Free template · client not responding

Client went silent mid-project? Send this email

You're mid-project, you're blocked waiting on them, and they've stopped replying. You're holding capacity you can't sell and can't use.

The email

Subject: [PROJECT] — I'm holding

Hi [NAME],

I've had nothing back on [ITEM] since [DATE], so [PROJECT] is parked
at my end.

Three ways forward. Reply with a number, that's all I need:

1. Still on — I'll have it to you by [DELIVERY]
2. Paused — pick it back up in [MONTH]
3. Dead — close it out and I'll invoice the completed work

There's no wrong answer here. I just can't hold the slot on silence.

[YOU]

Replace everything in [BRACKETS] before you send it. A stray [NAME] is the most expensive typo in freelancing.

Why it works

Replying to it costs one character, and that is the whole design — a silent client is usually overwhelmed, not hostile. Option 3 gives them permission to kill it, which is what makes the other two believable. And the last line states your constraint as a fact about your schedule rather than a complaint about their behaviour. If this one gets no reply either, that is your third and last: stop work, invoice what is done, and close the file. Beyond three attempts you are not improving your odds, you are just carrying it around.

What most people send instead

A fifth "just following up on this!" Each one is easier to ignore than the last, because none of them asks a question small enough to answer on a phone between meetings.