How to send a reminder email (with samples)

Email reminders help you update busy users on important events, announcements and milestones and ensure they don’t miss key dates and times related to your business.

They help boost event awareness and attendance and show that your business is on top of things and reliable.

In this article, you’ll learn how to create effective email reminders for different occasions, get inspiration from reminder email samples and access easy-to-use templates that you can adapt for your needs.

How to format an email reminder

Correct formatting is key to piquing readers’ interest and keeping them engaged. While all reminder emails are different, most follow a broadly similar pattern.

To ensure you include all the right elements, here’s what typically goes into an effective reminder message:

• An engaging subject line. Grab readers’ attention with a subject line that reinforces the importance of your reminder. For example: “Last chance to secure your spot!”

• Preheader text. Tease your reminder email’s content in this post-subject line snippet (up to around 90–100 characters for mobile-friendliness). You could reinforce your message’s urgency or highlight key details in your email preheader.

• A friendly greeting. Open with a friendly, personal greeting while acknowledging the recipient’s previous email engagement. For example: “Hi [recipient’s name], we hope you’re excited about [event].”

• Body copy. Clearly restate the purpose of your reminder email, and provide the most important information about your upcoming meeting, event or offer to jog your recipient’s memory.

• A call to action (CTA). Prompt the reader to take a specific action, such as confirming their attendance, making a payment or completing a payment.

• A sign-off. Wrap up with a courteous sign-off, showing your gratitude or anticipation. A simple “Thank you for your attention” or “Looking forward to hearing from you” adds a polite touch.

Within these elements, which we’ll explore in more detail later in the article, you may also want to include images, branded graphics or even GIFs.

Remember that email reminders are all about inspiring action, not educating or informing. Be careful not to overload the page with unnecessary content as it could distract readers from your message.

3 great reminder email samples to inspire you

Real examples of gentle reminder emails can help you settle on a design style, format and tone for your company’s efforts.

With that in mind, here are a few of our favorite email reminders from brands.

1. Black Friday offer ending email reminder

The intention of this email from the School of Life is clear at first glance. Just a few words convey the message that the offer is ending to incentivize the reader and spark a fear of missing out (FOMO).

Here’s the School of Life email:

The main text in the email conveys a message about the company’s products, clearly explaining its philosophy in just a couple of lines. With this, it avoids lengthy introductions and familiarizes the reader with its vision.

The call to action is clear under the text, inviting the customer to take advantage of the offer now so they don’t miss the deadline.

Further down the email there are additional offers and discounts on potentially interesting products.

Finally, there’s an invitation to download the company’s app and join its social networks, both of which aim to retain the recipient’s loyalty.

We can conclude that this email didn’t need a complicated graphic design to convey a simple but effective message. The email draws attention right from the start and the reader can scan it for relevant info.

2. Event invitation RSVP email reminder

With this gentle reminder email from Invision, we get a good example of how to make an upcoming event or appointment reminder email effective. It also has a great eye-catching design.

Here’s Invision’s email:

First, the email welcomes you with a “You’re invited” message, incentivizing you to discover what it’s all about. The category, “design + finance”, is clear at the beginning, so readers know what to expect from the event.

Next comes a CTA that allows people who are busy reading the rest of the email to book their seats immediately. It’s a time-saving technique that works for both the reader and the sender.

Side by side, there’s a concise explanation of the event and its content, making an irresistible offer with complementary food.

Again, the email taps into readers’ FOMO with the “limited seats” statement.

What follows is an eye-catching list of the panelists that underlines the event’s exclusivity.

Finally, for those who read the full email, there’s a repeat CTA at the end, serving as another time-saver and allowing readers to confirm their presence without scrolling up.

These two CTA buttons show that the sender understands how precious their reader’s time is, conveying a very professional email stance.

3. Simple “Action Needed” email reminder

Tookapic is a 365 photo challenge, meaning users need to upload one photo a day to keep up with it.

With so many people involved, the email below is a great short reminder about what the platform is really about.

A clear title and a short explanation get right to the point. The body text is very short, but cleverly leads into the CTA asking the user to upload their photo right away, so they don’t forget to do it later.

