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Email is a tool that most of us use on a daily basis. But, with digital communication becoming the norm for commerce, email has been left behind in terms of e-commerce and payment systems. With the help of this list you can make your emails more powerful by including real time payments (digital goods or services) from customers directly to you without friction.,
The “how do you politely ask for payment via email” is a question that many people have. This article will provide three professional email templates to use in asking for payment from your customers.
You should specify the amount owing, the payment due date, and the allowed payment methods, such as check or credit card, when sending a payment reminder to a customer. We suggest that you seek payment within 24 to 48 hours after completion of the service and, most importantly, keep all conversations with your client professional but courteous.
Templates that Make It Easier to Request Payment in an Email
We’ve designed three professional email templates for three frequent scenarios: asking for money before you start a task, asking after payment is complete, and an email template for a past due invoice. It’s critical to seem professional when sending a payment reminder email. You should construct a business email address if your email address begins with an outdated moniker or finishes with @hotmail.com. Take a look at our comprehensive guide on selecting a professional email address.
Below are three professional email templates for you to download:
Inquiring about payment by email
Asking a client for payment may be difficult, and the way you ask can make all the difference in whether you’re able to collect the money you’re due. It may also have a significant impact on your ability to retain clients in the future. When you need to ask your consumers for money, you usually fall into one of three circumstances, each of which requires a different approach.
The following are three examples of how to request money from your consumers in an email:
1. Before You Start a Job, Ask for Payment in an Email
If you offer services, you should need a 50% or more payment before beginning the task. If you sell things, you should demand full payment before shipping them to the consumer.
Before issuing a payment reminder, double-check that you’ve informed the consumer that a deposit is required up front. The consumer will not be taken off guard by the email this manner. When your consumer has consented to have you supply the products or services, you should conduct this dialogue. If you offer quotes or proposals to consumers, the advance deposit should be included in such papers as well.
Send this email as soon as your customer approves the estimate or quotation or orally agrees to allow you do the task.
The following information should be included in this email:
- The entire cost of the project
- The amount of the necessary deposit
- The deadline has passed. for the remaining balance
- Depending on your scenario, specific wording that states, “Work will commence after the deposit has been paid or when complete payment has been received.”
- Methods of payment accepted include cheque and credit card.
- Instructions for making a payment
- If there are any questions, please include your contact information.
- Please provide a copy of the invoice.
Download and personalize the How to Ask for Payment in an Email Before Starting a Job template.
2. Requesting Payment After Work Is Completed
You should send payment reminders between 24 to 48 hours after completing a task. The longer you delay, the longer you will have to wait for payment. If you don’t make it a priority, your consumers won’t either. If you’re using an invoicing program like FreshBooks, be sure to send the invoice straight from the program so it can follow its progress for you. If you prefer to utilize Word or manually write invoices, you may alter the template below and send it to your client along with the invoice.
The following information should be included in this email:
- The total amount owed
- The deadline has passed.
- Methods of payment accepted include cheque and credit card.
- Instructions for making a payment
- If there are any questions, please include your contact information.
- “Thank you for your business,” and “I look forward to working with you in the future,” are examples of specific language.
- Please provide a copy of the invoice.
Download and personalize the How to Ask for Payment in an Email When Work Is Complete template.
3. Politely requesting payment that is past due
This is arguably the most difficult of the three sorts of emails we’ve covered to send. Keep in mind, though, that your consumers are just like you, and that most of the time, they have just forgotten to submit payment. While it’s easy to lose your cool, if you want to be paid, the first rule is to retain your cool.
The following information should be included in this email:
- The total amount owed
- The deadline has passed.
- Methods of payment accepted include cheque and credit card.
- Instructions for making a payment
- If there are any questions, please include your contact information.
- “We did not get a response to our email date 05/24/20xx,” for example, is specific phrasing that refers to earlier efforts to collect money.
- Include a copy of any earlier email(s) that were sent.
- Please provide a copy of the invoice.
Customize the past due invoice email template by downloading it.
It’s time to contact your customer if you haven’t received a response after sending a couple of emails. Always be kind and give your consumer the benefit of the doubt. It’s possible that you’ve entered the incorrect email address or that your emails have ended up in the spam bin. It’s critical to have open channels of communication.
If you are able to reach your customer and they are unable to pay you, give them the option of a payment plan. Document the agreed-upon plan and have your customer acknowledge it via email or with a signature. Stay on top of The deadline has passed.s of the payment plan to ensure that your customer is living up to the agreement.
The Collections Methodology
If all other methods of collecting money by email fail, you’ll have to turn to a more official collection approach. This will need mailing written collection letters. We recommend contacting a collection agency if you have not received money after the fourth collection letter. Check out our free tutorial on How to Write a Collection Letter, which includes free templates and advice on how to prevent future money collection troubles.
