PressureWashingBossPro Blog — Pressure Washing Software

Two-Way Texting and Automatic Alerts in Pressure Washing Software

Texting is how most pressure washing customers want to hear from you. The trouble is that for most small companies, texting means the owner's personal phone: customer messages mixed in with family, nothing searchable, and nobody else in the company able to see what was said.

After the Estimate Is Approved

Once a customer approves a quote, as covered in Estimates With Online Approval: From Quote to Scheduled Wash Without Retyping, the job is on the schedule. From there, the customer needs to know when you are coming and what to do before you arrive. That is where texting and alerts come in.

PressureWashingBossPro splits this into two parts: automatic alerts that go out on their own, and two-way texting for real conversations.

Automatic Reminders and Alerts

Automated reminders and alerts go out by text and email. Customers choose which ones they want:

• Night before. “Your house wash is tomorrow.” This is the one that gets cars moved out of the driveway and windows shut.
• When they're next. A heads-up that the crew is finishing the stop before theirs.
• When the crew arrives. Sent automatically when the operator reaches the property.

On the crew side, on-the-way and arrived texts go out automatically from the crew app. The operator never stops to type a message with wet hands.

Why Alerts Matter More for Washing

Most service trades just need the customer to know roughly when they will arrive. Washing companies need the customer to do things before they arrive:

• Move cars off the driveway so the surface cleaner can cover the whole slab.
• Close windows and doors before the house wash.
• Bring pets inside.
• Open the gate or leave the side gate code in a reply.
• Move patio furniture, grills or planters off the deck or patio.

A night-before text that mentions these turns a messy arrival into a clean start. For a first-time customer, a short personal text from the office the day before, listing the two or three things that matter for their property, is worth the minute it takes.

Two-Way Texting From the Office

Customers reply. They ask if you can come an hour later, tell you the gate code changed, or send a photo of a stain they want you to look at. With two-way texting, those replies come to the office inside the software, attached to the customer.

That changes a few things:

• Anyone in the office can answer. Not just the owner.
• The history is with the customer. Next year, you can see what was said about the back patio.
• Your personal number stays personal. Customers text the business, not you.

When a customer sends a new gate code or a note about plants, the office updates the address access notes, and it shows on the crew's card for every future visit.

The Monthly Text Allowance

Every plan includes a monthly text allowance, counted in segments sent and received: 500 on Start, 1,000 on Pro and 2,000 on Crew. A segment is one standard-length text; a long message counts as more than one. Both outgoing alerts and incoming replies count, so it is worth keeping automatic messages short and to the point.

Texting is included for customers in the US and Canada. A small company with mostly yearly house washes uses far fewer texts than a company with a full commercial route, so the plan that fits your rigs usually fits your texting too.

Writing Messages That Work

A few habits for washing company messages:

• Lead with the date. “Tomorrow” or the day name first, so it reads at a glance.
• One request per message. “Please move cars off the driveway” beats a paragraph of instructions.
• Plain characters. Fancy punctuation and emoji can make a text longer than it looks.
• Sign it as the company. Customers should recognize who it is from.

Texting Commercial Contacts

Commercial customers use texting differently. A restaurant manager may want a quick note that the drive-thru was washed before opening. A property manager may text a photo of gum on the sidewalk outside a tenant's door and ask if you can add it to the next visit. Keeping those conversations in the software, attached to the right client and address, means the request does not get lost between the office and the commercial rig.

It also helps when contacts change. Commercial accounts often swap managers. When the new manager texts in, the history of what was agreed is already on the account, not in a former employee's phone.

Texting and Getting Paid

Messages also help on the billing side. Past-due follow-up reminds customers about open invoices, and the customer app gives them a place to pay online. The billing side is covered in Invoicing and Card on File: Getting Paid for Every Wash.

Texting is one piece of a bigger system. To see how it connects to the crew app, the customer app and billing, visit the PressureWashingBossPro pressure washing software page.