90% of all text messages are read within 180 seconds.
That statistic is mind-blowing, especially when you compare it to the average email open rate of 24%.
If you were in marketing, the success rate of text messages as a form of communicating to your clients would have you foaming at the mouth.
To make it even more enticing, here’s another one you should know.
Over half of all consumers say that texting is their preferred method of communication with businesses.
All of these statistics make a lot of sense, just based on self-reflection of my habits with my phone. I wake up every morning and turn off my alarm, which I set on my smartphone. Of course, in the same motion, I go through any of the notifications that I might’ve missed while I was asleep. Then, I practically jump to my phone throughout the day anytime I hear a chime signifying a new message.
Maybe I’m a little too attached. Yet, I’d still wager to bet that the relationship and/or routine you have with your phone isn’t that much different.
Our mobile devices are such an important part of our life now that we open 81% of our emails on them. Of course, they’re also part of the reason why there’s been a deterioration in our mental health, but that’s a different story.
If you aren’t excited about texting by now, after I threw all of those awesome statistics at you, I don’t know what else I can do for you.
The point I’m trying to make with all of them is that texting isn’t just a viable option for your business, it’s something you can’t afford to miss out on.
Sure, I’ve only highlighted its use for marketers thus far. However, texting’s value goes far beyond trying to convince your clients to purchase your products and/or services. They’re also useful in trying to collect from those who’ve already purchased from you and haven’t paid you.
To be more specific, 86% of businesses say that communicating to their clients via text increases engagement.
I could sit here for the rest of this blog post and continue to try to convince you on why you should incorporate texting into your business practices. But I think you’re on board by now.
Instead what I’m going to do is provide you with payment reminder text message samples that are practically guaranteed to boost your collections.
Table of Contents
Important: Texting Compliance
Before I provide you with a barrage of effective text messages, I need to cover texting compliance. Naturally, there has to be some regulation put in place to protect the consumer so that they aren’t inundated with business SMS.
In a world where businesses rule, you could just start texting your clients right away. They are your clients after all. However, that’s not how it works.
The truth is, your clients have to opt-in and consent to receive text messages from your organization. Thus, the scenario where you text them a business SMS as if it were their birthday and you’re a distant relative isn’t allowed.
This requirement comes from the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA). It states that businesses must have “express written consent” before sending their clients any type of text message. It’s also important to know that the written consent cannot exist hidden within an almanac of legalese. It needs to be clear, concise and straightforward so that your clients know what they’re signing up for.
Pretending that this law doesn’t exist will eventually result in a TCPA violation. Not good.
You have nothing to worry about as long as…
You ask your clients if they would like to hear from you via text
They know what type of information to expect from you
They give consent
You offer a clear way to opt out
Given all of the statistics, I provided in the introduction to this blog post, getting your clients to opt-in to receive SMS messages from you shouldn’t be too difficult.
With that, let’s get into the payment reminder text message samples.
Double-Opt-In After Purchase
Of course, the first set of samples I have for you deals with opt-ins, especially after the section I just covered.
More specifically, the examples I’m about to provide are a form of double-opt-in. If you’re familiar with email marketing principles, this is the same idea. If you’re not, don’t worry...I’m going to explain it either way.
A double opt-in acts as a reminder to subscribers that they gave consent to receive messages from your organization.
Let’s say you run an artisan soap shop. Your marketing consultant friend told you that you need to utilize texting. After setting everything up, you decided that you’re going to ask patrons if they would like to receive SMS messages from you at check out and as an online form.
When a customer tells you that they’re interested, you add them to your list of subscribers and they receive a welcoming message on their phone. That sounds like a nice experience, right? That message explaining how excited your organization is to be in contact with them is a double-opt-in.
As the artisan soap shop owner, it acts as a pleasant way to engage your customers after they’ve left your shop. On the customer’s side, they’re happy that they opted-in because you’ve reassured them that this texting relationship is on their terms.
So, what should your double opt-in payment reminder text messages look like?
Welcoming Double-Opt-In
Hello [First Name] welcome to our payment reminder SMS service. We’ll provide you with periodic updates about your balance with us. Text STOP at any time to opt-out of this service.
Options Double-Opt-In
Thank you for opting in to stay in contact with us at [Company Name]. If you would like to receive promotional messages respond with the word PROMO. To receive updates on your purchases and payment reminders, respond with BILL. Text STOP to no longer receive this type of message from us.
Teamwork Double-Opt-In
Hi [First Name] thank you for letting us text you. We’ll only let you know of updates to your accounts balance. Think of us as your trusty assistant! Text STOP at any time and I won’t text anymore.
One Month Before Payment is Due
If you’re interested in sending payment reminder text messages to your clients, odds are you’re following the industry standard of setting a 30-day due date.
There’s also a good chance that you provide invoicing and that you include dunning messages in those invoices to keep your clients up to date over the mail.
This type of text message isn’t that much different from a dunning message, only you have fewer characters to work with since texting is usually brief.
In other words, kick off your payment reminder text message campaign with a message that reiterates that the client’s balance is due in 30 days. For these, it might not hurt to get creative and use emojis.
Brief One Month Before Due
[First Name] your current balance with us is [Amount Due]. You have until [Due Date] to pay us. Click here to pay [Payment Link]
Brief One Month Before Due
Hi [First Name], we hope you’re enjoying the [Service/Item Purchased] that you purchased from us on [Purchase Date]. I wanted to briefly remind you that your balance of [Amount Due] is due on [Due Date]. Click this link to pay [Payment Link]
Emoji One Month Before Due
[First Name] you rock 🤘 for purchasing our [Service/Item Purchased]. Please send your payment of [Amount Due] to use by [Due Date]. Click this link to pay 👉 [Payment Link]
One Week Before Payment is Due
The volume of messages you send doesn’t need to be overwhelming. Yes, you want your clients to pay you and satisfy their outstanding balance with you. However, bombarding them with reminders isn’t going to help you, it’ll cause adverse effects.
