Free template
EmailFriendly payment reminder
For a long-standing customer who is rarely late, the standard ladder can feel heavy-handed at step one. This variant trades a little firmness for warmth while keeping the essentials: the specific invoice, the amount, and a link. Warmth is in the framing, never in vagueness; a reminder that is too shy to name the amount is not a reminder.
Subject: Quick one from {{business_name}}: invoice {{invoice_number}}
Hi {{customer_name}},
Hope things are going well. A quick one from our side: invoice {{invoice_number}} for {{amount_due}} was due on {{due_date}} and hasn't landed with us yet.
No drama at all, these things drift. If it's already moving, ignore me entirely.
If not, here's the fastest way to settle it: {{payment_url}}
Thanks as ever,
{{business_name}}When to use it
- Reliable customers having an off month, where the relationship outweighs the float
- Small balances where a firm tone would be disproportionate
- Not more than once per invoice; if it fails, return to the standard ladder
Getting the tone right
- Warm but specific: invoice number, amount and date are non-negotiable
- One send only; repeating a soft reminder teaches customers it is ignorable
- If they are late three months running, the kind thing is actually the firm ladder
The merge fields, explained
Placeholders in double braces fill from the invoice when Duebay sends this template; replace them by hand if you are pasting it into your own email client.
- {{customer_name}}
- The billing contact's name
- {{business_name}}
- Your business name (the sender)
- {{invoice_number}}
- The invoice reference
- {{amount_due}}
- Outstanding balance, formatted (e.g. $1,250.00)
- {{due_date}}
- The invoice due date
- {{days_overdue}}
- Whole days past the due date
- {{payment_url}}
- Online payment link, if you have one
- {{portal_url}}
- The customer's statement page
In Duebay the payment line is conditional: it renders only when the invoice has a payment link, so an invoice without one never says "pay online here:" followed by nothing. The copies below have that line included and the conditional markers removed, so they paste straight into an email client.
Adjacent rungs of the ladder
Put this template on autopilot
This is a live Duebay template: sequences send the ladder on schedule, log every send, and stop when the invoice is paid.