You can send an invoice or an estimate by text message, by email, or both. Text is the way to reach customers who have a mobile number on file and no email address. The text carries the same link the email does: the pay page for an invoice, the approval page for an estimate.
Who can do this
Owners, admins and dispatchers can text invoices and estimates from the office. Field techs can text an invoice for a job they're assigned to. Your company needs business texting turned on. See Sending and receiving SMS.
Text an invoice
- Open the invoice and click Send invoice (or Resend invoice if it already went out).
- At the top of the window, under How to send it, choose Text. If the customer has no email address and can be texted, the window opens on Text for you.
- Read the Text message preview. It shows the exact message the customer will receive, the number it goes to, and how many characters it is. The wording can't be edited, so the link can't be removed by accident.
- Click Text invoice.
You see Invoice texted to followed by the number. A draft invoice changes to Sent, the same as when you email it, and the text appears in the customer's conversation under Conversations → Messages.
Send by email and text
Choose Both. The window keeps the usual To, Reply-to and Subject fields and the email preview, and adds the Text message preview underneath. Click Send + text.
If the email goes out but the text can't, you see Emailed. The text didn't go: followed by the reason. The invoice is still sent.
Text an estimate
The steps are the same. On the estimate, click Send estimate, choose Text under How to send it, check the preview, and click Text estimate. If your company calls estimates proposals or quotes, the buttons use that word.
The text reads like this: "Hi Maria, your estimate EST-0042 is ready to review: [link]", with your company name in front. The link opens the customer's approval page.
What the invoice text says
| Your setup | The message |
|---|---|
| Stripe is connected | "Hi Maria, invoice INV-0042 for $450.00 is ready. Pay online: [link]" |
| Stripe isn't connected | "Hi Maria, invoice INV-0042 for $450.00 is ready: [link]". The link opens the invoice with your payment instructions and the PDF download. |
Every text starts with your company name, and the preview includes it in the character count. Past 160 characters the preview also shows how many texts the message will be sent as.
When Text can't be chosen
Text and Both stay visible but greyed out, with the reason underneath:
| Reason shown | What to do |
|---|---|
| Texting isn't turned on for your account | Click Set up texting next to the message. |
| No mobile number on file | Add a mobile number to the customer (or to the contact the document goes to), then reopen the window. |
| They replied STOP, so texts to this customer are paused | You can't text this customer until they text START. Send by email instead. See How customers can opt out of texts. |
Email is never greyed out. If there's no address on file, you see No email address on file — add one below: type one into To, and tick Save as the customer's email on file to keep it.
Sending many invoices at once
Send invoices on the Invoices page texts the invoices it can't email:
- An invoice whose customer has no email address, a mobile number and no STOP on file shows Will be texted to and the number in the review list. The summary line tells you how many go by text.
- Each customer is texted once per batch. If the same customer has a second no-email invoice in the batch, it's skipped with Already texting this customer in this batch — send the others one at a time.
- Invoices that have an email address are emailed, as before.
See How to create and send an invoice.
From the mobile app
When a tech taps Send to Customer on an invoice and the customer has no email on file, the What's their email? sheet now has a second choice: Text it to the customer's number instead. One tap sends the invoice by text. The button only appears when your company has texting turned on and the customer has a number. See Creating and sending invoices on mobile.
Good to know
- The automatic invoice text doesn't double up. If the Invoice sent SMS automation is on, it still texts the customer the first time you send an invoice by Email. When you choose Text or Both, your text replaces it, so the customer gets one message.
- Pressing send twice is safe. If the same message went to the same number in the last few minutes, it isn't sent again. A different document texted to the same number within a minute is held back with This was just texted — give it a minute.
- Paid invoices can't be texted. A paid invoice sends a receipt, and receipts go by email only.
- Approved, declined and expired estimates can't be texted. The review link has nothing left for the customer to decide. You can still email a copy of an approved estimate.
- Sample invoices and the sample customer can't be texted.
- Texting a document doesn't depend on the Invoice sent SMS automation being on. That switch only controls the automatic text.