When to chase an unpaid invoice

An average reminder sent at the right time recovers more invoices than a perfectly worded reminder sent at the wrong time. Buyers move through their own approval queues on a calendar, not on the basis of how strong an email feels. The job of timing is to land your message inside their decision window — not before, when it gets parked, and not after, when it gets buried.

The single highest-leverage moment is the first 72 hours past the due date. A short, friendly reminder here recovers a large share of overdue invoices because most are simply lost in an inbox. Owners who skip this window because 'it feels too soon' lose the easiest recovery they would ever get.

A week past due is when silence stops being neutral. Send a personal message — ideally from the person who did the work — and ask for a specific payment date. This is also the right moment for a short phone call or voice note for less formal relationships.

Two to three weeks past due is the natural moment for the firm reminder. The invoice has clearly aged through one full approval cycle and is now actively overdue, not just slow. This is also when you stop new work for the same customer until the balance is cleared.

After thirty days, the in-house cadence is winding down. A final notice goes out somewhere between day +30 and +45 with a clear deadline and named next step. After the deadline, sending more reminders is rarely productive — the value is in switching channels (phone, registered post) or moving to external recovery.

A consultant has a $2,200 invoice due 1 May. Day +2 (3 May): friendly reminder. Day +8 (9 May): personal note. Day +17 (18 May): firm reminder, work paused. Day +35 (5 June): final notice with a 7-day deadline. By day +42, either the invoice is paid or it moves to external recovery. Five contacts over six weeks — not five contacts in one week. That spacing is what makes each one count.