Small Business & Freelance · Web
PoliteNudge: a freelance invoice follow up tool that sounds like you
Chase the invoice without sounding like a collections notice.
PoliteNudge is a freelance invoice follow up tool for solo freelancers and small studios who hate writing the chasing email. It schedules three reminders in your own wording, stops the moment an invoice is paid, and never mentions collections.
Waitlist Not built yet Updated 5 September 2026
What problem does PoliteNudge solve?
The invoice went out the day you finished the work. Net thirty came and went. Now it is week six, the client is friendly, the project might continue, and every draft of the email you write reads as either apologetic or aggressive. So you leave it another week, which is how a small unpaid invoice turns into an awkward one. The cost is not only the money. It is the tab left open in your head while you work on something else, the arithmetic about rent, and the quiet discount you apply to the next quote because you would rather not have this conversation twice. Meanwhile the person who owes you is not refusing to pay. Your invoice is sitting in a shared inbox behind a purchase order number nobody attached, or it went to a project manager who has left, or it needs a signature from someone on holiday. None of that resolves itself, and none of it is visible from your side of the email.
Reminder email generator
Client, invoice, amount, and tone in; a copy-ready reminder email out. Three tones, no threats.
Free to use. No account. Nothing you type here is stored.
What would PoliteNudge do?
PoliteNudge would hold your unpaid invoices and send the follow-ups you would have written if the week had been quieter. You paste or import an invoice, pick a tone, and read the three drafts: a short nudge, a firmer note that restates your terms, and a final message asking for a payment date and naming the next step you chose. Every one is editable, and nothing goes out until you approve the sequence. Sending stops the moment you mark the invoice paid. Subject lines carry the invoice number so the message survives a shared inbox, and each email quotes the amount, the issue date, and the due date rather than making anyone look them up. You would see one list, ordered by how long each invoice has waited, with no shame colors.
How would it work?
- 1Import unpaid invoices from a CSV, or paste the client, the amount, and the dates.
- 2Pick a tone and edit the three drafts until they sound like you wrote them.
- 3Approve the schedule, then leave it alone while each email goes from your own address.
- 4Mark the invoice paid and the rest of the sequence stops.
Who is it for?
- Designers, writers, and developers billing a handful of clients a month on thirty day terms.
- Studios of two to ten people where chasing payment is nobody's actual job.
- Trades and consultants who invoice by email and dislike phoning about money.
How do you write a polite payment reminder email and schedule it yourself?
Write all three emails today, while nothing is overdue and you are not annoyed. Save them as drafts or templates in your email client, with the client name and the invoice number left blank. Timing comes next. Send the first reminder three days after the due date, not the day it passes, because payment runs and postal delays are real. Send the second at day fourteen past due. Send the third at day thirty past due. Put those dates in your calendar the day you issue the invoice, as three separate entries with the invoice number in the title. That is the whole system, and it works because the decision is already made when the day arrives. The first email runs to four lines: the invoice number, the amount, the date it fell due, and a question asking whether it reached the right person. Attach the invoice again. Do not apologize for sending it, and do not explain that you hate doing this. The second restates the payment terms from your contract, repeats the payment details, and asks something that needs an answer: is there a purchase order number or an approval step you are missing. Start a new email rather than replying down the old thread, so it arrives at the top of the inbox with a fresh subject line. The third asks for a specific payment date in writing and states what you do next, whether that is pausing work, a late fee your terms already allow, or a phone call. Name only a consequence you will actually carry out. Then phone anyway. A short call to accounts payable finds a stuck purchase order faster than any email, and what you find is usually a process, not a refusal.
What do people use today?
| Option | Good at | The gap |
|---|---|---|
| Invoicing and accounting software | Raises the invoice, tracks what is outstanding, and can send reminders on a schedule. | Reminders belong to invoices raised inside that tool, and moving your whole ledger to get better chasing is a big change. |
| Writing each chase by hand | Free, and every message fits that client, that project, and that week. | Depends on you remembering during a busy month, which is precisely when invoices slip. |
| Email follow-up plugins that send later | Sends a draft you already wrote at a chosen time, from your own mailbox, and cancels on a reply. | Stops on a reply rather than on a payment, so "looking into it" silences the whole sequence. |
| A collections agency | Takes a genuinely bad debt off your desk and pursues it with legal weight behind it. | Keeps a share of what it recovers and usually ends the client relationship, which is far too heavy for an invoice a fortnight late. |
What would it cost?
Free
$0
- The reminder email generator
- Three tones, copy-ready
Solo
$15/mo
- Unlimited invoices tracked
- Approved sequences sent from your address
- Sending stops when you mark it paid
- An aging list and a weekly summary
Studio
$39/mo
- Everything in Solo
- Three team mailboxes
- Shared client notes and chase history
Prices are proposed. Founding members lock in the lowest price if we build PoliteNudge.
Questions people ask
What is a freelance invoice follow up tool?
A freelance invoice follow up tool keeps track of which invoices are unpaid and sends the reminder emails on a schedule you set. A good one writes in your wording, stops as soon as the invoice is paid, and never threatens a client on your behalf.
Do you take a percentage of what gets collected?
No. PoliteNudge would charge a flat monthly price whether you chase one invoice or fifty. Taking a cut of your money creates a reason to push harder than you want to, which is the opposite of the product.
Will the emails come from my own address?
Yes. Reminders would go through your mailbox, so replies land in your inbox and the thread looks like the rest of your correspondence. A message from an unfamiliar address is easy for a busy client to ignore.
What happens if the client replies?
The sequence pauses and waits for you. A reply is a conversation, and a scheduled email landing on top of one is exactly what makes automated chasing feel rude.
Which tones would it offer?
Three. A light check-in, a firm restatement of your terms, and a final message asking for a payment date. Each is a starting draft you edit. None of them mention debt collection or legal action.
Does it work with my invoicing tool?
A CSV import and pasted invoice details would work from the first day. Direct connections to common invoicing tools would follow, chosen from what people on this waitlist actually use. Nothing depends on a connection existing.
Is chasing an invoice worth the risk of annoying a client?
A reminder that quotes the invoice number and the due date reads as bookkeeping, not conflict, and any client with a purchase order process expects one. The message that damages a relationship is the angry one written after three months of silence.
When will PoliteNudge launch?
No date has been set. PoliteNudge gets built only if enough freelancers and studios join the waitlist and say they would pay for it. The email generator on this page stays free and needs no account.
Where does this stand?
PoliteNudge is a proposal, not a product. This page collects demand from search and answer engines. Askwright builds it only if enough people join the waitlist and say they would pay. Read how this works.