Finally, the brand gives the option to the recipient to change the time when they receive this friendly reminder email, making it flexible and convenient.

5 reminder email templates to start with

Not sure where to start? Here are five reminder email examples you can adapt to suit your needs.

Gentle payment reminder template (first follow-up)

Countdown reminder (upcoming hotel stay)

Q&A session

Event reminder + offer ends soon

Delivery reminder: upsell tactics

When to use an email reminder: 5 perfect situations

Knowing when to check in and when to simply wait for a response is half the battle with using email reminders.

Sending too many late payment or meeting reminder emails can damage relationships, but it’s also important to keep yourself in people’s minds when waiting for them to complete an action.

With that in mind, here are five key email reminder scenarios.

1. An important event is about to take place

Remember that event confirmation you sent to your clients several months ago? Perhaps you do but your customers might not.

A simple “coming in X days” email reminder will ensure you keep them interested.

You can use reminder emails ahead of all kinds of events, including:

• Conferences

• Webinars

• Promotions

• Job interviews

• Job application deadlines

• Sales training

• Team-building

Even if you have no reason to believe a recipient has forgotten about your event, sending a reminder email ensures they have easy access to key information such as time and location. It should result in everyone arriving at the right place on time.

2. Inaction from the recipient

When someone misses out on a follow-up or fails to act promptly, you want to encourage them to take action.

For example, if someone fails to go through with their double opt-in to confirm their subscription, you might want to send them a kind reminder in case of an oversight.

Inaction reminders are becoming more prominent and useful as more businesses place tighter measures on account registrations, log-ins and newsletter sign-ups.

Sending reminder emails to website users who fail to complete two-factor authentication (2FA) processes, for instance, ensures real account holders can access their data or learn when someone else is trying to get in without their authorization.

You might feel frustrated if your activities have been held up by the recipient. However, there could be a good reason for this. Ensure you maintain email etiquette and always keep your tone professional. Use the templates above to keep your email friendly and sincere while asking your recipient to take action.

3. Expirations and automatic renewals

Suppose you’re offering a service that has an expiration date, like a yearly subscription. In that case, informing your customers about their impending expiration or automatic renewal dates is a good idea.

This way, your customers can choose whether to continue using your service, contributing to a better customer experience by showing you’re not tricking anyone into staying on board.

You can automate this type of reminder email through a customer relationship management (CRM) tool with email functionality, like Pipedrive. Consider scheduling two reminders – one around a month before the end of the user’s agreement and another during the final week.

4. Countdown reminders

Countdown reminders show potential customers they have limited time to benefit from a special offer from your business. Even more than other email reminder types, they create a sense of urgency that often inspires prompt action.

For example, say a group of existing customers has 48 hours to renew their subscriptions with a 25% discount. Sending an email with an animated 48-hour countdown timer could encourage some to commit to your product for another year.

Here’s an example of what that looks like from Restream:

You can create timers like the one in Restream’s email using email marketing software or a dedicated app, like ActiveDEMAND.

5. Delivery reminder

Delivery reminders are key to a great e-commerce customer experience.

Telling recent buyers when to expect their order and how you’ll deliver it helps them make the necessary arrangements to accept it, meaning you can complete the transaction sooner.

Delivery reminders also give people a better impression of your brand. DispatchTrack found that 80% of consumers want to receive delivery status updates and half blame negative delivery experiences on poor communication – i.e., a lack of reminders.

What’s more, when reminding your customers about the delivery of a product they purchased, you can inform them about offers on similar products that might interest them. This way, yo

Effective reminder emails: Best practices

Here is a list of best practices to follow when writing a reminder.

Choose a clear subject line

An email subject line that clarifies your message’s purpose will increase the chances of people opening your email. If you’re reminding a customer about an event, for example, you might want to include the event name in your subject line.

Furthermore, you can incorporate powerful words and phrases like “important” or “response needed” to catch the reader’s attention and stand out in a crowded inbox.

