How to Send On-My-Way Texts With an Arrival Time
“When are you coming?” calls all morning
Customers wait in for a four-hour window and call the office to ask where the technician is.
The office calls the technician, who answers while driving.
Messages are sent from a personal phone, so there is no record on the job and no opt-out.
Why this happens
- No message is triggered by the technician leaving for the job.
- The arrival window was never told to the customer.
- Links in messages point to pages that need a login.
- Opt-outs are kept in someone’s head.
Biznsbook addresses this through on-my-way message, arrival estimate, tracking page when Field Service is licensed. Customers are parties you already keep. The van is a warehouse. The invoice is one sale invoice for the job.
A second dispatcher, a van, and a deposit are where a private list drifts. Making Biznsbook the place that books the visit, issues the part, and raises the one invoice keeps those three on the same job.
Step-by-step: Send On-My-Way Texts With an Arrival Time
Built for owners and dispatchers who send technicians to a customer site in Biznsbook Field Service.
- Connect SMS. SMS is sent through the company’s own Twilio connection in the Integration hub. Without it, SMS is logged as skipped and email still goes out.
- Turn the channels on. Field Service settings have email and SMS switches for each message: confirmation, reminder, on my way, completed, quote, and invoice. On my way is on for both by default.
- Edit the wording. Each template accepts placeholders: {customer} for the contact’s first name, {tech} for the technician’s first name, {job}, {when} for the arrival window, {eta}, and links {tracking}, {quote}, {pay}, and {review}. An empty link is removed from the text.
- Give sites a position. The arrival estimate needs the site’s latitude and longitude and the technician’s position (from the phone) or home base. It uses straight-line distance at an urban driving speed plus five minutes to park. Without positions the message simply leaves the estimate out.
- Let the technician tap On my way. The phone sends its position with the tap. The visit records the estimated arrival and the message goes to the site contact, or the customer’s email and phone if the site has no contact.
- Share the tracking page. The tracking link shows the company name, the technician’s first name, progress, the arrival window, and the estimated arrival. It refreshes every minute and expires two hours after completion.
- Respect opt-outs. A site contact can opt out of SMS. They are skipped and the log says why. Replies to texts are not read by Biznsbook.
Review results after the first full weekly cycle. Adjust roles, mappings, or approvals where the same exception repeats.
Screen names in this guide match Field Service in the product: Home, Jobs, Dispatch, My day, Quotes, Agreements, and Settings.
Common mistakes to avoid
- Mistake 1: No message is triggered by the technician leaving for the job. Repeating this each month usually shows up first in double-booked visits, van counts, or a second invoice.
- Mistake 2: The arrival window was never told to the customer. Repeating this each month usually shows up first in double-booked visits, van counts, or a second invoice.
- Mistake 3: Links in messages point to pages that need a login. Repeating this each month usually shows up first in double-booked visits, van counts, or a second invoice.
- Mistake 4: Opt-outs are kept in someone’s head. Repeating this each month usually shows up first in double-booked visits, van counts, or a second invoice.
Note each recurring gap in the weekly review. Each one should map to a step in this guide.
Best practices that hold up as you scale
- Connect SMS — SMS is sent through the company’s own Twilio connection in the Integration hub.
- Turn the channels on — Field Service settings have email and SMS switches for each message: confirmation, reminder, on my way, completed, quote, and invoice.
- Edit the wording — Each template accepts placeholders: {customer} for the contact’s first name, {tech} for the technician’s first name, {job}, {when} for the arrival window, {eta}, and links {tracking}, {quote}, {pay}, and {review}.
- Give sites a position — The arrival estimate needs the site’s latitude and longitude and the technician’s position (from the phone) or home base.
- Let the technician tap On my way — The phone sends its position with the tap.
Teams that schedule on the board, issue parts from the van before they invoice, and refuse a second invoice keep the visit and the ledger on the same job.
