The average emailed invoice sits in an inbox. A texted payment request lands in the one app people check compulsively — which is why text-to-pay has quietly become the fastest way for a service business to get paid.
How it works
You create a payment request — customer, amount, invoice number — and send it by SMS. The customer gets a short message with a secure link, taps it, and pays by card, Apple Pay or bank transfer. No app to download, no account to create, no password. Funds settle to your account and the request marks itself paid.
Why it beats email
- Open rates: texts get seen in minutes; email invoices can sit for days
- Zero friction: the pay page is one screen — amount, method, done
- Perfect for the field: finish the job, send the text from the driveway, get paid before you've left the street
- Paper trail: the request, payment and receipt all attach to the customer record
Where it shines
Home services, auto repair, cleaning crews, med spas taking deposits, accountants chasing retainers — anywhere the customer isn't standing in front of a terminal. It also quietly fixes the awkward "collections call": a friendly re-send takes two taps.
Setting it up
With Next2Pay, text-to-pay is built in alongside invoicing, recurring billing and a virtual terminal — one app, settling to your NextPay account. Add dual pricing and your customer can choose bank (ACH) to skip the card fee entirely, which means you keep the full invoice amount.
See it in action on the Next2Pay page — the walkthrough shows the exact flow your customer experiences.