Be friendly yet direct

As you’re implying that your customer may have forgotten to do something, it’s important to tread lightly and adopt a friendly tone. Otherwise, you risk offending or irritating them.

However, you don’t want to go overboard and appear disingenuous. When writing, remember that this is a business-buyer relationship and your aim isn’t to become the reader’s friend.

Be brief

Brevity is something to practice throughout all your email marketing campaigns, but especially when writing reminders. Few people will read your reminder if you bury it in a wall of text.

Your contact won’t care how important the information is if it takes more than a couple of minutes of their time to read through it, so get to the point fast.

Include a call to action

Even though your main purpose is to remind people of something, there’s always room for additional feedback or engagement.

Adding a CTA button within your email or when you sign off will help the reader get to the bottom of the issue easily.

Find the right sending time

Timing might be the most important element of email success. The time you wait to send a gentle reminder email will depend largely on the situation.

For example, a day after the due date is usually acceptable when sending payment reminder emails.

Waiting too long before sending your reminder can also hinder your chances of getting a response. The more time passes, the less your customers will remember they had something to complete.

A great solution to finding the perfect timing is to A/B test the delivery date and time. This is when you send two versions of a reminder to different audience segments, varying one element at a time, then analyze performance metrics, such as open rate, to see which version resonates better.

The perfect time to send an effective email will vary case by case, such as at the beginning or very end of the business day.

Follow up more than once if necessary

It doesn’t matter if your reminder is about a missing payment or a product launch, don’t be afraid to follow up if you feel your message is important, helpful and worth reading.

Combined with good timing, a second follow-up email might get your customers to take action and complete the task at hand, even if that’s telling you they are no longer interested in purchasing or can no longer make an event.

Use it as a marketing opportunity

When possible and in context, add images or links of featured products, promote upcoming offers or give the incentive to join your social media channels.

Remember when adding images to ensure they’re the correct size for all email service providers, such as Gmail, Outlook and iCloud. A poor viewing experience may turn readers away from your brand and to a competitor's.

How to write a reminder email in under 10 minutes

We’ve outlined several best practices for writing reminder emails, but the process shouldn’t take you long. Here are the steps to craft an email quickly and spark prompt action.

Step 1. Greet your contact

Choose an appropriate tone for your brand image and audience.

If your audience mainly comprises younger people, you shouldn’t hesitate to address them more casually. Using highly formal language might alienate them.

More polite and restrained language usually works best if your contacts are CEOs and executives.

This greeting is important as it sets the tone for the rest of the email.

Step 2. Craft your body content

Once you’ve created a proper greeting, it’s time to move on to the main purpose of your email. You can divide the body of your reminder messages into two distinct parts:

• Reminder explanation. After the greeting, be sure to be precise and brief. After all, this is why your contact opened the email in the first place. Explain your issue or event in short and easy-to-read sentences.

• Call to action. Once you have stated the main reason for your email, add a CTA button or a link to make it easy for your readers. The last thing you want is to frustrate your readers by having them search for that next step. Need an overdue payment to be made? Add a link directly to their account where they can go through with it.

Remember, one type of call to action is enough. You want your customers’ undivided attention so they can proceed with the action.

Step 3. Add your finishing touches

Offering related content or helpful resources is a good way to show your user base that you care about them. For example, when sending a friendly reminder email about an offer ending soon, you can upsell by showcasing a few of your flagship products.

Although this is a great way to promote your business, try staying in context. For example, don’t send discount coupons when sending payment reminders to your subscribers.

Finally, inviting your customers to join your social networks is a great way of building brand presence. Also, don’t forget to include a salutation at the end of your email when appropriate, such as “thanks” or “best regards.”

Email reminder FAQs

You’ll get better at writing and designing email reminders the more you do it, but here are some commonly asked email reminder questions to help you learn even faster.

Final Thoughts

The guidelines, best practices and reminder email samples discussed above should help you write a reminder message that brings results.

To ensure your email reminders are effective, test out different email elements with an A/B split test campaign.

Whether you want to try different reminder email subject lines or delivery dates, your email provider’s reporting tools will allow you to quickly compare the results and determine what works best.