An on my way text tells a customer that their technician has left for their home or business and roughly when they'll arrive. It answers "where's my tech?" before anyone calls the office, gives the customer time to put the dog away, and makes a two-hour arrival window feel shorter. A good one names your business and the technician, gives an arrival estimate you can keep, and tells the customer how to reach you.
Why it's worth sending every time
Waiting at home for a technician is one of the worst parts of any service visit. The customer can't leave, can't plan the afternoon, and doesn't know whether "8 to 12" means 8:15 or 11:50. A short text when the technician sets off changes how the whole visit feels.
For the office, the payoff is fewer calls. Every customer who knows the technician is 25 minutes out is a customer who isn't phoning at 9:40 to ask, while your dispatcher is trying to fit an emergency into the afternoon.
What to include
Keep it short. A good on my way text has:
- Your business name first, so it isn't mistaken for spam.
- The technician's first name. "Marcus is on the way" is warmer than "a technician has been dispatched."
- An arrival estimate you can keep. "About 25 minutes" beats "arriving at 10:17", which sets up a complaint at 10:30.
- How to reach you. A phone number the customer can call if the gate is locked or plans have changed.
- How to opt out, for automated texts. "Reply STOP to opt out" is the usual wording.
Leave out prices, upsells and links you don't need. It's a service message, not a promotion. One text is about 160 characters before phones split it into parts (Twilio explains SMS segments), so every word has to earn its place.
When to send it
When the technician leaves for this customer, not when the day starts. A 7 AM text saying "we're coming today" is a reminder, not an on my way text. Send the reminder the day before, and the on my way text when the truck pulls out.
Once, then only if something changes. If the technician gets held up badly, call the customer. Silence after an on my way text is worse than no text at all.
At a sensible hour. Federal rules bar telephone solicitations before 8 a.m. or after 9 p.m. in the customer's local time (47 CFR 64.1200). An on my way text isn't a sales message, but the same window is a good habit for every automated text.
Examples you can copy
Replace the names and numbers, and keep your business name first.
Standard
Harbor Heating: Marcus is on the way, about 25 min out. Questions? Call (512) 555-0142. Reply STOP to opt out.
With the arrival window
Harbor Plumbing: Dana is heading to you now for your 10-12 visit and should arrive around 10:40. Questions? Call (512) 555-0187.
Access and pets
Harbor Heating: Marcus is about 20 minutes away. Please keep pets inside while he works. Need to share a gate code? Call (512) 555-0142.
Commercial site
Harbor Fire Protection: Luis is on the way for the sprinkler inspection, about 30 min out. Please let the site contact know.
Emergency call
Harbor Plumbing: Dana is on the way to your emergency call, about 35 min out. If water is still running, shut off the main valve if you can.
When the technician is running late
The last job ran over, the part wasn't on the truck, or traffic on the bridge is stopped. The on my way text hasn't gone out yet, and the window is closing. This is the moment most shops go quiet, and it's the moment customers remember.
Call. A phone call from the office, before the window ends, with a new time and an apology, keeps a late visit from turning into a bad review. If you have to reschedule, say so plainly and offer the next real opening, not "sometime tomorrow". Then send the on my way text as usual when the technician finally sets off, so the customer isn't left guessing twice.
If most weeks bring several of these calls, the problem isn't the text. It's how wide your windows are, or how many visits you fit in a day.
Who should send it
In most shops the technician is supposed to text when they leave. In practice they're loading the truck, calling the supply house and thinking about the next job, and the text gets forgotten on the days it matters most.
- Tie it to something the technician already does, like marking the job en route in the app, so the text goes out without an extra step.
- Send it from the business, not a personal phone. When a technician texts from his own number, the office can't see what was said, and the customer saves his number instead of yours. When he leaves, the relationship leaves with him.
What not to send
- Upsells. "Marcus is on his way! Ask him about our spring tune-up special." Now it's a marketing text, and marketing texts need a stronger form of consent.
- Exact times you can't keep. Give a range or an approximate drive time.
- The technician's personal number. Customers will use it for years, including after he's left.
- Long messages. If it needs scrolling, it's an email.
- A text at 6 AM. Unless the customer called about an emergency, wait for a reasonable hour.
Before you start texting
Permission. Customers need to have agreed to texts, and you need a record of it. Add an unticked checkbox to your booking form and a line to your phone script. Customers can take that permission back "by using any reasonable method", and the federal rule gives you no more than ten business days to honor it (47 CFR 64.1200). Treat a STOP reply, or "please stop texting me", as immediate. This isn't legal advice, and state rules can add their own.
Registration. Texts sent by software from a local number have to be registered with US carriers first. Our guide to A2P 10DLC registration for contractors walks through it.
How FSM Navigator sends it
FSM Navigator is one app from first call to renewals: online booking, quotes, intelligent dispatch, invoicing and service agreements. On the Enterprise plan, text notifications send the on my way text for you, from your own Twilio number:
- It goes out when the job is marked En Route, usually by the technician in the mobile app, and names the technician by first name, with a drive-time estimate when one is available. The standard example above is its exact wording.
- It replaces a day-before reminder that hasn't gone out yet, so the customer isn't told twice.
- Texts are one-way. Each one gives the number to call, and a customer who replies gets one automatic answer pointing to that number.
- Only customers who agreed get texts, STOP takes effect at once, texts go out only between 8am and 9pm, and no number gets more than three automated texts a day.
Booking confirmations, day-before reminders, reschedules and cancellations go out the same way, in addition to the emails customers already get. If your arrival windows are wider than you'd like, arrival windows vs appointment times covers how to size ones you can keep. Plan details are on the pricing page.