Five principles before any schedule
- Every reminder carries the link. A reminder that says "please pay invoice 1042" and makes the customer find the invoice is a request; one with a pay button is a transaction. Most of the lift from any sequence comes from this alone.
- Remind before it is late. The best-performing message in almost every sequence is the one sent a few days before the due date, when there is no awkwardness on either side.
- Escalate tone slowly and consequences clearly. Early messages are helpful. Later messages state what happens next and when. Nothing in between should sound annoyed.
- Change channel before you change tone. A customer who has not opened three emails may read one text. A customer who has ignored a text may answer a call. Switching channels recovers more than sharpening words.
- Stop automating at the point where a person should decide. Sequences handle the first thirty days well. After that, someone should look at the account, the history and the amount, and choose between a call, a plan, a write-off or a hand-off.
The schedule
A sequence for standard terms (Net 14 or Net 30) that works for most service businesses. Days are relative to the due date.
| When | Channel | Purpose | Tone |
|---|---|---|---|
| Invoice sent | Email (and text if the customer opted in) | The invoice itself, with the pay link, amount and due date | Neutral |
| Due date minus 3 days | Friendly heads-up: due soon, here is the link | Helpful | |
| Due date | Text if opted in, otherwise email | Due today; one tap to pay | Helpful |
| Due date plus 3 | Past due; assume oversight; offer help | Courteous | |
| Due date plus 7 | Text if opted in, otherwise email | Past due; short; link | Direct |
| Due date plus 14 | Email, and a phone call for larger balances | Overdue; state the late fee if you charge one and the date it applies; offer a payment plan | Firm |
| Due date plus 30 | Email with "final notice" in the subject, plus a call | State the consequence (service pause, collections referral) and the date | Formal |
| Due date plus 45 | Person decides | Call, plan, hold services, refer, or write off |
Adjust spacing to your terms: on Net 7 compress the early steps; on Net 60 stretch them. Skip weekends and send mid-morning in the customer's time zone.
Seven touches over six weeks sounds like a lot, but each one is short, most customers pay after the first two, and the later ones only reach the people who have not responded. The sequence stops the moment the invoice is paid, and every message must check that before sending.
Business customers
For B2B invoices, add two things. Send the invoice to the accounts-payable contact as well as the person who ordered, and include their PO number and your remittance details in every message. And at plus 14, ask a question instead of just reminding: "Is there anything holding this up on your end?" A missing PO, a disputed line item or a wrong address surfaces here, and each is fixed faster by asking than by a fifth reminder.
Email, text or call
| Channel | Strengths | Limits | Use it for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Carries the full invoice, attachments and detail; expected for business; cheap; easy to forward to whoever pays | Open rates fall with each reminder; lands in promotions or spam without authentication | The invoice, the pre-due reminder, the detailed later notices | |
| Text | Read within minutes; the pay link is one tap on the phone the customer is holding; highest response rate of any reminder | Requires consent and carrier registration; short; wrong for detail; feels intrusive if overused | Due-date and plus-7 nudges, one or two per invoice, always with the link |
| Phone call | Uncovers the real reason; can agree a plan on the spot; hard to ignore | Expensive in staff time; no link unless followed by a text | Larger balances at plus 14 and plus 30; always follow with a text or email carrying the link |
| Paper letter | Formal; some customers and some industries expect it | Slow; no link beyond a QR code | Final notice where a paper trail matters |
Text reminders are transactional messages under the TCPA and carrier rules, but they still need the customer's consent and a registered sending number, and they must stay purely about the payment. The details, the consent language and the message templates are in text-to-pay compliance. The deliverability and layout rules for the email side are in invoice email design.
What each message says
Every message has the same skeleton: who you are, which invoice, how much, the link, one sentence of context. The context is the only thing that changes with the stage. Subject lines carry the invoice number and amount so they can be triaged from the inbox list.
Due date minus 3 (email)
Subject: Invoice #1042 for $1,240.00 is due Friday, March 14
Hi Jordan, a quick heads-up that invoice #1042 for the water heater replacement is due on Friday. You can pay online in under a minute: [Pay invoice]. If you have already sent payment, thank you, and please ignore this. Questions about any line? Just reply.
Due date (text)
Northwind Plumbing: Invoice #1042 for $1,240.00 is due today. Pay here: https://pay.northwind.example/i/1042 Reply STOP to opt out.
Plus 3 (email)
Subject: Invoice #1042 ($1,240.00) is now past due
Hi Jordan, invoice #1042 was due on March 14 and we have not received payment yet. It is easy to lose track, so here is the link again: [Pay invoice]. If something about the invoice is not right, or you would like to split it into payments, reply and we will sort it out.
Plus 7 (text)
Northwind Plumbing: Invoice #1042 for $1,240.00 is 7 days past due. Pay in one tap: https://pay.northwind.example/i/1042 or call (302) 555-0142 with any questions.
Plus 14 (email)
Subject: Invoice #1042 ($1,240.00): 14 days overdue
Hi Jordan, invoice #1042 is now two weeks past its due date. Under our terms, a late fee of 1.5% will be added to balances unpaid after March 31. We would rather not add it. You can pay the full amount here: [Pay invoice], or reply to set up a payment plan. If there is a problem with the work or the invoice, please tell us so we can fix it.
Plus 30 (email, final notice)
Subject: Final notice: invoice #1042 ($1,258.60 including late fee)
Jordan, despite several reminders, invoice #1042 remains unpaid 30 days after its due date. The balance is now $1,258.60 including the late fee stated in our terms. If we do not receive payment or hear from you by April 14, the account will be referred to a collections agency, which may affect your credit. We would much prefer to resolve this directly: [Pay invoice], or call (302) 555-0142 to arrange a plan.
