Balance 
Reminders and receipts
The customer always knows what they have paid, what is left and when it is due. You always know what is coming in.
At a glance
Who gets what, by which channel.
- Customer, email
- Every plan, including Free
- Customer, text
- Growth and Pro, with top-ups
- Reminder lead time
- 3 days before, adjustable
- Overdue cadence
- Every 3 days, adjustable
- You, morning digest
- 8am store time, from Starter
- You, overdue alert
- Immediate, from Starter
Every message carries your store name, replies go to your store email, and your deposit policy text sits underneath. Every message links to the customer's payment page.
What the customer receives
Six messages, and most orders only ever see three of them.
| When | Message | Most orders see it |
|---|---|---|
| Right after checkout | Payment schedule: deposit paid, balance and dates, link to their payment page | Yes |
| 3 days before a payment | Reminder with the amount and date; on mandate stores it says the card will be charged | Yes |
| After each payment | Receipt with the remaining balance | Yes |
| When a charge fails | Failed payment notice with the next attempt date and a payment link | Only if the card declines |
| When overdue | Overdue notice every 3 days with the payment link | Only after four failures |
| When paid in full | Confirmation that the order is complete | Yes |
The schedule message and the receipts stay on because customers expect them. Everything else can be tuned: the reminder lead time, the overdue cadence, and whether texts are used at all.
One order, day by day
A £1,800 gown ordered on 1 March at 50%, balance 120 days later, which is the bridal example used across this site.
- 1
1 March, order placed
£900 taken
Within minutes the customer gets the payment schedule: £900 paid, £900 due on 29 June, and a link to their payment page.
- 2
26 June, reminder
Nothing charged
Three days before the balance: the amount, the date, and a note that the saved card will be charged. On Growth and Pro a text says the same in one line.
- 3
29 June, 9am
£900 charged
The balance is charged. The customer gets a receipt showing nothing left to pay, and the order is confirmed as complete.
- 4
If the card declines
Payment link sent
A failed-payment notice with the next attempt date and a Shopify payment link that accepts any card. The same message follows each retry on days 1, 3 and 7.
- 5
If it goes overdue
Nudge every 3 days
An overdue notice every three days with the link, until it is paid, rescheduled, waived or cancelled. You are alerted the moment it goes overdue.
What you receive
A digest each morning at 8am store time: due today, due this week, failed or overdue, and orders paid in full overnight that are ready to fulfil. For a workshop that is the delivery-booking list; for a boutique it is the list of dresses that can be released for the fitting.
An immediate alert when an order goes overdue, so a problem balance reaches you on the day rather than in the next digest. Both by email, and by text on Growth and Pro if you want it.
The digest is the one message most merchants come to rely on. It replaces the spreadsheet of who owes what and when.
Texts
Short, one credit each, and only to numbers Shopify collected at checkout.
What they say
The same thing as the email in one line, with the same short balance-due.com/m/ link so it fits in a single message.
Who sends them
A sender name derived from your store name, which you can change, so the customer sees the shop rather than an unknown number.
What they cost
Growth includes 100 a month and Pro 500. Top-ups of 100 for £4.99 or 500 for £19.99 are one-off purchases that never expire and are used after the monthly allowance.
Texts are sent only to numbers Shopify collected at checkout, and only where you have turned the channel on. Unused monthly texts do not roll over.
Tone, branding and wording
Written to be read, not to sell
The wording is fixed and plain, because a payment message that reads like marketing gets ignored and one that reads like debt collection gets resented. Each message says what was paid, what is left, when it is due and where to look.
- No marketing copy, no upsell, no countdown
- The amount and the date in the first line
- One link, to the customer's payment page
Your name on it
Emails carry your store name, reply to your store email and show your deposit policy text underneath. Free plan emails carry a small 'Powered by Balance Due' line; paid plans do not.
- Store name in the sender and the subject
- Replies go to your store email, not to us
- Your policy text under every message, in your words
Your settings for sensitive trades
The reminder lead time and the overdue cadence are yours to set. Memorial masons tend to lengthen the overdue interval and keep email only; event hire businesses tend to shorten the lead time and use texts.
- Reminder lead time, in days
- Overdue cadence, in days
- Email and text channels switched on or off separately
What the messages are not
They do not replace Shopify's order emails. Shopify still sends its order confirmation and shipping notifications; Balance Due adds the payment-schedule messages that Shopify does not send. They are not marketing messages and are never used for anything but the order they belong to.
On pay-link stores the due-date message carries Shopify's own invoice link, because that is how a customer-initiated payment reaches your provider. Everything else about the sequence is the same.
Three messages for an order that pays first time. The other three exist so that the order that does not pay first time still gets paid.
Related
Customer payment page
The page every message links to.
Automatic balance collection
The charges the reminders lead up to.
Pricing
Text allowances by plan.
Deposits
Percentage or fixed, on the products you choose, as a normal Shopify purchase option.
Hold fulfilment until paid
A Shopify fulfilment hold on every deposit order, released when the balance clears.
Questions
Can I turn some messages off?
Email and text channels can each be switched on or off, and the reminder lead time and overdue cadence can be changed. The schedule email and receipts stay on because customers expect them.
Do the messages replace Shopify's order emails?
No. Shopify still sends its order confirmation. Balance Due adds the payment-schedule messages Shopify does not send.
What does the customer see if they click the link?
Their payment page: the schedule, what is paid, what is left and a pay now button. No login.
Can I change the wording?
The message wording is fixed. Your store name, reply address and policy text are yours, and the policy text is the place to add anything specific to your business, such as who to call for more time.
Can I change how many days before the balance the reminder goes?
Yes, in settings. Three days is the default.
Do texts go to every customer?
Only to customers whose phone number Shopify collected at checkout, and only if you have the text channel turned on. Everyone gets the email.
What happens to unused texts?
Monthly allowances do not roll over. Top-up texts never expire and are used after the monthly allowance is gone.
Can the digest go to more than one person?
It goes to the email address set in the app's settings. Use a shared inbox or a forwarding rule if more than one person needs it.
See the whole flow
The how-it-works page follows one order from the product page to paid in full.