How Biznsbook supports this workflow
on-my-way message is part of Biznsbook Field Service for companies that send a person to a customer site. The customer is a party you already keep, the address you visit is a site, and the visit sits on a job. Parts move through a van warehouse. The bill is one sale invoice, and a deposit taken first is an advance on that same job. Technicians quote, invoice, or collect only when settings allow it.
arrival estimate is part of Biznsbook Field Service for companies that send a person to a customer site. The customer is a party you already keep, the address you visit is a site, and the visit sits on a job. Parts move through a van warehouse. The bill is one sale invoice, and a deposit taken first is an advance on that same job. Technicians quote, invoice, or collect only when settings allow it.
tracking page is part of Biznsbook Field Service for companies that send a person to a customer site. The customer is a party you already keep, the address you visit is a site, and the visit sits on a job. Parts move through a van warehouse. The bill is one sale invoice, and a deposit taken first is an advance on that same job. Technicians quote, invoice, or collect only when settings allow it.
Technicians do not quote, invoice, or collect unless those settings are on. Labour cost is for job costing and does not post a wage journal. Email sends through the company’s outbound email and SMS through the company’s own Twilio connection.
Suggested implementation timeline
- Week 1: License Field Service, add sites on the parties you already keep, and try on-my-way message on one real job.
- Week 2: Create a van warehouse, transfer the stock that is in the van, and issue one part on a visit.
- Week 3: Schedule on the board, including one forced conflict, and complete a visit with the checklist rules you actually want.
- Week 4: Create the one sale invoice, apply a deposit if you took one, and turn the public page on if customers should request visits.
- Ongoing: Weekly review of unscheduled jobs, overdue complete-by times, and van items under minimum, using messages that work without the app.
Getting positions right
The arrival estimate needs two points: where the technician is and where the site is. Sites get a latitude and longitude typed on the site, or from the geocoding provider when one is configured. Technicians share position only while a visit is on the way or on site.
Give each technician a home base position too. The first visit of the day can then be estimated even before the phone reports a position.
If an estimate looks wrong, check the site pin first. A pin left at the centre of a town is the most common cause.
Reminders and confirmations too
The confirmation goes out when a visit is booked and the reschedule message when it moves. A reminder job sends the reminder a set number of hours before the visit, in company time, once per visit.
Moving a visit keeps its tracking link, so a link already sent still works.
Metrics to track monthly
- Jobs still unscheduled past the attention window
- Jobs past their complete-by time
- Van items below the minimum you set
- Visits forced past a conflict
- Jobs completed and not yet invoiced
Start with three metrics; trend direction matters more than a single point-in-time snapshot.
Spreadsheet or paper day sheet vs Biznsbook Field Service
Compare a typical list of jobs with Biznsbook on-my-way message and the rest of the field job.
| Capability | Manual / Spreadsheet | Biznsbook |
|---|---|---|
| Trigger | ❌ Technician remembers to text | ✅ Tapping On my way sends it |
| Arrival time | ❌ A guess on the phone | ✅ Estimated from positions when known |
| Tracking | ❌ Call the office | ✅ A link to a live status page |
| Record | ❌ In a personal phone | ✅ Logged on the job as sent, skipped, or failed |
| Opt-out | ❌ Remembered, maybe | ✅ Stored on the contact and enforced |
| Sender | ❌ A personal number | ✅ The company’s Twilio number |
Messages that work without the app
Every link in a Field Service message is a full web address that opens without a login: tracking, quote approval, payment, and review. Links use the public address of your Biznsbook site, so they work from any phone.
Write this into the way the office hands work to technicians, and revisit it when you add a van or a second dispatcher.
Frequently asked questions
Does Biznsbook charge for SMS?
Texts go through your company’s Twilio account, so Twilio bills you. Biznsbook does not add an SMS charge.
Is the arrival estimate from live traffic?
No. It uses straight-line distance and an urban average speed. It is a guide, not a routing result.
Can customers see the technician on a map?
Only while the technician is on the way and only when Share live location is on in settings. The page links to the last known position.
Can customers reply to the text?
They can, but Biznsbook does not read replies. Two-way SMS is not included.
How this differs by industry
Retail
An appliance retailer that repairs machines in customers’ homes can see whether repair visits make money once parts and technician time are counted, not just whether the invoice was paid.
Wholesale & distribution
A distributor that installs what it sells can keep the install visit, the parts from the van, and the one sale invoice on the same job as the delivery customer.
Manufacturing
A manufacturer with field engineers servicing installed machines can treat each machine as customer equipment with a service history and an agreement that books the next visit.