Choose a method
Text invoice vs email invoice
Text reaches the phone that booked the job. Email is better when a finance team files PDFs all day. Many businesses should use both, for different customers.
Use the channel the customer already answers
Email is not worse. It is slower for a household that booked you by text and does not open mail. Text is worse for a company whose payable clerk works from a shared inbox and will not pay from a personal phone. Send the text when the buyer is the person who met you. Send the email, or the PDF from the same invoice, when a department has to approve it. The invoice can be the same. The mistake is treating one channel as a moral choice. Look at where they replied last time.
Invoice for the shelf and two hours, due today: https://invoicetxt.com/i/your-link
Text the person who stood next to the work
They already have the thread.
Email or PDF the department
A clerk should not have to screenshot a chat.
Do not do both on day one without saying so
Two messages look like two bills. If you send both, say it is the same invoice.
Keep the due date identical
Channel does not change the terms.
What to put on this invoice
- A text when the buyer is on their phone
- A PDF when someone must file it
- One invoice, even if you deliver it twice
- The same total in both places
Questions about this job
Which gets paid faster?
Whichever one they actually read. For local trades that is often the text. For a procurement team it is often the PDF in email.
Can I start with a text and follow with email?
Yes, after the due date, if the text was ignored. Say it is the same invoice.
Does InvoiceTXT send the carrier SMS for me?
No. You send the message in your own texting app. InvoiceTXT makes the invoice and the link.
Pick the channel from their last reply, not from a blog post about what is modern.
Related guides
SMS invoice vs PDF invoice
An SMS is how you tell them. A PDF is the file they keep. You do not have to choose. The text carries the link, and the link has the PDF.
Open guide →InvoiceTXT vs traditional invoicing apps
Traditional apps assume you will sit down and fill a form. InvoiceTXT assumes you will type one line and text the link. The books may still live in the other app.
Open guide →Best alternative to QuickBooks for text invoicing
QuickBooks is accounting software. It is a poor place to type a doorstep invoice into a text. Use InvoiceTXT to send the bill. Keep QuickBooks if you use it for the books.
Open guide →