Tried sending invoices at 7am instead of 5pm and got paid 8 days faster

I always thought timing didn't matter until I saw a thread here about morning sends catching clients before their day gets crazy. Tried it for a month and my average payment time dropped from 22 days to 14. Has anyone else noticed a weird pattern like this with their billing time?

3 comments

3 Comments

colegarcia9d ago

My buddy runs a landscaping company and he told me he started sending invoices at 6:30am right when he knows his clients are checking their phones in bed. He said his 15 day average dropped to 9 days in just two months. I tried shifting mine to 7:30am instead of my old 4pm slot and saw my average go from 18 days down to 11 days. It's wild how much that morning window matters, I used to think it was just luck. Now I set a recurring reminder on my phone to blast them out right after I pour my coffee and it's been night and day.

lee.cora4d ago

@colegarcia I get why people try the early morning thing, but I've actually seen the opposite pattern with my clients. Sending invoices at 4pm on a Tuesday gets me paid faster than any morning slot I've tried. Most of my clients are small shop owners who do their bookkeeping in that dead hour before closing when things slow down. The morning rush is when they're dealing with employee problems and inventory emergencies, so my invoice just gets lost in the noise until later. I've tested both windows over six months and afternoon sends consistently beat morning by about 6 days on average. The real variable might be what TYPE of clients you have, not just when you hit send.

kellyallen9d ago

The real trick might be hitting them right as they're starting their coffee, not just before noon or after lunch. A lot of business owners check their notifications first thing and pay the easiest thing in the stack before digging into tough work. Morning sends probably put your invoice on top of that mental pile while afternoon ones get buried under other stuff.