Emailing an estimate or an invoice should be a fundamental feature of every invoice management system. In addition, e-mail tracking and notifications should also be included so that companies know when the estimate or invoice was sent, when the estimate was last viewed and whether the invoice was received. Invoice management systems such as InfoFlo Pay already offer these features and should be included as a basic feature of all other systems that do not offer these. The only remaining problem is that while e-mail has become the basis of business communication, no invoice management can guarantee that these e-mails will not appear in SPAM. For this reason, an additional form of communication that should be included is SMS, so that estimates and invoices can be sent by SMS.
And how can we do that? With Twillio, which is used by Uber to send SMS messages. Invoice management system solutions such as InfoFlo Pay, have integrated with Twillio. This SMS feature operates much like emails in InfoFlo Pay. Users can decide to send a new estimate or invoice by e-mail and SMS. InfoFlo Pay includes a log showing when the SMS is sent, similar to emails. Users of invoice management systems can now ensure their estimates and invoices reach their customers with this type of seamless integration. In addition, InfoFlo Pay also includes digital forms and allows digital forms to be sent via email and SMS, unlike other solutions.
Here are more reasons why SMS works:
Overall, 33 percent of more people have access to cell phones than toilets! In 2013, this amounted to 6 billion with mobile phone access (and thus SMS access).
While SMS have been overtaken by the dramatic increase in new communication applications, an average of 20 billion text messages are sent daily this year to 7.3 trillion a year. This is over 5.5 million a second!
Open email rates are great at 20-30%. But SMS blows away at an open rate of 98 percent, according to a Dynmark report! 90% are actually read in 3 seconds. Think how long it takes to move a text between your telephone chiming and your hand.
SMS will therefore essentially increase the likelihood of estimates and invoices being paid!
This article therefore hopefully served its purpose to describe the importance of SMS integration with the invoice management system of your choice. If your current solution does not include this feature, you can lose customer satisfaction and receive a lower amount of estimate conversions and invoices being paid. This is why you should use a system that includes SMS integration, such as InfoFlo Pay.