Since you have to make it clear to your clients how to opt-out of receiving text messages from you, you have to pay particular attention to how much information you’re sending them.
Incorporating SMS into your experience is effective, no doubt. But, as Uncle Ben from Spider-Man said, “With great power comes great responsibility.”
In other words, the next time you contact your client regarding their outstanding balance after the first time is three weeks later, one week before their payment is due.
Brief One Week Before Due
[First Name], your payment is due in 7 days. Please click this link to pay off your balance [Payment Link].
Friendly One Week Before Due
Hello [First Name], this is a reminder that your balance of [Amount Due] is due in 7 days. Our online payment portal is super easy to use! Click this link to pay [Payment Link]
Emoji One Week Before Due
Hi 👋 [First Name], we still haven’t received a payment for [Service/Item Purchased]. That’s OK, you still have 7 days left before it’s due 😅. If you want to pay off your balance early, click this link 👉 [Payment Link]
One Day Before Payment is Due
I know what you’re saying. After just talking about how important it is to not spam your text message opt-ins, this section suggests sending a reminder the day before payment is due.
Both are important, but I suggest only using one or the other. If you sent any of the example messages from the previous section, 7 days before, you can skip this section.
If you think it’ll be more impactful if you send your second reminder the day before your clients’ balance is due, then use the following examples.
The only other foreseeable problem when it comes to sending these messages 48 hours beforehand is that the next section suggests sending within the 24-hour window as well. If you don’t see that as a problem, then you have nothing to worry about.
Brief One Day Before
[First Name], your payment with us is due tomorrow. Please pay off your balance by clicking this link [Payment Link]
Friendly One Day before
Hello again [First Name], you have 24 hours to pay off your balance with us. I’ve sent you a few reminders, but they might’ve fallen through the cracks. That’s OK! You can visit our payment portal to satisfy your account by clicking here [Payment Link]
Emoji One Day Before Due
[First Name], you only have 🕛24 hours🕛 before your balance is due. We accept all major payment methods online 💳. Click this link - [Payment Link]
On The Day Payment is Due
The next option available for you in your quest to collect payment via text messaging is to send your outstanding clients another text on their due date.
If they’ve been quiet all along at this point and haven’t opted out, you should capitalize on that. Call me biased but if I were in their shoes, I would want to receive a notification on the day that my payment is due.
They may have forgotten every text message you’ve sent them at this point because they’ve been busy. To combat that, send them this message at a different time than you have the other two. Maybe you’ve caught them at a time when they didn’t have a chance to respond because they were in the middle of a work meeting and forgot by the time they got out.
Either way, sending a message on the day that payment is due is a good idea.
Brief Due Date
Your payment of [Amount Due] is due. Please click the following link and pay the balance owed by the end of the day - [Payment Link]
Friendly Due Date
Hi again [First Name], unfortunately, we haven’t received any payment from you yet for your balance of [Amount Due]. Your balance is due today, please visit our online portal to satisfy your account - [Payment Link]
Emoji Due Date
Today is the day 📅! Your payment with us is due. Please visit this link to satisfy your balance 🙌 - [Payment Link]
One Month After Payment is Due
If you’ve gone through your entire payment reminder text message campaign and still haven’t had any luck getting your clients to satisfy their balance with you, you’re not done yet.
You can’t give up if the account has stayed silent. Sure, at some point the cost of the effort spent trying to collect on your outstanding balances outweighs what’s owed. But, the beauty of text messaging is that it doesn’t require a lot of effort on your end.
They’re brief messages in nature and oftentimes you can set them up to automatically go out beforehand and continue until the client satisfies their balance.
The point I’m trying to make is that you should consider continuing to send text messages to overdue accounts.
Brief One Month Overdue
Your balance of [Amount Due] is 30 days overdue. To satisfy your account, click this link - [Payment Link]
Friendly One Month Overdue
Your balance of [Amount Due] is 30 days overdue. To satisfy your account, click this link - [Payment Link]
Emoji One Month Overdue
⚠️Your account is 30 days overdue ⚠️ You can pay your balance by clicking this link - [Payment Link].
Payment Received and Confirmation
So far I’ve only focused on effective payment reminder text messages. It’s an inherently negative topic, they’re all assuming that your clients haven’t paid you for over 60 days. Yuck!
Collecting from your clients isn’t always difficult. Sometimes they’ll pay you the moment you remind them. Or, maybe they need a little bit of a nudge.
In any case, you should have a payment confirmation text message queued up that’s triggered the moment your opted-in clients satisfy their balance.
Brief Payment Confirmation
You’ve paid [Amount Paid] to your [Company Name] account. No further action is necessary.
Friendly Brief Payment Confirmation
We’ve received your payment of [Amount Paid]! Thank you for being a valued client of [Company Number]
Emoji One Month Overdue
🎉Payment confirmed! 🎉 Thank you.
Conclusion
Communicating to your clients via text messages is a semi-new concept. It’s only been around for around 20 years, yet it’s an extremely successful collections avenue to pursue.
If the statistics I pointed out at the beginning of this blog post hold true (they do), your clients want you to text them.
Use that fact to your advantage and communicate to them the status of their balance. From their perspective, you’re providing a customer-centric experience. Meanwhile, you’re shortening your day’s sales outstanding (DSO) because texting has such a high open rate.
