Your customer will see a text before they see an email. That only helps if the text can be paid from. "Invoice sent" with no amount and no link is a notification. They still have to go find the bill. A useful text names the job, says what is due, and includes the link in the same message.
What the text should say
Keep it short enough to read on a lock screen, and specific enough to act on.
- Who it is from. Your business name, in the first line. Unknown numbers get ignored.
- Which job. The invoice number and a few words: kitchen faucet, unit 12, front roof.
- The amount. The figure due now, not a story about the work.
- The link. The pay page, where they can see the lines and pay. Do not make them reply "ok" and then wait for a second message.
You do not need emojis, a joke, or an apology for sending the bill. You also do not need to paste the whole invoice into the text. The link is the invoice. The text is the tap.
Send it while the job is still in front of them
The best time is before you leave, or the same day if they were not home. Ask for the mobile number when you book the job, and put it on the invoice so you are not digging through call history in the driveway. If they would rather get email, send email. Do not send both a text and an email five minutes apart unless they asked for both. Two pings feel like pressure. One clear message feels like service.
What not to put in a text
- A new price. If the scope changed, that belongs on a change order they approve, not in a text that says "also it's a bit more."
- Your only copy. The text is delivery. The invoice record still needs to live with the job, with a number, so you can find it later.
- A request to pay a personal number. Send them to the invoice link, or to the payment method you already agreed on. Do not improvise.
In EZ Invoices you add the customer's mobile number on the invoice and send the text from the invoice, with the pay link in the message. If texting is not available, copy the link and paste it into your own messages. Either way, mark it sent so you are not guessing later whether they got it. Email is the other path, and it carries the same link.