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I send reminders to my customers all the time. And, I hesitate to use the word 'friendly reminder'. I interpret it as a soft reminders before aggressive reminders. It brings up an image of a thug asking me to payup before his next visit, This might be because of the movies I watch.

So, what would be a substitute for 'friendly reminder' with a polite undertone.

Khaja Minhajuddin
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    I’m afraid this is not really a very good question for the StackExchange format, because it does not lead to a clear, best answer. For example, just because I might think that a gentle reminder sounds less like you’re leaning on someone than a friendly reminder might, others might have just the opposite reaction, and there is no way to judge one above the other. This is also extremely culturally-biased, so what is considered eminently polite and non-threatening in say New Jersey might seem like brutal enforcement by a crime syndicate in say Japan. :) – tchrist Mar 21 '13 at 11:25
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    Whenever you have to add a modifier to say you're being friendly or honest or sincere, people know very well that you're lying. It's like you mother saying, Johnny, I'm asking you nicely to clean up your room. It's really an order. I never send "friendly reminders". I just outright ask when I can expect to be paid for the editing I did 3 months earlier. First, though, I ask whether they received my email & say I know that email deliveries here are sometimes problematic & that it may have gone into their spam folder. Collection agencies send "friendly reminders". I don't. –  Mar 21 '13 at 11:51
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    May be off-topic. I suggest that you avoid the qualifier altogether. The friendliness should manifest in the phrasing of the reminder itself. – Kris Mar 21 '13 at 14:13
  • BillFranke and Kris'comments give excellent advice. If you decide to use "reminder", though, *"just a reminder"* is not modified with a word like "friendly", but has a little less formality than saying "this is a reminder". – Kristina Lopez Mar 21 '13 at 15:29
  • A 'gentle reminder', perhaps? – TheRookierLearner Oct 10 '14 at 19:44

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