A professional invoice chasing process has a defined structure. It is not a series of ad hoc emails sent whenever someone gets round to it. It escalates progressively over time, responds to debtor behaviour, and handles the full range of outcomes — payment, dispute, payment plans, information requests, silence — without requiring manual intervention at every step.
The scale of the late payment problem — and what it costs businesses in cash flow and working capital — is covered here:
Why Consistency Matters
Chasing unpaid invoices is one of the most persistent problems facing UK SMEs — and one of the most avoidable.
Why Invoices Go Unpaid
It is tempting to attribute late payment to difficult debtors. Some late payment is deliberate — larger businesses have been known to use extended payment terms as a form of short-term financing, paying later as a matter of policy rather than circumstance.
The Escalation Sequence
A structured escalation sequence is essential — but structure does not mean rigidity. Each escalation should have a minimum time threshold: a follow-up reminder should not go out before a defined number of days have passed. Beyond that threshold, escalation should respond to what the debtor actually does — a debtor who has made a payment commitment, raised a dispute, or requested documentation should not receive the next automated reminder as if nothing has happened. The sequence sets the floor; debtor behaviour determines what happens within it.
Pre-Due Date Reminders
The process starts before an invoice is even overdue. Pre-due date reminders serve two purposes. They ensure that the debtor is aware the invoice payment date is approaching and has the information they need to pay on time; and they establish, from the outset, that your business has a process and intends to follow it.
Many businesses skip this step entirely. A significant proportion of late invoices are late simply because they slipped off the debtor’s radar — pre-due date reminders solve that at almost zero cost.
Stage 1: First Overdue Reminder
Once an invoice becomes overdue, the dynamic changes. The first overdue reminder should be professional and factual — noting the invoice is overdue and what action is required. Tone matters here. Professional but firm is the right register. Apologetic is not.
Stage 2: Follow-Up Reminder
If the invoice remains unpaid after a defined interval and the debtor has not engaged, a follow-up reminder goes out. The tone increases in firmness; the urgency is clearer, and the consequences of non-payment are referenced in a professional manner.
Critically, the follow-up should only trigger if the debtor has not engaged, or not engaged meaningfully. A fixed-schedule email that goes out on a fixed date regardless of what the debtor has said or done is not an intelligent chasing process. If a debtor has responded — acknowledged the invoice, promised payment, requested documentation — the follow-up should adapt accordingly. The distinction between schedule-based and behaviour-based escalation is explored in more detail here:
How Accounts Receivable Automation Changes Invoice Chasing for UK SMEs
A professional invoice chasing process has a defined structure. It is not a series of
ad hoc emails sent whenever someone gets round to it.
Stage 3: Firm Reminder
By this stage, the invoice has been outstanding for several weeks past its due date. The tone should become firmer and more direct, with the outstanding balance and days overdue clearly stated. Such language makes clear that this is a matter that is being actively managed and will not be dropped.
Stage 4: Final Notice
A formal final notice. This is the last step in the chasing process before the matter is escalated to a human decision — whether that is a letter before action, a write-off, or a direct conversation. Legal action, where it becomes necessary, is always a separate decision for the business to make. Your chasing process should handle everything up to that point.
Handling Debtor Replies
Every response from a debtor requires a defined action. A well-run invoice chasing process handles the full range without requiring someone to read every email and decide what to do next:
- A payment commitment — a debtor saying they will pay on a specific date — should be recorded and monitored. If the payment does not arrive, chasing resumes automatically.
- A payment plan — a debtor who cannot pay in full should be offered structured instalments based on defined terms. The plan should be monitored, and chasing should resume if instalments are missed.
- A dispute — if a debtor disputes the balance, chasing should pause immediately and the matter reviewed.
- An information request — if a debtor asks for a copy of an invoice or a contract, it should be fulfilled promptly. Delays in responding to legitimate information requests are a common and avoidable reason for payment delays.
The distinguishing feature of a professional process is that it responds to what the debtor actually does. It is not a fixed schedule of emails that fires regardless of circumstances.
How to Build an Invoice Chasing Process That Runs
Consistently
Step 1: Separate Chasing From Relationship Management
The most important structural decision is who owns the invoice chasing process. It should not be the person managing the client relationship. Client-facing staff — the project manager, the partner, the account director, the consultant — should be kept informed and involved when their client knowledge is genuinely needed, but they should never be responsible for routine chasing.
Step 2: Set Clear Payment Terms and Communicate Them
Payment terms that are not communicated clearly at the outset create ambiguity that debtors exploit — often not deliberately, but because they have not appreciated what is expected. Every invoice and contract should state the payment terms clearly, and every new client engagement should include a discussion of those terms.
Where possible, get payment terms agreed in writing before work begins. It is much easier to chase an invoice that both parties agreed would be paid within 14 days than one where the terms were never discussed.
Step 3: Send Pre-Due Date Reminders
The single easiest improvement most businesses can make to their chasing process is adding pre-due date reminders. Sent three to five working days before an invoice falls due, this reminder ensures the debtor has everything they need to pay — invoice details, payment instructions, contact information — and establishes that your business has a system in place.
According to Xero’s article on beating late payments, small businesses save around 3 hours a week using automated reminders. For most SMEs, pre-due date reminders are the single easiest place to start.
Step 4: Build a Structured Escalation Sequence
Define your escalation stages. How many days after the due date does the first overdue reminder go out? How long to wait before escalating? At what point does the tone become firm? At what point is a final notice issued?
These decisions should be made once and applied consistently. The specific timing matters less than the consistency. A business that chases every invoice with the same approach will get paid faster than one that chases when convenient with varying levels of firmness.
Step 5: Handle Debtor Responses Systematically
Every debtor response type needs a defined action. A payment commitment needs to be recorded and monitored. A payment plan request needs to be evaluated and either accepted or countered. A dispute needs to pause the escalation and trigger a review. An information request needs to be fulfilled promptly.
If any of these responses land in an inbox and require someone to decide what to do next, they will sometimes be handled slowly or not at all. Systematising the response to each type removes this dependency.
Step 6: Review and Improve
A chasing process is not a set-and-forget system. Review it periodically. Is your DSO improving? Are certain clients consistently slow? Are your payment plan terms appropriate? Are there patterns in the disputes you are receiving that point to an upstream problem with billing or delivery?
The data from a well-run chasing process is itself valuable. Use it.
How Automation Changes Invoice Chasing
The six steps above can be implemented manually. In a business with sufficient resource and discipline, they work. The practical challenge for most SMEs is maintaining that consistency over time — through busy periods, staff changes, and the daily pressure of everything else that comes in between.
That is where automation changes the picture. How it works, what it handles, and where humans stay in control is covered here:
How Accounts Receivable Automation Changes Invoice Chasing for UK SMEs
A professional invoice chasing process has a defined structure. It is not a series of
ad hoc emails sent whenever someone gets round to it.
