The customer who ignores emails but answers calls
Your emailed reminders vanish without trace, yet the moment you phone, they pick up and engage. The channel is the whole problem.
What this scenario teaches
- Why channel preference quietly determines whether you get a response
- How to identify which channel a customer actually reads
- How to combine calls and written follow-up effectively
- How to record channel preferences so the whole team benefits
5 min read
The scenario
You have emailed this customer three times — polite reminder, firmer reminder, statement — and heard nothing back. By the email trail, they look like they are stonewalling you. But on a hunch you pick up the phone, and they answer immediately, are perfectly pleasant, and deal with the matter on the spot. The debt was never the obstacle; the channel was. Your reminders were landing in an inbox they barely read, while the one channel they do respond to went untried until now.
What's really going on
People have channel preferences, and they are often invisible until you stumble on them. Plenty of customers — especially busy owner-operators and tradespeople — treat email as background noise but will always take a call, while others are the exact reverse. A customer who 'ignores' your emails may not be avoiding you at all; they may simply not live in their inbox. Reading email silence as non-payment is a common misdiagnosis. The signal is not that they are stalling, but that you have been knocking on a door they do not open. Match the channel to the person and the same customer becomes responsive.
Your options
You can:
- Keep emailing harder. Pointless if email is the channel they do not read — more of it changes nothing.
- Switch to their preferred channel. Call the customer who answers calls; text the one who replies to texts.
- Combine channels. Call to engage and resolve, then send a short written note to confirm what was agreed.
Switching to the channel they actually respond to — usually discovered by trying it — is the key, with written confirmation layered on for the record.
Recommended approach
When emails are met with silence, do not assume avoidance — test another channel. Call them; for some customers a text message lands where neither email nor call does. Once you reach them and resolve the invoice, send a brief written confirmation of what was agreed, so you keep a record even though the call did the real work. Then capture the lesson: note that this customer responds to phone, not email, and make sure your reminders to them lead with a call in future. Channel preference is one of the quietest causes of early-arrears friction, and matching it is often the entire fix — the same person who looked unresponsive by email turns out to be perfectly easy to deal with by phone. The Academy library covers choosing the right contact channel.
What to avoid
Do not assume email silence means a customer is dodging you — it often just means they do not read email. Do not keep escalating the same channel that is plainly not working; sending a fourth email achieves nothing the first three did not. And do not fail to record which channel works for a given customer, or your colleagues will repeat the same dead-end and the friction will recur on every invoice.
The lesson
- Channel preference quietly decides whether your reminders are even seen.
- Email silence is often not avoidance — it just means they do not read email.
- Switch to the channel they respond to, then confirm the outcome in writing.
- Record each customer's working channel so the whole team stops hitting the same wall.
Frequently asked questions
Does ignoring my emails mean a customer is avoiding payment?
Not necessarily. Many people barely read email but always answer a call. Test another channel before concluding the silence is deliberate avoidance.
Should I still send written confirmation if I resolve it by phone?
Yes. Let the call do the work of engaging, then send a short written note confirming the amount and date, so you keep a clear record of what was agreed.
How do I remember which channel works for which customer?
Record it on the account. Noting that a customer responds to calls, not email, lets you and your colleagues lead with the right channel every time and avoid repeating dead ends.
Real situations, the right call
When an account goes past talking, Merion recovers it — commission-only, no upfront fee.