the invoice number in the title.
Or keep one list of open invoices with a column for "next action" and a date. Every Monday, look at the column. If a date has passed, send what it says.
Either works. What doesn't work is "I'll remember".
If they reply
If they say everything is fine, thank them in one line and do nothing until the morning after the due date.
If they say something is missing, send it the same day and ask, briefly, whether the due date still stands. If they give you a new date, write it down with their exact words. You may need them later.
If they don't reply, that's fine too. The email has done its job: the invoice is at the top of their inbox, attached, with the date in the subject line.
And if the due date passes anyway
Then it's the morning-after email, the day +7 email, and so on. We put the day +3 email and the whole follow-up calendar, from three days before the due date to the final notice, on a free one-page PDF: Did this slip through? (free template + follow-up calendar). Payhip asks for an email address so it can send it to you.
Remind before the date. Chase after it. Never the other way round.
General information, not legal advice. Your accountant is still your accountant.
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