Chasing an unpaid invoice is the email agency owners put off longest, because the client is also the relationship. Your invoicing tool can send a reminder, but its reminder sounds like a robot and lands in a billing inbox nobody reads. A short note from you to the person who hired you works better, if you remember to send it.
Here are the three reminders, the timing, and the log, then how Tensor Autonomous drafts them for you so that remembering is no longer the job.
Timing
- Due date + 3: a friendly check. Assume it slipped.
- Due date + 10: a direct ask with the amount and a date.
- Due date + 20: a formal notice: what happens next, still polite.
The second and third exist so the first can be gentle.
Day 3
Subject: Invoice 2041 for September
Hi Sam, a quick note that invoice 2041 for September's work ($4,200) was due on the 3rd. If it is already on its way, thank you and ignore this. If anything about it needs changing, let me know and I will sort it out today.
Day 10
Subject: Invoice 2041: $4,200 outstanding
Hi Sam, following up on invoice 2041 ($4,200), now ten days past due. Could you let me know when we can expect payment? If a different due date or a split payment would help this month, I am happy to arrange it. The invoice and payment link are below.
Day 20
Subject: Invoice 2041: final reminder before we pause work
Hi Sam, invoice 2041 ($4,200) is now twenty days past due and I have not heard back. Under our agreement we pause new work when an invoice passes thirty days, which would be the 3rd. I would much rather not; please pay or reply by the 1st so we can keep things on schedule.
Say the consequence once, in your agreement's words, with a date. Do not threaten in the first two emails.
The log
| Invoice | Client | Amount | Due | +3 sent | +10 sent | +20 sent | Paid | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2041 | Harbor Street Co. | $4,200 | Oct 3 | Oct 6 | Asked about split payment |
The log is what lets you be gentle: you know exactly how many times you have asked.
Tensor drafts the reminders
There is no Library starter for overdue invoices yet, so this is a responsibility you describe in your own words, which is how any job without a starter begins: "Read the invoices sheet; for any invoice 3, 10 or 20 days past due with no payment recorded, draft the matching reminder to the client contact in my words, with the invoice number and amount, and note the date in the sheet." Then put it on a schedule: weekdays at 8am, in your time zone.
From then on:
- Each scheduled run reads the sheet and finds the invoices that have crossed a reminder date.
- It drafts each reminder in your Gmail, in your words, with the invoice's details filled in. Nothing is sent by Tensor. You read, soften or sharpen, and send, so the message to the person who hired you stays yours. Each run's drafts and sheet changes wait for your approval unless you have set limits that cover them; sending never runs without asking.
- It fills in the sent date on the invoice's row.
- Every run leaves a receipt: the sheet it read, the drafts it made and the rows it wrote, read back and compared.
Marking an invoice paid is yours (or your invoicing tool's); Tensor reads the sheet, it does not read your bank. It does not promise a payment plan either; where a client asks for one, the draft says you will come back to them, and the question is in front of you.
Today this works in Gmail and Google Sheets. Microsoft 365 comes later.
Where to start
- Tensor for marketing and B2B agencies: the agency starters, and how to describe your own.
- Try it live on sample data. Plans from $149 a month.
Related reading
- How to follow up on a proposal without nagging
- Automated approval: what should run by itself, and what should wait for you
- Google Sheets automation for CRM and records
See it in a demo
Watch Tensor do a sample task (log an order, book an appointment or answer a rental inquiry), wait for your approval and hand you the receipt.