WindowBossPro Blog — Billing & Payments

Letting Window Cleaning Customers Update Their Own Card in the Customer App

“Hi, I got a new card, can I give you the number?” Every window cleaning office has taken that call. Someone stops what they are doing, finds a pen, writes sixteen digits on a sticky note, reads them back, types them in and hopes the note gets shredded. There is a better way: let the customer update their own card.

Where This Fits

Handling a decline when it happens is covered in Declined Cards in a Window Cleaning Business: What to Do Next. The most important step in that process is the customer putting in a working card. This article is about making that step as easy as possible.

In WindowBossPro, the customer app is where customers see today's route on a live map, request service, see their invoices and pay, rate and refer, and update their card. A customer with a new card does not need to call anyone.

Why Self-Service Beats the Phone

• It is faster. The customer fixes it on their phone in a minute, any time of day, including the evenings when your office is closed.
• It is safer. Card numbers are not written on paper, read aloud in a van, or typed into the wrong field by someone in a hurry.
• It frees the office. Every card call that does not happen is a few minutes back for scheduling and quoting.
• It gets the invoice paid. The customer can update the card and pay the open invoice in the same visit to the app.

Point Customers to It at the Right Moments

Customers will not go looking for the card screen on their own. Tell them about it at the moments it matters:

1. At sign-up. “You can update your card any time in our app.” Customers relax about card on file when they know they are in control.
2. After a decline. The same-day text from the office should point straight to the app.
3. When a customer calls with a new card. Instead of taking the number, walk them through it: “It's quickest in our app, I'll stay on while you do it.”
4. In past-due reminders. The reminder is more useful if it says where to fix the problem.

The Customer App Does More Than Billing

Customers are more likely to use the app for their card if they already use it for something else. The most popular feature is usually the live route map on service day: “You're stop 12 of 20 — the crew is 5 stops away.” Customers who check that on cleaning day already know where the app is when their card changes.

The alerts help too. Customers choose texts for the night before, when they are next, and when the tech arrives. Each one is a small reminder that your company has an app.

For Business Accounts

Storefront owners who pay by card are prime candidates for self-service card updates. Business cards get replaced regularly, and the owner is often too busy to call. A short text, “You can update the card for the shop in our app,” usually does it.

Property managers on a monthly statement often pay on terms instead of by card. For them the app is more useful for seeing invoices and requesting service at one of their addresses.

Keep Card Updates Ahead of Declines

The best decline is the one that never happens. A few habits cut declines down:

• When a customer mentions a new card in passing, to the tech or on a text, point them to the app right then.
• Before a big one-time job or a customer's once-a-year cleaning, send a short text asking them to make sure their card in the app is current.
• At your month-end review, look at open invoices from declines and send one more nudge to update the card. See The Month-End Billing Review for a Window Cleaning Company.

Twice-a-year customers deserve special attention. Six months is plenty of time for a card to expire. A reminder a week before their cleaning saves a decline and an awkward follow-up.

When the Customer Insists on Calling

Some customers, often older ones, will want to give the number over the phone no matter what. Be kind and patient. Offer to stay on the line while they do it in the app. If they truly cannot, handle it carefully: do not write the number on paper, enter it once, and do not repeat it back in a crowded room. Then gently suggest the app for next time.

Less Phone, More Paid

Letting customers update their own card is a small change with a big effect: fewer phone calls, fewer card numbers on sticky notes, and open invoices paid the same day the card is updated. For more on how the customer app fits into billing, see Online Payment From the Customer App for Window Cleaning Invoices or visit the window cleaning billing software page.