Best Practices
Steal these three payment request SMS templates
Wondering how to remind your clients to pay you on time? Use these payment request SMS templates.
Your business runs on payments. Most of the time, everything goes smoothly. But what happens when it doesn’t?
In those cases, you send your client a reminder and a request for payment. This is where payment request SMS messages can make your life easier. We’ll show you how.
But first一what is a payment request SMS message?
A payment request SMS message is simply a reminder you send to your clients via SMS to make a payment. You can send these at any time before, during, or after a payment is due.
The natural next question is, why use text messages to send these payment requests? Well, everyone wants to be paid on time.
Unlike emails or phone calls, 80% of people check their text notifications within just five minutes of receiving a text. That makes SMS the perfect tool for getting your payment request answered fast.
There’s one common worry everyone has around payment requests: no one wants to sound pushy or rude. Don’t worry about that. We’ve got you covered with a few friendly, easy-to-use payment request SMS templates.
Three outstanding payment request SMS templates
Before we get into the details of why you should send payment reminders via SMS, we’ll give you what you came here for一templates. We’ll also give you the framework behind them so you can put your own spin on your messages.
The golden rule of payment request messages
Above all, make your payment reminder texts short, clear, and friendly. Effective communication is your first priority. Let your client know that their payment is due and give easy-to-follow instructions to help them send it. It’s as simple as that.
Pre-payment reminder
You can send this payment request SMS a few days before the payment due date. We recommend attaching a PDF of the invoice. (This article explains how to send a PDF via text.)
On the due date payment reminder SMS
When your payment is due, you can send a follow-up message. We recommend maintaining a friendly and clear tone and adding a clear call to action.
Overdue payment reminder
This is your first SMS about the invoice being overdue. You’ll want to maintain a firmer tone and make it even more straightforward for a client to settle up.
Why you should choose SMS for payment requests
To understand why texts are a strong choice for sending payment requests, think about why payments come in late.
The reasons given usually sound like this:
“Well, I don’t really answer my phone.”
“Your message probably got lost in my spam folder.”
“I don’t check my email regularly.”
Text messages help you avoid these conversations. That’s mainly because people have their phones on them at all times, and texts are a universal method of communication.
Beyond the high open rates, people respond to texts more often than other message types. The current click-through rate for emails is around 11%. A whopping 30% of people click on a link in an SMS.

You might be wondering how hard text messages are to manage.
There’s more good news. Instead of manually sending every message, SimpleTexting allows you to schedule texts in advance.
You can also use our recurring campaigns feature to send a recurring SMS on a set date if your payments are due on the same day every month.
These automated reminders let you pre-plan your payment request texts and move on to other tasks.
Final thoughts on payment request SMS
Payment requests don’t need to be a stressful task, but they also can’t be ignored. After all, you’re too busy to let past-due payments slow you down.