Three rules for all of them. State only consequences you will actually apply. Never mention a late fee that is not in the terms the customer agreed to. And keep offering the way out: a call, a plan, a correction.
The other sequence: failed card payments
A customer whose card was declined is not the same as a customer who has not paid. They tried. The sequence for them is shorter, faster and about the card, not the invoice, and it should start the day the payment fails. It applies to subscriptions, installment plans and any card-on-file charge.
| When | What happens | Message |
|---|---|---|
| Day 0 | The charge fails. Classify the decline: hard (card dead), soft (retry later), or needs new card | For hard declines and expired cards: "Your payment of $X for [plan] did not go through because the card on file has expired / was declined. Update your card here: [link]." For soft declines: no message yet; schedule a retry |
| Day 1 to 3 | First automatic retry for soft declines, flagged as a resubmission | If it succeeds: a receipt. If it fails: "We tried again to process $X and the card was declined. Update your card or pay another way: [link]" |
| Day 5 to 7 | Second retry, timed near a payday if possible | Same message by the other channel (text if the first was email) |
| Day 10 | Final retry | "This is our last automatic attempt. To keep your [plan/service] active, update your payment method by [date]: [link]" |
| Day 14 | Stop retrying; pause the service or plan per your terms; hand to a person | A personal email or call |
Retry timing must stay within the network limits; see decline codes explained. Never retry a hard decline.
The message with the update link recovers more than the retries do. Businesses that add it on day 0 for hard declines and day 1 for soft ones typically halve their involuntary churn. The details of which declines to retry and when are in decline codes explained, and the flags a retry must carry are in stored credentials and MITs.
Late fees, prompt-payment discounts and terms
The reminder sequence works better when the terms behind it are clear, and the terms have to be agreed before the sale, not announced afterward.
- Terms on the estimate, the contract and the invoice. Due date, accepted payment methods, the late fee and when it applies, and what happens at 30 and 45 days. A customer who signed those has no argument at plus 14.
- Late fees. Common practice is 1 to 1.5 percent per month on the overdue balance, or a flat fee on small invoices. State law caps interest and late charges, and the caps differ for consumer and commercial debts, so check the limit where your customers are before setting one. A late fee you never actually apply still helps, because it gives the plus-14 message something concrete to say; a late fee applied inconsistently generates disputes.
- Prompt-payment discounts. "2% 10, net 30" (a 2 percent discount for paying within ten days) is an old B2B tool that still works, and costs less than the reminders it replaces. Show both amounts on the invoice.
- Shorter terms. Net 14 collects faster than Net 30 with no measurable loss of customers for most service businesses. Due on receipt works for completed work with the customer present; send the link before you leave.
- Deposits and autopay. A deposit at booking and a card or bank account on file for the balance remove the invoice from the reminder sequence altogether; see payment plans that collect themselves.
The numbers that show it working
| Metric | How to compute | What good looks like |
|---|---|---|
| Paid before due | Invoices paid on or before the due date, divided by invoices issued | Above 60% for consumer services with a pre-due reminder and a link; lower for B2B with formal AP cycles |
| Days sales outstanding (DSO) | Receivables balance divided by average daily credit sales | Within a week of your stated terms. DSO of 45 on Net 14 terms means the sequence or the terms are not working |
| Reminders per paid invoice | Reminder messages sent divided by invoices paid | Falling over time as pre-due reminders and autopay take effect |
| Recovery by stage | Share of eventually-paid invoices that paid after each reminder | Most after the first two; if most pay after the final notice, the early messages are being ignored: check deliverability and the link |
| Over 60 days | Balance more than 60 days past due, as a share of receivables | Under 5%. Above that, the person-decides step is not happening |
| Failed-payment recovery | Failed card charges eventually collected, divided by failed charges | Above 60% with an update link on day 0 and a retry schedule |
Review these monthly. The pattern to look for is not the absolute numbers but the stage at which money arrives: a healthy sequence collects early and quietly, and the final notices go to a handful of accounts a month.
When to stop, and what to do instead
Automation should stop at plus 45 and a person should choose. The choices, roughly in order of preference:
- Call. A five-minute call at this stage recovers more than any message, and reveals whether the problem is money, a dispute or a missing contact.
- Offer a plan. A balance that cannot be paid today can usually be paid in three or four installments, with a card or bank account on file so the plan runs itself.
- Pause service where your terms allow and the relationship is continuing.
- Small claims court for balances within the local limit (typically a few thousand dollars) where the customer is reachable and the paperwork is clean.
- A collections agency for balances large enough to justify the 25 to 50 percent contingency fee, understanding that referral usually ends the customer relationship.
- Write it off, record why, and check whether the onboarding step (deposit, terms, card on file) that would have prevented it is in place.
Whatever the choice, stop the automated messages. A final notice followed by three more automated reminders undermines both.
Where FloPay fits
FloPay customer messaging runs reminder schedules on your terms, by email and by consented text, each message carrying the hosted pay link for that invoice, and stops the moment the invoice is paid. Failed card-on-file charges trigger the update-your-card sequence automatically, and decline recovery handles the retries within the network rules. Replies land in a two-way inbox so "can I split this?" gets answered, and installment plans turn that answer into a plan with a card or bank account on file.
Reminders that carry the link and stop when paid
FloPay sends email and text reminders on your schedule, each with the hosted pay link, handles failed-card sequences automatically, and puts replies in a two-way inbox.
See Customer Messaging