The Advantages of Purchasing Invoicing Software
Investing in invoicing software like FreshBooks is one approach to make it simpler to ask for money or reduce payment request emails. You can remain on top of invoice due dates using FreshBooks, which should cut down on the amount of emails you have to send to seek payment. A screenshot of a FreshBooks dashboard that displays bills categorized by their state, such as late, outstanding, or in draft, is shown below.
A screenshot of open invoices from a FreshBooks-created firm, Paul’s Plumbing.
FreshBooks has a few options that can assist you automate payment reminders, which are listed below:
- Track invoice status: You may email your invoices straight from FreshBooks, and it will track when the client has seen the invoice and completed an online payment.
- Allow consumers to pay their bills online with a credit card by turning on FreshBooks Payments; making a payment will be as simple as clicking a payment button.
- Set up automatic reminders: You can create up to three automatic payment reminder emails in FreshBooks; the first reminder can be a certain number of days before the invoice due date; I recommend that you then create the other two reminders to go out seven days after The deadline has passed. and then two weeks later if payment still has not been made
- Apply automatic late payment fees: You can have FreshBooks automatically apply late payment fees to an invoice after it has been past due for a certain number of days; typically, if the customer pays you, you can always waive the late payment fees, especially if you want to work with the customer on future projects.
- Create recurring invoices: For customers who pay you on a regular basis — weekly, monthly, or quarterly — you can schedule their invoices to be sent out on a specific date. For example, if you collect rent and it’s due on the first of every month, you can schedule all invoices to be sent out to tenants a few days before the first.
Using an example business file, a sample invoice was made in FreshBooks.
A example invoice sent to a client from a hypothetical sample business file, Paul’s Plumbing, is shown above.
- The Pay Now button will display in the top right-hand corner when you enable the online payment function, as seen in the picture above. To pay the invoice, your client must choose a payment option and provide his or her payment information.
- This text box enables your client to add a remark to the invoice you’ll be receiving. They may ask you a question or express gratitude for a job well done without ever leaving FreshBooks.
Setting up regular reminders and recurring invoices guarantees that there is no pause between when a work is finished and when payment is requested. Furthermore, by allowing clients to pay their bills online, you will get money quicker and save time that would otherwise be spent sending emails and letters to seek payment.
Advice on How to Avoid Payment Collection Problems
If you’ve been in business long enough, you’ll eventually run across a consumer who refuses to pay you. This ought to be the exception rather than the norm. While you may not be able to totally prevent a client payment collection problem, there are a few more best practices we advocate in addition to investing in invoicing software.
Here are seven suggestions for avoiding money collecting problems:
Run a credit check first.
If you have a new client who you would like to extend credit to, check their Dun & Bradstreet credit report. It costs $121.99 to pull a single report, but being able to offer the right terms to a big client could help you land a big client or avoid a giant headache. Check out our complete Dun & Bradstreet Credit Report guide for more details.
2. Examine the A/R Aging Report.
The accounts receivable (A/R) aging report categorizes all outstanding customer bills into four categories: 0-30 Days, 31-60 Days, 61-90 Days, and Over 90 Days. Take a few minutes at the beginning of each week to go through this report and see what bills are due in the following few weeks. You should be able to run this report in a matter of minutes if you use FreshBooks or similar invoicing software.
If you don’t utilize invoicing software, you may make this report in Excel or Word to keep track of open bills. Be a strategy to follow up through email or phone, and make sure to keep track of your actions. If you ever need to employ a collection agency to collect money on your behalf, you’ll need this information.
For additional information on how this report works, see our A/R Aging guide.
3. Provide payment terms with a discount if you pay early.
Consider giving clients a discount if they pay their bills on time. Early payment discounts normally range from 1% to 5%, and payment must be made within 10 days of the invoice date. You’d be shocked how many people would take advantage of this offer.
By providing this sort of discount, you will be able to reduce the number of days it takes you to be paid by nearly a third, allowing you to keep a positive cash flow. Learn how to provide early payment discounts to your clients by reading our Early Payment Discount tutorial.
4. Always put out your best effort
To prevent providing your consumer an excuse to not pay you later, fix concerns as soon as possible. Most essential, before sending a payment request email, double-check that the task is completely finished.
5. Make Payment Terms Clear
Before you begin work, double-check that you have disclosed payment conditions to your client orally and in writing. This should happen at the first meeting, and the terms should be written down in a quote, estimate, or proposal that your client signs. For best practices for arranging payment terms for your company, see our article on Best Invoice Payment Terms.
6. Send Payment Reminder Emails Right Away
Within 24 to 48 hours after you have completed the job, send your customer an invoice to request payment. Make sure The deadline has passed. and acceptable payment methods are included on the invoice.
7. Be approachable yet firm.
Maintain a nice but strong tone in all conversations with your client so that they understand you are serious about being paid.
Final Thoughts
We’ve shared a number of best practices and provided you with templates to address the three primary stages of Inquiring about payment by email. Now, it’s time to implement the information that we have shared with you into your customer billing process.
In this article, you will learn how to ask for payment in an email. You will also get 3 professional email templates that you can use. Reference: how to ask for payment in message.
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